Energy labelling comes to windows and shower heads

BRUSSELS - European consumers are used to seeing energy consumption labels on their TVs, washing machines and dryers - any product that uses energy directly - but they will soon be able to check out similar labels on other consumer products such as taps, windows and insulation.

The European Parliament and member states reached a deal after closed-door talks on Tuesday (17 November) that will see the EU's energy labelling directive extended to cover all energy-related products. 


Currently, all products that use energy - such as TVs, fridges or tumble dryers - are already governed by a set of compulsory minimum requirements under the "Eco-Design directive" - although companies can voluntarily go even greener.

However, products that do not consume energy directly but have a big impact on energy use - like water-saving taps or shower-heads - remain outside the directive's scope.

The energy efficiency of a device is rated in terms of a set of energy efficiency classes from A to G on the label, with a dark-green-coded A the most energy efficient and a red-coded G the least efficient.

"A+" and "A++" grades were later introduced for refrigeration products. In the new legislation, products can also be graded "A+++." This is ostensibly to keep up with technological advances.

Green campaigners and some member states, including the UK, argued that this is confusing for consumers and that a periodic readjustment up should take place instead of adding the plus signs, to ensure that only the very best energy efficient products won the dark-green A rating.

Some manufacturers however argued that this would push down the prices they could charge for items that they had spent a great deal of money on researching and developing but which were no longer the most efficient. This loss of revenue would discourage them from investing further in energy efficiency innovation, they said.

The deal was cheered by energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs as a step on the road to a still wider range of energy labelling in the coming years.

"This agreement paves the way to adopt legislation on a wide range of products in the future that helps us to honour our commitment on the redution of CO2 emissions," he said on Tuesday.

Member states are likely to formally adopt the agreement in the coming weeks, while the parliament as a whole is expected to give its final endorsement at the beginning of 2010. National governments then have a year to implement the new rules.