Major appliance energy efficiency trends in the European union

Energy labelling for cold appliances(1) has been in place in Europe since 1995, while mandatory minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) have been implemented since September 1999. Labelling for clothes-washers and washer-dryers(2) has been implemented since 1996. This paper presents the results of two European Commission-sponsored studies (ADEME 1998 & 2000) to monitor the impact of these policies on the efficiency trends of cold and wet appliance sales across the EU. Monitoring of the efficiency trends was achieved through merging national cold and wet appliance sales databases, gathered commercially by market research agencies, with comprehensive technical databases containing relevant energy and market data for individual models. The combined databases, the largest of their kind ever assembled, contain almost 60000 records far cold appliances alone and cover 11 countries, that account for similar to 95% of all EU cold and wet appliance sales. The cold appliance panel coverage averages 83% of sales for the national markets included and therefore encompasses 78% of all cold appliance sales in the EU. Results are reported for the period 1994-97 for cold appliances and 1996-97 for wet appliances; however, 1998 data are being added under a new project and non-sales-weighted data are available for some countries for 1999. The main finding is that the energy efficiency of cold appliances sold in 1997 improved by an average of similar to 12% compared to pre-policy levels circa 1992, and early indications from non-sales-weighted data show that the average efficiency of the EU market following the implementation of MEES in late 1999 is likely to have improved by similar to 30% compared to pre-policy levels. By 2010 it is estimated that this will have avoided 212 TWh of electricity consumption, similar to 27 billion Euro in electricity bills of and 104 M-tonnes of CO2 emissions. These findings indicate the great success of the two policies and vindicate their initiation. For clothes-washers the results indicate a very pronounced peak in the sales of products in energy class B and the almost complete eradication of E, F and G product sales. This also confirms the success of the labelling policy and of the voluntary agreement negotiated between the European major appliance manufacturers' association, CECED, and the European Commission.