JRC activities on Energy Efficiency in Products

The European Commmission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has in one of its areas of research a focus on Energy Efficiency in Products.

The work being developed is ocurring in several institutes of the JRC, thanks to its multidisciplinarity.

Some of the main areas relating to energy efficiency in Products are:

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

The JRC has been developing, in cooperation with members from the different sector's industries, the ICT Codes of Conduct (CoC). With an exponential growth on energy consumption from ICT, it was seen as necessary the study and the interaction between the European Commission and the ICT sector, in order to push for a reduction of the environmental impact that such essential technologies carry.

Already with a long-standing tradition in the establishment of Voluntary Schemes, the Code of Conduct schemes that have been developed are:

• ICT Code of Conduct - Data Centres Energy Efficiency
• ICT Code of Conduct - AC Uninterruptible Power Systems
• ICT Code of Conduct Broadband Equipment
• ICT Code of Conduct - Efficiency of External Power Supplies
• ICT Code of Conduct for Digital TV Services

As a part of the editors group, the JRC has been also contributing to the development of a Recommendation of the UN's ICT body, on the environmental impact of ICT in goods, networks and services and consequently the Recommendation on the environmental impact of ICT at a city level.

On Energy Labelling and Ecodesign, the JRC has been participating actively in the EU Energy Labelling and Ecodesign studies of several products, namely Space Heaters and water heaters and Commercial Refrigeration.

The JRC is also looking into the roll-out of Smart meters in the European Union.

Some of the work that has been developed in this matter has contributed to the Benchmarking Smart metering deployment in the EU-27 with focus on electricity, Country fiches for electricity smart metering and Cost-benefit analyses & state of play of smart metering deployment in the EU-27, among other.

Other areas being looked into in terms of Energy Efficiency in Products at the JRC are lighting as shown in the E3P articles here on residential lighting, here on LED, and other construction materials/products like windows or critical materials for energy.

Events on Energy Efficiency in Products.

The JRC organizes, on a regular basis events with the objective to promote, enlight and find the best ways to make sure that products are energy efficient.

Every two years, the JRC co-organizes the EEMODS, the Conference on Energy Efficiency in Motor Driven Systems and EEDAL, the International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting.

The proceedings and presentations of these conferences are also available for consultation.