In the last decade, computers have become ubiquitous and their role will continue to be more and more important due to their impacts on productivity, education, society, and personal lives. Consequently, the number of computers and information technologies is continuously growing, Europe is becoming more computerised, and internet access is spreading among households across the European Union.
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Fig. 68: Percentage of households with internet access (source ITU2011)
From the year 2006 on, the Energy Star Programme has been implemented in the European Union.41 The ENERGY STAR is a voluntary appliance specific label, identifying to consumers appliances that meet certain standards regarding energy efficiency. The EU ENERGY STAR Programme follows an agreement between the United States of America’s Government and the European Union on the co-ordination of voluntary energy labelling of office equipment, approved by the EU Council in April 2003. The number of manufacturers participating in the programme has increased significantly, from 16 companies in 2006 to 74 in 2010. The graph below depicts the impact of the ENERGY STAR Programme for computers and displays:
Fig. 69: The success of the energy star programme (source EC)
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It is estimated that without ENERGY STAR the electricity consumption of new office equipment sold in the EU in the last three years would have been approximately 67 TWh. ENERGY STAR succeeded in reducing this by around 11 TWh, i.e. by approximately 16 %. This translates into more than EUR 1.8 billion saved on energy bills and 3.7 million tons (Mt) of avoided CO2 emissions. It needs to be noted that these numbers represent do not take into account the current impact of earlier (pre-2008) specifications. If also earlier specifications are taken into account it is estimated that ENERGY STAR will succeed by 2020 in reducing the energy consumption of the installed base of computers, displays and imaging equipment in the EU by more than 30%. (Energy Star Programme in the EU 2006 - 2010, EC2011).
Fig. 70: Energy consumption of personal computers under the energy star measures in the EU (source EC)
Personal computers
Eco-design requirements for computers are currently being discussed. In the working document of implementation measures of the Ecodesign Directive for personal computers, the following equipment is covered in the document: Desktop computers, notebook computers, integrated desktop computers, workstations, and thin clients.
The timing for the introduction of requirements was chosen with the aim of taking off the market the least performing products and are based on the forecast of compliance rates with the ENERGY STAR Programme42 (scenario without an Ecodesign measure) shown below:
42 The revised Energy Star technical specifications Version 5.0 for computers became effective on 1 July 2009.
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Fig. 71: Compliance of planned Ecodesign measures for personal computers with energy star measures (source [COM2011b])
The requirements are planned to be introduced gradually and separately for on-mode, idle state, sleep mode, and off-mode. The first stage of the power consumption requirements to be applicable 6 months after the entry into force of the Regulation is in line with ENERGY STAR Computers v4.0. Second stage requirements to be applicable by 31 January 2013 are in line with ENERGY STAR Computers v5.0. The revised Energy Star technical specifications Version 5.0 for computers became effective on 1 July 2009 [EC2011].
On 9 June 2011, the European Commission published the Commission Decision on establishing the ecological criteria for the award of the EU Ecolabel for personal computers [EC2011d]. Energy efficiency requirements are also set in this decision.
The energy efficiency performance of desktop and integrated desktop computers shall exceed the appropriate energy efficiency requirements set out in the Agreement as amended by Energy Star v5.0 by at least the following:
1. Category A: 40% 2. Category B: 25% 3. Category C: 25% 4. Category D: 30%
The energy efficiency performance of thin clients shall meet at least the energy efficiency requirements for thin clients set out by Energy Star v5.0.
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Computer displays
Commission Decision of 26 October 2009 implements energy star requirements for displays (i.e. computer monitors). The regulation concerns displays up to 60 inches of size.
Minimum On Mode power consumption requirements for displays have to be fulfilled. The display must not exceed a maximum power consumption level for Sleep and Off Modes.43 Displays capable of multiple Sleep Modes (i.e. Sleep and Deep Sleep) must meet Sleep Mode requirements in all sleep modes.
For computer displays, the energy efficiency performance in active mode shall exceed the energy efficiency requirements set out in Energy Star v5.0 by at least 30%. Computer display sleep power must not exceed 1 W, computer displays shall have an energy consumption in on-mode of ≤ 100 W measured when set to maximum brightness, and computer monitor off mode power shall not exceed 0.5 W.
In addition to these, some criteria for power management are set. The power management settings shall be:
1. 10 minutes to screen off (display sleep)
2. 30 minutes to computer sleep (system level S3, suspended to RAM
Concerning internal power supplies, these shall meet at least the energy efficiency requirements for internal power supplies set out by Energy Star v5.0 [EC2011].
Imaging equipment
Imaging equipment covers printers, copiers, faxes, and multifunctional devices.
Until today no Ecodesign requirements exist nor has an energy label been implemented for imaging equipment. A voluntary industry agreement has been introduced. The agreement is based on the Energy Star programme and encompasses the compliance with the Energy Star programme v 1.1. for an increasing percentage of aspects and products put on market. The following targets have been set so far:
Target for Tier I (by January 2011): 60% (BAU compliance was estimated at 50%).
Target for Tier II (by January 2012): 80% of new equipment on the market (compared to an estimated BAU compliance of 60%).
The establishment of further future compliance targets is currently being discussed. A consultation forum has been organized in this respect on October 2012.
43 Tables with the specific values can be found in the energy start regulation (Commission Decision 2009/789/EC)
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