Good practice package for appliances in European Union (European Union)

Policy roadmap and targets for very efficient appliances
The European Union has developed some key targets and plans to establish a comprehensive governance framework to promote energy efficiency. The main plans and directives are listed below.
A central strategy is the plan “Europe 2020: A European Strategy for Smart, Sustainable, and Inclusive Growth”. Within this strategy the European Union emphasised the relevance of lowering carbon emissions by 20%, increasing energy efficiency by 20% and raise the share of renewable energy sources by 20% (also known as “20/20/20 goals”). The idea behind this strategy is to reach greater energy independence and security, to lower the EU’s carbon footprint, thus, protecting the environment, and to increase the EU’s global competitiveness. A concrete plan to increase the energy efficiency is the “Energy Efficiency Plan 2011” (COM/2011/109 final). In this plan the role of energy efficiency measures was highlighted and concrete improvement options were listed. One of several tasks was the promotion of energy and resource efficient appliances.
Two sectors were identified to contribute massively the 20%-target: buildings and energy consuming products. 85 measures are proposed to member states for implementation, ten of those measures are “priority actions”. Among other things, these actions are “appliance and equipment labelling and minimum energy performance standards” (Priority Action 1), “raising energy efficiency awareness” (Priority Action 8) and “foster energy efficiency worldwide” (Priority Action 10).
In 2012, the European Parliament and the European Council adopted the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED, 2012/27/EU), upgrading requirements of its predecessor, Directive 2006/32/EC energy end-use efficiency and energy services. Among other things, the EED requires member states to set a national energy saving target, achieve savings equivalent to 1.5 per cent of energy consumption each year, implement energy-efficient public procurement schemes, and accelerate the use of smart meters. In order to monitor advances but also implementation gaps, it is mandatory for member state governments to submit National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAP) periodically.

International co-operation
The European Union includes 28 member states and fosters the international cooperation of these countries. Furthermore the European Union has signed several cooperation agreements with countries all over the world. Examples are the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) or the cooperation within the ENERGY STAR labelling scheme between the United States of America and the EU.
Moreover, the EU pursues the goal of linking the EU ETS with other carbon markets. For example, the EU and Australia have agreed in fully integrating their carbon markets by 2018. Discussions with the Swiss government may also end up in a common carbon market (European Commission 2013).

Energy agencies
The Commission does not have an energy agency on its own. Its DG Energy develops legislation and oversees their implementation, with the assistance of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre. Most Directives or Regulations are implemented individually by member states, which have energy agencies or make other actors, e.g., energy companies, responsible for implementation of the policy on their behalf. However, in several cases the Commission and the DG for Energy, in particular, (co-)fund energy efficiency projects on the EU level while delegating management and coordination function to one or more member state energy agencies. There is a special agency managing the Commission’s “Intelligent Energy – Europe” programme to fund demonstration and dissemination projects.

Energy efficiency funds
The EU only has some small special energy efficiency funds at Union level, whereas a number of member states had or have larger funds managed by special energy efficiency fund organisations. In 2011 the European Energy Efficiency Fund (EEE F) was launched with a volume of EUR 265 million. It aims to support energy efficiency projects and some other energy-related programmes.

Energy saving obligations for energy companies
The Energy Efficiency Directive requires EU member states to obligate energy companies to annually achieve energy savings equivalent to 1.5% of their energy sales. Member states including Austria, Denmark, Flanders (Belgian region), France, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom have had or are now introducing such energy saving obligations. In order to avoid high penalties, they can e.g. offer financial incentives for energy-efficient appliances or better consumer information, which fits with the EU’s roll-out plan for smart meters (EurActive 2013). However, member states can also use alternative measures to achieve the 1.5% target.

Feed-in-tariff for certified energy savings
There are neither countries nor blocs having implemented feed-in-tariffs for certified energy savings.

Government agencies and budget
According to the European Commission, “financial support is available through various EU programmes and instruments aimed at assisting Member States in supporting EU policy implementation and initiating associated investments.”
For example, the “Intelligent Energy-Europe” Programme finances energy efficiency projects and focuses on the removal of non-technological barriers. EUR 730 million is available for the period 2007-2013. For 2014 to 2020, this programme and the previous research and development framework programme have been merged to the new Horizon 2020 programme, with about the same amount of money available.
Also, many member states have programmes funded from the public budget and operated by government agencies.

