Energy Efficiency Of Products and Appliances

Appliances and, more broadly, energy-using products have totally changed our lives in less than a century. However, these modern marvels convey too often an image of lightness and of lack of economic and environmental costs, as their consumption of energy (electricity) is not directly related to practices. Public policies are increasingly encouraging the production of more efficient energy-using products. The energy efficiency of appliances is seen as a step toward reducing the energy consumption of households. There are good arguments for the increase of energy efficiency of products and appliances: energy independence, energy cost, and climate change. According to different models, improvements in energy efficiency since the 1970s have contributed more to our economic prosperity than traditional sources of energy supply. Energy efficiency is for this reason sometimes called “negawatt,” the biggest energy source. The potential of energy efficiency improvements is still huge, but there are also doubts that it will be enough to face the major problems linked to energy consumption, as the case of appliances shows.

[Page 123]Consumption of energy in households can be divided into the following sectors: space heating, water heating, lighting, cooking, and appliances. In terms of energy consumption, space heating uses the most (53 percent in 2005), followed by appliances (21 percent) in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, however, appliances will soon catch up with residential heating. This is because of the low conversion factor from fossil energy to electricity and the steady increase of appliances in households. In OECD countries, the electricity use in appliances grew by 57 percent between 1990 and 2004, despite energy savings from improvements in energy efficiency. The energy share of larger appliances (refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, and televisions) is currently about 50 percent. However, this share is declining, as the most rapid increase in appliance energy consumption comes from increased ownership of a wide range of mostly small appliances such as computers, mobile phones, personal audio equipment, and other home electronics. Standby power accounts for around 10 percent of residential electricity demand. In some countries, air conditioning is also a key factor. Despite the decrease of the average unit energy consumption of big appliances put on the market (apart from televisions), their total energy consumption has increased since 1990 as households possess and use more of these appliances. For televisions, energy efficiency gains have been undermined by the consumer trend toward wide screens, which use more energy. In OECD countries, the demand for big appliances is almost saturated. However, this is not the case in other countries, where increase of energy consumption for appliances and products is expected.

According to life cycle analysis, energy-using products consume much more energy when used than when manufactured—even in the case of computers, which require many resources during the production phase. It is then important that households be aware that use of appliances is energy consuming. Most of the countries have developed energy-labeling schemes to educate consumers about the most efficient products. Energy labels are progressively improving the appliances market because producers are encouraged to manufacture more efficient products. When market mechanisms are not sufficient, some countries develop mandatory performance standards, for example, on lamps and on standby.

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