CLASP is running an industrial accelerator program in Pakistan to spur innovation and improve appliance efficiency. The program leverages international production and design experts to collaborate with local industry manufacturers to enhance the energy efficiency of water heaters and motors.  Improved energy efficiency will reduce demand on the national power grid, reduce energy costs for consumers, and produce less climate emissions.

This Industry Accelerator has two main components: strengthen capacity for testing labs and provide technical support for manufacturers to improve their products to prepare for the upcoming regulations.

The Need for Reliable Testing Laboratories

In Pakistan’s appliance and equipment manufacturing sector, reliable, independent appliance test laboratories are starting to emerge. Test labs support manufacturers in assessing efficiency levels of their appliances, and their presence is crucial to accelerating efficiency, innovation and quality. They will also be essential in measuring the performance of regulated products for compliance once Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and labeling regulations are rolled out.

Strengthening Lab Capacity Through Partnerships with Private Sector

Recognizing the need for both industry-based and independent test laboratories that are able to provide reliable and accurate test results, CLASP facilitated public-private partnerships with major air conditioner and motor manufacturers in Pakistan. CLASP also collaborated major manufacturers to support the capacity building of existing labs such as Centre for Energy Research & Development, Pakistan (CERAD). The training included upskilling the lab technicians’ proficiency in protocols, test methodologies, and enhancing verification process to prove that testing is reliable.

Learning from International Best Practice

CLASP partnered with motor testing expert from Turkish National Standards Institute (TSE) who are working in Pakistan and remotely to help strengthen the capacity of three motors labs at the Information Technology University (ITU), the Gujranwala Institute of Future Technology (GIFT) and CERAD. TSE have provided advice not only on lab equipment set up, but have undertaken extensive testing alongside the Pakistani technical staff to ensure their ability to test products and analyze results according to the IEC testing standards.

To gain insights on producing more efficient water heaters, a delegation of Pakistani manufacturers visited China’s renowned testing lab, the China Household Electric Appliance Research Institute (CHEARI) in Beijing. The manufacturers had an opportunity to enhance their knowledge of test lab equipment, methodologies and processes and learn insights in designing more efficient water heaters. When efficient water heaters are produced in Pakistan they will reduce the fossil fuel demand, strain on national grid, lower emissions and lessen monthly power bills for consumers.

Strengthening the Motor Industry

CLASP also invited motor experts from EMOSAD in Türkiye to visit local counterparts in Pakistan to share insights on how the country transformed from producing low-efficiency motors to building globally competitive, energy-efficient models. Following initial assessment of manufacturer production facilities, the experts have been preparing tailored design and production improvement recommendations for each participant considering their existing capabilities and objectives. The overall goal is to enable all participating manufacturers to have the capacity to produce motors of at least IE1 efficiency levels.

Industry Support Yield Benefits for Manufacturers, Consumers and the Climate

Around the world, manufacturers are recognizing the benefits of producing appliances and equipment that adhere to global standards in energy-efficiency that are also crucial to climate action and sustainable development. The presence of reliable, independent appliance test laboratories and technical assistance to participating manufacturers are the first steps towards building thriving motor and water heater industries in Pakistan. This will benefit the climate, the economy and consumers.

CLASP would like to thank the following companies who are a key part of the Pakistan Industry Accelerator program: AC and Motor Test Laboratories at CERAD, ITU and GIFT; the Punjab Energy Department (PEECA); Haier, ABB, Dawlence; the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR); the Turkish National Standards Institute (TSE); the Turkish Motor Manufacturer’s Association (EMOSAD); the Pakistan Pumps and Motor Manufacturers Association (PPEMMA); the China Household Electric Appliance Research Institute (CHEARI); and the participating manufacturers Canon, Super Asia, Waves, Golden Fuji, Fisher, Golden Dynamics, El-Khas, Sunrise and Shahzad Pump.

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.

In most economies, water heating appliances are some of the most energy-consuming, and typically account for 15% to 25% of energy in the residential sector. Globally, heating water in the residential sector may use as much as 11 petajoules per year.

CLASP conducts product and policy benchmarking studies to inform policymakers about opportunities to raise the ambition of national policies in order to maximize energy savings and CO2 emissions reductions.  Benchmarking policies and products is challenging due to incomparability of products and standards in different parts of the world, different approaches to performance testing, and lack of or unavailability of critical data.