Removal/reduction of subsidies on end-user energy prices and on energy supply
In EU-15 countries, energy subsidies in 2001 have been estimated to be at around EUR 29 billion with fossil fuels having been the main beneficiary of such subsidies (European Environment Agency 2008).
In 2014 the Commission adopted new Union Guidelines on environmental and energy aid for 2014-2020 (2014/C 200/01). The guidelines stresses that the primary objective of an energy aid is to ensure a competitive, sustainable and secure energy system and to foster a competitive internal market which is in line with the Europe 2020 strategy. The new guideline now integrates environmental protection issues with the public financing of energy. For example, financing of building renovation, district heating and cogeneration of heat and electricity are considers important and therefore the guidelines contain compatibility rules on this (Linklaters 2014).
According to an article from the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” the amount of estimated support in Europe for renewable energies was EUR 30 billion in 2011. In comparison the governments supported nuclear power with EUR 35 billion and fossil fuels with EUR 26 billion (Süddeutsche Zeitung 2013).
The OECD published new data in 2012 for all OECD countries (OECD 2012). One example is Germany. In 1999 the producer support for hard coal was EUR 5 billion. Few years later the government decided to phase out its support by 2018. In 2011 the amount of estimated producer support was EUR 2 billion.
Another example is Poland. The total amount of producer support for coal between 1999 and 2011 is estimated to exceed PLN 25 billion (USD 7 billion). However, Poland decided (as in Germany) to phase out government support.

Energy/CO₂ taxation and emissions trading
The European Union established the Emission Trading Scheme for greenhouse gases (EU-ETS). The legal basis is Directive 2003/87/EC (revised by Directive 2009/29/EC). Operating in EU-28 as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, it has been a key measure to ensure the achievement of the require demission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol. The trading system started in 2005. Currently it is the third phase of the trading system (2013-2020). Until 2020, the cap will be regularly decreased by a linear factor of 1,74% per year (European Commission 2013).
In addition, Member States like Denmark, Germany, and Sweden implemented national energy taxes like the German ecological tax reform, which was introduced in 1999. These are often higher than the common minimum values that all member states agreed on at the EU level (2003/96/EC).

Regulation of energy companies
Many member states regulated their electricity and gas grid companies in a way that their profits are at least partly decoupled from the amount of load or energy transmitted through the grid. See for instance the policy packages from Denmark and Germany in the buildings part of the bigEE Policy Guide. They thus will not loose profits when energy is saved. However, the power producers, gas importers, and electricity and gas supply companies selling to final consumers operate in a competitive and market without price regulation and hence have an incentive to prevent energy savings.

Minimum energy performance standards

Minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for appliances but also building systems, components, and technologies were taken into effect through Directive 2009/125/EC. The so called “Ecodesign Directive” assesses the life-cycle impacts on the environment for every appliance category subject to the policy. Thus, the directive prevents energy-wasting and, more generally, environmentally harmful products to become available on the EU single market. It was first introduced in 2005 (Directive 2005/32/EC). Its scope was expanded under the recast of the Ecodesign Directive in 2009. It is applicable both to various energy-using products (like computers, washing machines, refrigerators, etc.) and now also to energy-related products, which affect energy consumption rather indirectly (like windows, insulation material, shower heads, etc.). Products are proposed by the Commission. After having assessed their energy saving potential, a consultation forum (including business and civil society stakeholders) can comment on the regulation. The process of the Ecodesign Directive from the preparatory study to the final regulation is illustrated in the figure above.
Product groups, which were already regulated by the Ecodesign-Directive (including some building-specific product groups) are set-top boxes, boilers and combiboilers, water heaters, computers and monitors, imaging equipment, TVs, battery charger and external power suppliers, office and street lighting, room air conditioning, fans, electric motors, circulators, fans, water pumps, domestic and commercial refrigerators and freezers, domestic dishwashers, domestic washing machines, household tumble driers, vacuum cleaner, domestic lighting, domestic and commercial ovens, domestic and commercial hobs and grills, non-tertiary coffee machines, and transformers,
Scenario analyses were made for products with preparatory studies or impact assessments that were available on November 2013 (approximately 35 product groups) with the following results: In 2010 the products represent approximately 26 000 PK (10 000 TWh) of primary energy consumption. The primary energy savings for the EU-28 in 2020 amounts to 1932 TWh, of which 213 TWh are achieved in the period 1990-2010 and 1719 TWh in the period 2010-2020. This means that on average the energy saving is 19% for the products included in the calculation. Of this, 465 TWh is electricity and 2770 PJ is direct fuel saving (VHK 2014).
Some of the expected savings per product group in 2020 are illustrated in the following table:

