Efficient appliances, lighting, and equipment are critical climate solutions, situated at the nexus of mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable development.

However, not enough is being done to maximize their benefits. In this report, CLASP lays out actions that must be taken by 2030 to put the world on a pathway to net zero emissions and enable a just energy transition. Our research identifies the ten appliances most vital to meeting global climate mitigation targets and improving people’s lives: the Net Zero Heroes.

Visit the Net Zero Heroes site to read and download the report.

Between 2015 -2021, in partnership with 60 Decibels, CLASP through Efficiency for Access surveyed over 4000 solar refrigerator, water pump and television customers across East, West and Southern Africa. Understanding these customers’ needs, experiences and satisfaction levels provides strategic insights to support the growth of the nascent solar appliance sector.

The ‘Appliance Impacts Over Time‘ report presents the findings of this longitudinal study and offers an exciting opportunity to understand how customers’ relationships with their solar appliances change over time based on product quality, durability, satisfaction, impact, and uptake indicators. The data presented is categorised by appliance type and ownership tenure to produce specific and actionable insights, share feedback from consumers and signal opportunities for improvement.

The customer cohort examined in the report is represented in previous Efficiency for Access and 60 Decibels reports that explore the use and impact of off-grid appliances (electric pressure cookers, refrigerators, solar water pumps & TVs). We recommend referencing the use and benefits reports together with this report for deeper insights.

Download the Appliance Impacts Over Time report.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

Televisions are ubiquitous electronic appliances that are popular around the world. Research by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India suggests that televisions are owned by nearly 200 million Indian households, out of nearly 300 million households, which implies that 66% of Indian households have a television.

The total number of televisions purchased in India has been increasing, and the average number of hours that the TV audience is watching television has also been growing. As per BARC study measuring viewership in India, in the year 2016, India recorded 35 trillion hours of television viewing, which grew to 48.4 trillion hours in 2019.

Recognizing the increase in energy consumption due to the increasing number of hours of television viewership compounded by the increasing number of televisions sold in India, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has made it mandatory for televisions (with native resolution up to 1920 X 1080 pixels) being sold in the country to follow Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) as well as energy performance labeling . The BEE’s program also facilitates comparative energy performance of different television models to enable informed purchase decision making for consumers towards energy efficient televisions. A new technology commercially known as Ultra High Definition (UHD) television is now available in the market, and sales of UHD televisions are growing every year. The UHD televisions are not covered under BEE’s existing program for televisions and therefore, as more consumers replace their current television with UHD televisions, or purchase additional televisions which are UHD, television energy consumption is expected to increase significantly.

BEE, with support from CLASP, is expanding the scope of the existing television labelling program to cover televisions with UHD technology. To achieve this, BEE and CLASP worked with Environmental Design Solutions (EDS) to make a comprehensive assessment of the Indian UHD television market through primary and secondary research to formulate a comparative energy efficiency labeling standard for UHD televisions. The research focused on multiple aspects of the UHD television market, such as the overall size of the market, the distribution of sales among various size categories, the market shares of various market players, the performance data of the various models of each market player, the supply chain of the products, etc.

This work was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Inconsistencies in performance reporting and a lack of reliable data make it difficult for buyers to identify high-performing products such as TVs and fans. Coupling this with the fact that appliances are a significant cost for most off-grid consumers, ensuring that products are high-quality and perform as expected is crucial.

To help market actors evaluate and compare product quality, Efficiency for Access piloted a quality assurance (QA) framework for standalone off-grid TVs and fans. Building on Equip Data’s appliance testing and data-sharing process, Efficiency for Access developed a set of quality criteria, evaluated products using the quality criteria, and shared findings and data with stakeholders to promote quality products.

The learning paper documents key learnings from testing and evaluating off-grid TVs and fans and provide recommendations for future QA efforts. The learnings aim to help the off-grid solar sector align and standardize on test methods and performance reporting, and enable market actors across the value chain to make faster, more informed decisions about off-grid products.

Download the learning paper here:  Quality Assurance for Off-Grid TVs and Fans: Lessons Learned and Paths Forward

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

Solar TVs represent one of the most sought after appliances in off- and weak-grid communities yet, little is known about how customers view, value, and interact with their TV. From 2018-2019, Efficiency for Access partnered with 60 Decibels to survey Global LEAP results-based financing customers in East Africa about their experiences with solar TVs. This analysis provides valuable insights into customers’ demographics, usage, and challenges with solar TVs. Most notably, it provides compelling preliminary evidence on the impacts solar TVs have on social development and quality of life through the eyes of a consumer.

Download the report here: Use and Impact of Solar TVs

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

In 2007, when Kenya’s presidential election turned deadly, western Kenya faced the brunt of the violence. Riots left 1,500 people dead and over half a million displaced.

Dorine Adhiambo, her husband, and four children live on the edge of Kolwa in Western Kenya. In Dorine’s village, only three of her neighbours have grid connections, and one other family owns a solar home system with TV.

Dorine walks to nearby towns to sell second-hand clothes at the markets. Disconnected from energy services, Dorine had no way of knowing if it was safe to go to work during the riots and often had to flee home for safety.

“In town there were clashes, police walking around with guns, fires lit and people running all around”, said Dorine. “People were killed.”

This year, Dorine and her husband saved enough money – 6,200 shillings ($62) – for a down payment on a Mobisol Solar TV System, which comes with a TV and two lights. Dorine stays caught up on current events and local news, making sure that she and her family are safe.

Now, her home is a destination for neighbourhood children, who crowd into her modest mud-walled house to watch cartoons and educational programs. The kids learn from the programs they watch, and it helps their English.