Particularly, water heaters are one of the most complex product categories due to a large variety of product types, technologies, and fuels used for heating water. Traditionally, energy efficiency standards and labels have set performance requirements for water heaters by type (e.g., storage electric water heater, gas instantaneous water heater, etc.), thus inhibiting the comparison across water heater technology classes.

To address this challenge, CLASP and Waide Strategic Efficiency conducted a preliminary analysis on water heaters to identify future research needs that will lead to the successful benchmarking of policy settings for this product category, and will thereby support policymakers in better understanding their options to improve water heater energy efficiency.

The study provides an overview of various water heating technologies, test methods, and energy efficiency of residential water heaters in eight economies, including in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, India, Korea, and the US.

The study is divided into the following three main components:

Task 1 – product definition

• Definition of relevant product classes or categories, discussed in section 2
• Listing and assessment of country data sources i.e. a listing of test procedures and regulations, presented in sections 3-10 by economy.

Task 2 – mapping 

• Mapping of product characteristics in selected countries, presented in section 11
• Mapping of existing standards and labelling initiatives and a description of their characteristics, presented in section 12
• Identification and initial comparison of test procedures, presented in section 13.

Task 3 – benchmarking 

• Identification of potential issues in test results comparison that would need to be addressed in a full benchmarking study, presented in section 14
• Analysis of knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in a full benchmarking study, discussed in section 15.

The heat pump is one of the most energy efficient technologies for heating water for household use. Energy efficiency is a key point in product advertising and marketing, and important for the policymakers who manage energy labelling and minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) programs.

The Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) and American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a report: The Efficiency Boom: Cashing In on the Savings from Appliance Standards. The Efficiency Boom is a series of analyses assessing the impact of existing standards and energy savings potential for new and revised appliance standards in the U.S.

Based on the report, national efficiency standards for appliances, lighting, and other equipment will save consumers and businesses more than $1.1 trillion and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas pollution and other emissions by 2035.

Additionally, this report evaluates potential new or updated standards for 34 product categories that could be adopted within the next four years, all of which are technologically and economically feasible, and many of which are already being considered for regulation or revision by the U.S. Department of Energy. Products with the biggest potential additional energy savings include electric water heaters, reflector light bulbs, distribution transformers, electric motors, and computers. The largest net economic savings would come from new clothes washer and outdoor lighting standards.

For more details, please see the files available for download below.

Access files:

• Executive Summary
• Report

Three online retailers have agreed to pay more than $400,000 in total penalties to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that they failed to post EnergyGuide information on their websites to inform consumers about the energy use of major home appliances they sell. The agency also notified two other online sellers that it will seek a total of $640,000 in fines from them.

According to the FTC, the online appliance retailers knowingly violated the FTC’s Appliance Labeling Rule, which requires them to provide EnergyGuide information for certain products such as refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, air conditioners, water heaters, and washing machines. The information estimates the annual cost to operate the appliance.

“Companies selling appliances covered by the FTC’s rules, either online or in stores, have an obligation to provide EnergyGuide labels,” said David Vladeck, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The information on the labels helps shoppers make smart buying decisions that take into account energy use.”

The civil penalty cases are the first the agency has brought against online retailers for Appliance Labeling Rule violations.

The FTC used its authority under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) to assess civil penalties for knowing violations of the Appliance Labeling Rule against five online retailers, which also operate brick-and-mortar stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, and California. Three of those companies have settled with the agency and agreed to pay the following amounts: P.C. Richard & Son, Inc., $180,000; Abt Electronics, Inc., $137,500; and Pinnacle Marketing Group, Corp., $100,000. Two other companies, Universal Computers and Electronics, Inc. and Universal Appliances, Kitchens, and Baths, Inc., have not agreed to settle the FTC charges.

Before the FTC may assess civil penalties under the EPCA, it must notify the non-settling companies of the proposed penalty amounts. The companies can then choose to pay the proposed penalty or be sued by the FTC in an administrative proceeding. The FTC has proposed penalties of $540,000 against Universal Computers and Electronics, Inc. and $100,000 against Universal Appliances, Kitchens, and Baths, Inc.

The administrative complaints and consent orders announced today were issued against:

1. P.C. Richard & Son, Inc and P.C. Richard & Son, LLC, doing businesses as (d/b/a) Pcrichard.com, based in Farmingdale, New York;
2. Abt Electronics, Inc., d/b/a abt.com, based in Glenview, Illinois; and
3. Pinnacle Marketing Group, Corp., d/b/a homeeverything.com, based in Brooklyn, New York.