Product group	Requirements mandatory since	Expected energy savings in 2020
Simple set top boxes	25.02.2010	354 TWh
PCs	07.01.2010	12.5 TWh
TV	07.01.2010	36 TWh
Standby and off-mode losses	07.04.2010	36 TWh
Battery charger and external power suppliers	27.04.2010	9 TWh
Comfort fans	30.03.2014	11 TWh
Electric motors	27.01.2010	4 TWh
Domestic refrigerators and freezers	01.07.2010	4 TWh
Domestic dishwashers	01.12.2011	2 TWh
Domestic washing machines	01.12.2011	1,5 TWh
Household tumble dries	01.11.2013	12 TWh
Vacuum cleaners	01.09.2014	16 TWh
Complex set top boxes	01.07.2010	44 TWh
Domestic and commercial oven, hobs and grills	20.02.2014	27 PJ
Non-tertiary coffee machines	01.01.2015	no data
Network standby losses of energy using products	01.01.2015	no data

The regulated product groups were often combined with the mandatory EU Energy Label. The combination of these two policies has the opportunity to increase both, energy and monetary savings.

Other legal requirements
The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED, 2012/27/EU) requires member states to ensure individual metering for each energy consumer and informative energy bills, comparing a consumer’s energy consumption with that of previous years and of comparable consumers.

Mandatory comparative labelling scheme

The European Union implemented a mandatory comparative labelling scheme (Directive 92/75/EEC revised 2010/32/EU) and two voluntary endorsement labelling schemes. The mandatory label is the EU Energy Label, which was first introduced in 1992. The Energy Labelling Directives rates products of respective categories from dark green or grade A+++ (best energy performer; originally A but as products get even more energy-efficient, subclasses A+ to A+++ are added) to red or grade G (worst energy performer; when the best class moves to A+++, the worst is usually D). Where there is also an Ecodesign MEPS, the worst class on the Energy Label is the one just still allowed on the market. While all appliance categories subject to the Directive show the product’s energy consumption, there is supplementary data about the noise level of for washing machines or size of TV screens. The Energy label is currently mandatory for the following types of appliances:

• Refrigerators, freezers and fridge-freezers
• Household washing machines
• Electric tumble driers
• Combined washer-dryers
• Household dishwashers
• Electric ovens 
• Televisions 
• • Vacuum cleaners

plus two types of products for buildings:

• Lighting
• Air conditioners

The regulations for boilers, combiboilers, water heaters, ovens, hobs and grills are mandatory from September 2015.In 2014 an evaluation study of the Energy Label was published (Ecofys 2014). The evaluation study provides an overview of energy savings estimates (Ecodesign and Energy labelling, already regulated product groups) and cites figures from Irrek (2010) and the European Commission. These studies calculated energy savings of 460 TWh/year in 2020 compared to BaU. The estimates by Irrek suggest a range of 400-450 TWh/year savings. This corresponds to approximately 19% of total EU electricity consumption in 2020.

Voluntary endorsement labelling scheme
Moreover, the voluntary Ecolabel “EU Flower” informs consumers about products which are environmentally friendly or which include little or no harmful substances as compared to other products of the same product category. It is applicable to light bulbs, TVs, computers and laptops as well as heat pumps. The label was introduced in 1992 by the DG Environment. From then on the number of licenses issued grew to 1,357 in 2011 (European Commission 2012a). Various stakeholders from the field of science, business and civil society (NGOs) are responsible for establishing a criteria catalogue for the different product categories. In each member state special institutes are in charge of the actual implementation and check whether the respective product fulfils the necessary requirements. In Germany, the Ecolabel-license is available for three years. Extension is possible. Each year the Commission also runs a contest in order to make increase the awareness of the label and, thus, the attractiveness of the label for companies.

In 1999 the Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America signed a contract expanding the Energy Star programme (2003/269/EC) to the European Union. The Energy Star is a label informing consumers predominantly about energy efficient office equipment (e.g. computers, fax machines, telephones). In particular, labelled products belong to the top 25 percent of their respective product group. The label is very successful in the United States and therefore the European Union adapted the label for the EU market. Since 2008, the Energy Star is also the key label for procurement staff of EU- and government institutions.