Though their daily income is variable, Dorine and her husband only pay 58 shillings a day, which Dorine says is affordable. In three years they will own the system.

In off- or weak-grid communities, televisions are the second most desired off-grid appliance, according to a recent Global LEAP survey. They can have significant social and economic impacts, particularly for women and children. The Global LEAP Awards have held three awards programs to identify and promote super-efficient, high quality, off- and weak-grid appropriate televisions.

The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. The 2017 edition contains information about off-grid fans and televisions that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2016-17 Global LEAP Awards. It is designed to serve as a procurement tool for use by off-grid solar companies and other distributors, and to provide general market intelligence to other interested stakeholders. It includes rated product specifications, performance metrics based on laboratory testing, and sales contact information.

The Global LEAP Awards identify one Winner as the best overall product nominated for each category, with other high-quality products in that category identified as Finalists. The 2017 Buyer’s Guide lists these products, and contains a total of 17 off-grid fans and 15 off-grid televisions.

The 2017 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is published by Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) with support from Power Africa’s Beyond the Grid Initiative.

Download the 2017 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide: Fans and Televisions here.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

In June 2017, the European Parliament voted a revised Energy Labelling Regulation reinforcing its consumer empowerment role. Following that parliamentary decision, a group of environmental NGOs published a report focusing on 18 months of research into the test standards of three popular consumer products covered by the energy label scheme – dishwashers, refrigerators and televisions. The study found that the test standards, when used for the declaration of energy-performance of these products, do not always reflect typical consumer usage and technological developments.

Appliances regulated by the EU energy label are responsible for most home energy use. Together with other efficiency policies, experts estimate these policies are set to reduce energy bills of an average EU household by nearly €500 by 2020 [1].

Environmental groups are calling for more accurate, fair and consumer-relevant standards in support of the provision laid out in the newly revised EU Energy Labelling legislation stating “Harmonised standards shall aim to simulate real-life usage as far as possible while maintaining a standard test method.” [2]. These standards are the foundation on which robust policies are built, and they require staying up-to-date with technological and behavioural evolution and new features entering the market.

The investigation

A group of NGOs collaborated to study test standards of three popular consumer products: dishwashers, fridge-freezers and televisions. Following European harmonised test standards and implementing deviations from those, the NGOs explored product performance under both standardised test conditions and under conditions that are closer to real life. Only one unit of each model was tested, so the results and process followed do not constitute market surveillance testing and consequently not a compliance check. For this reason, the names of the models tested are not published in the report.

Findings:

The investigation’s key finding is the need to improve test methodologies overall and establish a solid foundation for more representative, more reliable measurements, and better policy measures that depend on those measurements.

Four principal concerns were identified through this research and testing which may be undermining the representativeness and transparency of the energy label:

• Differences in energy consumption between test standards and ones that would reflect better real world usage – this can lead to consumers having a false impression of running costs in the home;
• Test standards that do not keep pace with technological progress – this can prevent the measurement of energy used by these new features, and fail to incentivise manufacturers to make those features energy-efficient;
• Ambiguities in test standards that undermine reproducibility of parameters measured – this can reduce the consistency and accuracy of measurements from different laboratories in Europe; and
• Confusing or non-existent consumer information – this concern centres around a lack of information on energy consumption in the wide range of modes and options available in today’s appliances.

Solutions proposed

The NGOs recommend that the standardisation community, policy-makers, and other stakeholders work together to make improvements in standards for the three product groups investigated (and learn lessons beyond), including;

• Place more emphasis on real world usage patterns for all product standards and give civil society groups a greater say in standard setting. Realistic standards are less vulnerable to software circumvention. Standards should be revised more frequently to keep pace with technological development.
• The energy label should always be based on the most frequently used programme & settings and consumers should be warned about energy impacts when they deviate from them.
• Ensure consumers are given useful information on energy impacts when they change settings and/or update software, and users should always have the option of reverting back to the previous setting.
• National enforcement agencies need greater resources to crack down on free-riders, include the ability to award consumer compensation. Consumer losses currently run to an estimated €10 billion per year in Europe [3].
• Supplement test standards with an additional test defined within real-world boundaries. If the deviation of results between the two is outside acceptable limits, the model is studied further and/or declared non-compliant.

Complementing these recommendations, the NGOs developed a new video test loop for measuring average television power use that is much closer to what is broadcasted today to replace the standardised video which is more than ten years old. We also suggest a test method for measuring automatic brightness control, a feature that adapts the brightness of the screen to the ambient light and allowing energy. These are offered to help strengthen television testing and improve the real-life representativeness of the test.

Senior consultant for Topten, Francisco Zuloaga, said: “People trust the energy label and our work is intended to underpin that, to ensure that ‘what you buy is what you get’. Our study found gaps where things could be strengthened. Policymakers and the standardisation community should quickly adopt our recommendations to help ensure a level playing field for all.”

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Notes

[1] See: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/si…

[2] See: https://www.coolproducts.eu/ne…

[3] See: http://www.web4948.vs.speednam…

The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. The 2016 edition contains information about off-grid fans and televisions that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2015-16 Global LEAP Awards. It is designed to serve as a procurement tool for use by off-grid solar companies and other distributors, and to provide general market intelligence to other interested stakeholders. It includes rated product specifications, performance metrics based on laboratory testing, and sales contact information.

The Global LEAP Awards identify one Winner as the best overall product in each category, with other high-quality products in that category identified as Finalists. The 2016 Buyer’s Guide lists these products, and contains a total of 13 off-grid fans and 13 off-grid televisions.

The 2016 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is published by Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) led by the US Department of Energy.

Download the 2016 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide: Fans and Televisions here.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.