The notices of proposed civil penalties announced today were issued against:

1. Universal Computers and Electronics, Inc., d/b/a appliancebestbuys.com, based in Jamaica, New York; and
2. Universal Appliances, Kitchens, and Baths, Inc., d/b/a universal-akb.com, based in Studio City, California.

The Commission vote approving the three complaints and consent orders and two notices of proposed civil penalties was 5-0 in each case.

Notes:

• The Commission authorizes the filing of a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. A complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have actually violated the law. A consent agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission of a law violation. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law.
• Before the Commission may issue an order assessing a civil penalty under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act or its Appliance Labeling Rule against any person, the Commission is required to provide such person with notice of the proposed penalty and the alleged violation. Such a notice is not a finding or ruling that the person has actually violated the law.

For more information:

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available on the FTC’s website. The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.

(FTC File Nos. 102-3041, Home Everything; 102-3040, Appliance Best Buys; 102-3038, ABT Electronics; 102-3039, PC Richard; and 102-3042, Universal Appliances, Kitchens, and Baths)

This article is taken from the Federal Trade Commission.

The Life-Cycle Cost (LCC) calculated in this analysis expresses the costs of installing and operating a furnace or boiler for its lifetime starting in the year 2012—the year a new standard would take effect. The analysis also calculated the payback period (PBP) for energy-efficiency design options. The PBP represents the number of years of operation required to pay for the increased efficiency features. It is the change in purchase expense due to an increased efficiency standard divided by the change in annual operating cost that results from increased efficiency.

Abstract

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a rulemaking process to consider whether to amend the existing energy efficiency standards for furnaces and boilers. A key factor in DOE’s consideration of new standards is the economic impacts on consumers of possible revisions to energy-efficiency standards. Determining cost-effectiveness requires an appropriate comparison of the additional first cost of energy efficiency design options with the savings in operating costs. DOE’s preferred approach involves comparing the total life-cycle cost (LCC) of owning and operating a more efficient appliance with the LCC for a baseline design. This study describes the method used to conduct the LCC analysis and presents the estimated change in LCC associated with more energy-efficient equipment. The results indicate that efficiency improvement relative to the baseline design can reduce the LCC in each of the product classes considered.

Authors: James Lutz, Alex Lekov, Camilla Dunham Whitehead, Peter Chan, Steve Meyers, and James McMahon

Information from: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)

Impacts of U.S. appliance and equipment standards have been described previously. Since 2000, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has updated standards for clothes washers, water heaters, and residential central air conditioners and heat pumps. A revised estimate of the aggregate impacts of all the residential appliance standards in the United States shows that existing standards will reduce residential primary energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 8–9% in 2020 compared to the levels expected without any standards. Studies of possible new standards are underway for residential furnaces and boilers, as well as a number of products in the commercial (tertiary) sector, such as distribution transformers and unitary air conditioners.

The analysis of standards has evolved in response to critiques and in an attempt to develop more precise estimates of costs and benefits of these regulations. The newer analysis elements include: (1) valuing energy savings by using marginal (rather than average) energy prices specific to an end-use; (2) simulating the impacts of energy efficiency increases over a sample population of consumers to quantify the proportion of households having net benefits or net costs over the life of the appliance; and (3) calculating marginal markups in distribution channels to derive the incremental change in retail prices associated with increased manufacturing costs for improving energy efficiency.

Author: James E. McMahon

Information from: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)

The aim of this document is to provide more up-to-date information on the status of overseas MEPS levels for electric storage water heaters and to provide a more rigorous modelling approach to the comparison of overseas MEPS levels with the equivalent standing heat loss level in AS1056. The report is intended for use by government when considering the MEPS levels in force overseas as models for implementation in the Australian context.

Electric resistance storage water heaters covered by AS1056 are the focus of this review, including size ranges 25 to 630 L rated hot water delivery capacity. This report does not consider heat exchange water heaters.

A draft of this report was provided in July 2000. The water heater MEPS rules in the USA were released in January 2001 and these have been incorporated in this final report, along with the revised options for consideration.

Notes: This report expands and updates a previous submission to the National Appliance and Equipment Energy Efficiency Committee (NAEEEC) which was prepared by Harrington, L. in December 1998.

Author: Lloyd Harrington, Energy Efficienct Strategies; Paul Ryan, EnergyConsult

Information from: National Appliance and Equipment Energy Efficiency Committee (NAEEEC)