Provision of targeted information
In addition to these three main EU labels, an online tool was launched. The website www.topten.info helps consumers to find energy efficient household appliances and office equipment. Available data include among other things information about the retail price and the average energy consumption. The website also provides information about similar products available in other EU countries. Between July 2012 and June 2013, more than 1,4 million visitors accessed the website and viewed 3,34 million pages (Wuppertal Institute 2013). According to the TopTen Annual Report (2013) “in the leading markets China, USA, and Europe, roughly two billon consumers have access to information about the most energy efficient products currently available in these markets”. The project. www.topten.info is financed by the Commission but administered by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency. TopTen has calculated potential savings of approximately 120 GWh per year for the European Union from one year of operation. This assumes approximately 1.2 million website visitors, 300kWh of typical electricity consumption per product per year and a saving of 33% for each visitor..
Several programmes to support education and training activities for consumers are in place in the European Union. One example was the Kids4Energy project. The objective of this project was to improve energy efficiency through increasing children`s knowledge of the subject and their interests. Therefore the programme tried to influence the children and the nearest family and to sett the roots for the kids to become a member of a sustainable society. Another project for kids is “Enercities”. It is an interactive game, where kids have to build a sustainable city (www.enercities.eu). 

The BEHAVE Project (Evaluation of Energy Behavioural Change Programmes) assessed 41 behavioural change programmes of EU member states.

Feedback and measures on behaviour
The EU together with its member states has passed an ambitious roll-out plan to provide 80% of the domestic market with smart metres by 2020. The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED, 2012/27/EU) reinstates this ambitious goal for locations “where the roll-out of smart meters is assessed positively“ (EED 2012, Sec. (27)). Smart metres are to inform energy end-users with up-to-date consumption statistics resulting, ideally, in behaviour change towards are more efficient energy use. According to EurActive (2013a), 15-18% of EU households are equipped with smart meters. These figures are considered to be very low. Italy and Sweden are the front-runners in this field, with UK and Spain carrying out large national role-outs (EurActive 2013b).

Financial incentives
Various European Union countries implemented financial incentives for energy-efficient appliance purchases. For example in Malta, costs for A-labelled appliances received a 20% rebate and in Italy, consumers received a 20% reduction on the refrigerator price (up to a maximum of € 200) if the disposal of old, less energy-efficient domestic cooling appliances could be verified. Read more in the bigEE good practice policy file on this programme.
However, there is no EU wide financial incentive programme, which is effective in all Member States of the European Union.

Voluntary agreements with manufacturers
The European Commission welcomes voluntary agreements by industrial stakeholders as an alternative for implementing measures under the Ecodesign Directive. Four voluntary agreements (VAs) have been discussed under the Directive. The product groups are complex set top boxes (CSTB), imaging equipment, machine tools and medical imaging equipment. The voluntary agreement for complex set-top boxes is the first voluntary agreement on the ecodesign of products. Such voluntary agreements must make clear that they deliver policy objectives faster or in a more cost-effective way than mandatory requirements. In order to safeguard the trustworthiness of industrial stakeholders a steering committee can be assigned with verifying the data. Industrial actors usually use voluntary agreements in order to avoid stricter government regulation and intervention in advance. The VA on CSTB is expected to annually save 6.5 TWh by 2016 and commits signatories (e.g. manufacturers, service providers) that 90% of their products fulfil the minimum requirements for CSTB.

Education & training for supply chain actors
The European Union also implemented other capacity building measures. The Intelligent Energy Europe programme (IEE) has started to increase capacities of installation and maintenance technicians, however mostly for the building sector. “EmPower – EmPowerment of SME to Network for Intelligent energy” aims at rising the dissemination of intelligent solutions from small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) “to promote networking for increased implementation and to stimulate customer demand“ (Empower 2010). Denmark is an example of a member states that trained salespersons in appliance retail trade, when the EU Energy Label was introduced in the 1990ies. Furthermore, the European Union supports neighbouring countries such as the Ukraine with approximating foreign legislations with EU-legislation by providing expertise, e.g. through workshops on the Eco-Design Directive of the EU or the identification of an audience for a seminar on labelling (European Commission 2011, 29).

