Eco Design Directive

Eco design – it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

They nibble away in the whole house – the secret electricity consumers. Not only the ancient TV or the  illumination in the broom cupboard: Many appliances continue to use electricity when you are not even using them. The main culprits are computers, printers, TVs and HIFIs, which are just “sleeping” in stand-by mode. They continue to use energy and thus cost you money unnecessarily. And more and more appliances have the sleeping function – convenient for users, fatal for the environment.

To put a stop to this trend, the EU adopted the so-called Eco Design Directive in August 2005, which the member states must adopt into their Civil Code within one and a half years. It has absolutely nothing to do with exterior design – the term was borrowed from the English  “eco design” and refers exclusively to the interior values: Manufacturers are obliged:

• to reduce the amount of power their products use
• to optimise the reuse of old appliances in  recycling
• to limit the amount of dangerous materials in the products.

These measures have already been partially adopted for fridges: they have already been classified into different energy efficiency ratings for several years now, which clearly show the customer how much a particular product will cost to run. Such efficiency labels should be expected for stand-by appliances. Since the directive does not only apply to European brands, but to all products which are sold in Europe, local manufacturers will not be disadvantaged.

The „Directive on establishing a framework for the setting of Eco-design requirements for Energy- Using Products“, as it is officially called, aims to bring all groups together to a (negotiating) table: manufacturers and environmentalists alike, politicians and commercial and employee representatives. They should jointly develop the future standards. More will be known over the next few months– so keep your eyes and ears peeled!