In collaboration with Stricker Associates, CLASP conducted this benchmarking analysis to provide comparison of test procedures and calculation methods used in China, the United Kingdom (UK), and Canada.

Benchmarking China’s refrigerators is important because China’s manufacturing base and market for refrigerators are the largest in the world, and are expanding at a fast pace. At request of Chinese policymakers, CLASP conducted the analysis to provide a method for comparing the allowable maximum daily energy consumption per unit of adjusted volume for China, the UK and Canada on a common basis for household refrigerator-freezers and freezers and to inform the policy revision process in China.

Additionally, this analysis provides complementary data to International Energy Agency Efficient Electrical End-Use Equipment (IEA 4E)’s mapping and benchmarking study for domestic refrigerated appliances. Together, these benchmarking analyses provide detailed comparison on refrigerator energy efficiency policies across nine economies and enable policymakers to identify opportunities to optimize their policies for residential refrigerators based on international best practices.

Defining the maximum allowable energy consumption for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers is challenging because of variations in size, configuration, operating modes, controlled temperature, ambient operating temperature, and power input voltage and frequency.

Although many countries have selected international standards for measuring the performance and efficiency of these products, others have adopted their own systems for rating and labeling these appliances according to their energy consumption. Due to the variations in test procedures, it is difficult to directly compare refrigerator energy performance and efficiency policies across economies.

The comparison of performance of refrigerators requires that the models selected are most common, have comparable functionality, and can be compared on an equivalent performance basis, i.e. operating under equivalent conditions. The results of such performance comparisons can provide insight into the energy efficiency requirements, as well as the efficiencies of products available in these markets.

Benchmarking of appliances in different economies also requires a thorough review of the test methods in order to define a method for making adjustments so as to make the test results directly comparable. Applying the adjustments provides a means for rating the efficiency in each economy against one another, revealing the actual differences on a common basis.

This paper summarises the results of “Study to assess barriers and opportunities to improving energy efficiency in cooling appliances/systems”, which was carried out by the Building Research Establishment and funded by CLASP. The purpose of the study was to contribute to the development of relevant policy by identifying and quantifying the potential impact of possible measures to reduce the energy consumption of air conditioning in Europe over a ten-year period, relative to a business-as-usual scenario.

Many of the policy measures relate to the performance of products and equipment, but there is also considerable potential in the areas of load reduction and more effective operation and management of systems. The analysis focuses on quantified realisable savings that reflect technically-feasible measures whose rate of introduction is constrained by the replacement rate of air conditioning systems and appliances, refurbishment rates of buildings and different levels of ambition for performance regulations placed on air conditioning equipment and systems. It is disaggregated by country, but this paper concentrates on results for Europe as a whole.

The measures that offer the largest realisable savings formed the basis for recommendations for policy measures, often using existing policy instruments. These measures fall into two groups relating, on the one hand, to policies that impact directly on technical requirements for systems and products and, on the other hand, to those that do not. The second group includes policy measures to incentivize effective operation of buildings and systems, and to influence take-up rates for high-efficiency products. Additional recommendations relate to the application of policy: consistency of approach between instruments; choice of application at national or European level. The report also identifies areas where further work is needed to improve the robustness of studies similar to this one.

More detailed results and information about the study can be found at http://www.bre.co.uk/searchres…

Authors

Roger Hitchin, Christine Pout and David Butler of the Building Research Establishment, UK

Energy labels are an integral part of European Union (EU) energy efficiency policy, both as a policy instrument in their own right and because they provide the basis for other interventions, such as rebates. The EU Energy Label on cold appliances came into force on 1 January 1995 and it is doing so on wet appliances and shortly on light bulbs. Because of the size of the EU market, the requirement that a machine is labeled is influencing suppliers and countries external to the EU, particularly in Eastern Europe.

The effect of the label on individual purchasers of cold appliances has been examined and the characteristics and values identified of those who did and did not respond to the information provided on the label. In individual interviews, the reasons behind the decision were discussed. Thus, the parameters that determine energy efficient choices can be identified.

In addition, sales data for the label’s first 24 months provide information on the effect on numbers of machines sold, their type, price, size and so forth. The analysis of these national data provides support, and challenges, for the individual interviews.

The picture that emerges from this combined analysis enables the effectiveness of an important policy tool to be identified, including the actual energy savings. The implications for future use of the label – its extension to both new appliances and new countries – will be discussed.

Author: Brenda Boardman, Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford

Information from: The European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s (eceee) 1997 Summer Study, Panel 2: Incentives and Instruments to Achieve Greater Energy Efficiency, which is published in Paris by Danish Energy Agency, Praque and Copenhagen.