Energy efficient public procurement
When purchasing office equipment, the EU requires its institutions as well as central governments to buy Energy Star-labelled products or products that embrace even higher efficiency standards than those of the Energy Star. These products are computer equipment, imaging equipment and displays, which are subject to the energy efficiency procurement regulation (European Union Press releases RAPID 2007). In order for government authorities to reduce energy consumption and protect the environment the DG for Environment has issued the Green Public Procurement Guide, including good practice examples on bulk purchasing (European Commission 2012b).
Since its introduction in 2012, the EED demands “[w]ith regard to the purchase of certain products and services and the purchase and rent of buildings, central governments which conclude public works, supply or service contracts should lead by example and make energy-efficient purchasing decisions” (EED 2012, Sec. (19)).

Bulk purchasing and co-operative procurement
From 1999 to 2004 the bulk-purchasing programme “Energy+” was implemented in various European countries. The overall aim was to use an aggregated purchase power to transform the market. The product group focussed were refrigerators and freezers. They had to be at least 25% more energy-efficient than appliances of the same size and function that just met the EU energy label’s A-rating requirements. The number of Energy+ manufacturers and models meeting the Energy+ criteria gradually progressed. While in 1999, there had been only two models available, this increased to 866 models produced by 21 manufacturers that inscribed their products in Energy+ lists in 2004. If Energy+ cooling devices have 100% market penetration in the EU-15 by 2020, annual energy savings are estimated to be close to 40 TWh. The chances to achieve this goal are good, as from July 2014, an energy efficiency level close to Energy+ requirements will be the minimum energy performance standard (MEPS) in the EU for refrigerators and freezers.
Read more on Energy+ in the bigEE good practice policy file on this programme.

Research and development funding
In 2003, the EC launched a research and development programme: The Intelligent Energy-Europe (IEE) programme. With a budget of €730 million it funds projects of EU member states as well as of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which increase energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy sources and improve mobility and transport within Europe. The programme’s energy efficiency branch is called SAVE, which has supported various energy efficiency projects. For example, the IEE co-funded the BEHAVE Project (Evaluation of Energy Behavioural Change Programmes) which assessed 41 behavioural change programmes of EU member states. Other projects are to gain information about public procurement (e.g. GreenLabelsPurchase), to monitor and evaluate product groups and control market surveillance (ATLETE project) or about “supporting actions for the proper implementation of the new labelling scheme” through the “Common appliance policy – All for one, One for all – Energy Labels” programme. The SAVE-database can be accessed via: www.bigee.net/s/r7v28p
Another relevant R&D funding scheme is the FP7 funding. About EUR 2.3 billion is dedicated to energy-related research. “Most of this budget is used to support research, technological development and demonstration projects through the annual call for proposals (European Commission 2012). For example, the CONCERTO initiative, co-ordinated by the Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (SEZ) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), accessed the FP7 scheme (as well as other funding schemes) in order to co-fund cities and communities with € 175 million. The objective of 58 cities and 22 communities identified in 23 member states was to show CO₂ reductions and the zero energy feasibility on the local/ community level by using energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies (SEZ 2013).
From 2014 to 2020, the former IEE and FP7 programmes have been merged to become the energy research and dissemination topic of the Horizon 2020 program me.

Competitions & awards
The European Union also launched two contests to promote energy efficiency efforts. One programme was the “u4energy” contest in which schools were eligible to share energy efficiency ideas on the website www.u4energy.eu. The contest included three competitions for a) Best Energy Efficiency Measures, b) Best Teaching Actions on Efficient Energy Use and c) Best School Campaigns on Energy Efficiency. 

The Energy+ project for efficient refrigerators and freezers (see at “Bulk purchasing and co-operative procurement” and in the bigEE good practice policy file) also ran two award competitions for the most efficient models, most active buyers, and best promotion campaign. Already the winner for combined refrigerator-freezers in 2004 would have qualified for an A+++ label, which was only introduced in 2010.

The DG for Environment also launches a contest for companies selling products with the EU Flower label every year. In 2011 a jury assessed all participating parties under the following aspects:

• Quality and creativity of the campaign;
• Effectiveness of EU Ecolabel logo use;
• Relevance of promotional activities undertaken;
• Results achieved

In 2011 four different awards were presented in four categories: “Business 2 Business”, “Manufacturer”, “Service Provider” and “Special Mention”.