El estado del eBranding según los profesionales

Standby power consumption is of particular importance to this thesis, because of the prevalence of these modes in the design of ICE appliances. Awareness of standby power electricity consumption can be traced back to the late 1980s when researchers, such as Alan Meier, estimated that the “miscellaneous” or “other” end-uses (which includes ICE appliances) could significantly contribute to US households‟ electricity consumption (IEA, 2001). In Europe the emergence of standby power through studies, such as EURECO, had a considerable impact on the direction of some ICE appliance research and policy.

This is particularly due to the general opinion that the majority of standby power electricity consumption does not provide a useful purpose.

As a result, a variety of studies took place in Europe and other OECD countries in the 1990s and early 2000s that specifically focused on standby power. This included: (i) whole house measurement studies – where every appliance that uses standby in a household is measured (e.g. Sidler, 2000; Nakagomi, Ohashi, Tanaka, Nakagami, 2001;

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Ross and Meier, 2000); (ii) bottom-up estimates – which estimate average standby consumption per household, or at a national level, from measurements of specific appliances which are then multiplied by the saturation of the appliances recorded (e.g.

Rainer, Meier and Greenberg, 1996; Harrington and Kleverlaan, 2001; Meier, Lin, Liu and Li, 2004); (iii) new product measurement studies – where standby power requirements of new appliances are measured in stores or factories (e.g. Fung, Aulenback, Ferguson, Ugursal, 2003; Bertoldi, Aebischer, Edlington, Hershberg, Lebot, Lin, Marker, Meier, Nakagami, Shibata, Siderius, and Webber 2002).

There are advantages and disadvantages with the methods outlined. Firstly, whole house measurement “can establish a reasonably accurate and highly credible estimate of

standby power use in a region” (Bertoldi et al., 2002), but such studies are generally small and thus not necessarily representative of national consumption. Bottom-up estimates are usually reasonably accurate for common household appliances (e.g. televisions), but fail to capture an accurate picture of the use of appliances where saturation levels are less well understood (i.e. new appliances on the market). Although new product measurements provide a rapid method to collect standby power data, this method fails to incorporate older and existing technologies, which are more commonly found in households. These

measurements are therefore more likely to reflect future stock profiles (Bertoldi et al., 2002).

In the early 2000s, the IEA (2001) and Bertoldi et al. (2002) assessed the results of many of the worldwide standby power studies that had been conducted and assessed the types of policies necessary to reduce this end-use. This work was constrained due to the different measurement procedures applied by the different monitoring studies, differences in sample group characteristics and the different definitions of standby power used. Also, differences in the age of appliances across nations made direct comparison difficult. In addition, due to power supplies having higher losses at higher voltages, an appliance in the UK or Australia (240 Volt mains supply) may have a higher standby consumption in comparison to one in Japan (100 Volt) or the US (115 Volt and 230 Volt) (IEA, 2001).

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Appliances control characteristics also varied. For instance, televisions in some countries, such as the US, tend not to have a hard-off switch, which means that the remote control is always active when the appliance is not in use (Harrington, et al. 2007). The US television is therefore often in a higher power state than a European equivalent television (i.e. the US televisions lowest power mode equates to a UK television in passive standby). These differences highlight the need for real world standby consumption monitoring in the UK.

The assessments made by these two reviews suggest a degree of uncertainty. Bertoldi et al. (2002) estimated that standby power was responsible for between 3 and 10 per cent of domestic electricity consumption, whilst the IEA (2001) estimated that between 3 and 13 per cent of domestic electricity consumption was from standby power consumption in OECD countries. Nevertheless, the conclusions from the assessments indicated efficiency improvements in this area could significantly contribute to global CO₂ emission reduction.

To achieve this Bertoldi et al. (2002) and IEA (2001) called for an internationally

harmonised approach to the development of programmes to improve appliance efficiency, for existing and future technologies, and thus reduce standby power consumption.

Harmonised energy labelling was also seen as a means to influence the appliance market, and the potential effects of the move to digital broadcasting was highlighted as a concern.

The prevalence of standby power electricity consumption still remains and there is still uncertainty regarding its quantification. Harrington et al. (2007) argues that although the energy consumption from major appliances is generally well understood “there is a significant portion of residential sector and commercial sector electricity consumption, most commonly called “miscellaneous end uses”, that is not well understood or

documented” (Harrington et al., 2007 p1285). The US “miscellaneous” end-use category includes “plug-in” appliances, such as ICE appliances, which have a substantial share of standby power consumption (Nordman and McWhinney, 2006; Harrington et al., 2007).

More recent standby power studies have presented similar figures to those previously measured and there is now a general consensus that for most OCED countries, standby power accounts for around 10% of total domestic electricity consumption.

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For example, the Australian EES (2006) study measured 120 homes and provided detailed spot measurements of around eight-thousand appliances. The research estimated that around 10.7% of Australia‟s domestic electricity consumption results from standby power and over 70% of this standby load is attributable to ICE appliances. When the results were compared to a similar study conducted in 2000, it suggested a growth in standby power of around 12% per household (EES, 2006).

In Europe, the EuP Preparatory Study, Lot 6 “Standby and Off-mode Losses” provides an extensive evaluation of standby power in the EU. The study collated and evaluated a vast range of data from standby power studies and estimated that around 6.5% of household electricity consumption was attributable to the fifteen appliance types covered by the EuP.

When extrapolated to include all mains connected household appliances, the report estimates standby power to account for 10.1 % of household electricity (Stobbe, 2007b).

Although such estimates provide a useful benchmark for the UK, as mentioned previously, data from other countries cannot be directly applied to the UK with complete certainty, due to variations in cultural and infrastructural characteristics. In the UK, estimates concerning domestic standby power electricity consumption come mainly from MTP projections which are constrained by limited monitoring data (described in section 2.2.3). However, Vowles, Boardman and Lane (2001) measured thirty-two UK homes‟ standby power consumption and concluded that between 6 and 10% of annual household electricity demand was from standby power consumption. The authors estimated that around 6.2% of total domestic electricity consumption could reasonably be attributed to standby power. Thus, the study confirmed that standby power was a significant aspect of UK domestic electricity

consumption.

An important aspect to Vowles et al.‟s (2001) study is that it coupled the quantitative results with discussions with participants and with questionnaire responses gained from a survey of 120 households to investigate awareness and behavioural aspects of standby use. Thus, the findings from the study will be described in more detail in chapter 4.

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