Boosting ICT energy efficiency through industry-government collaboration
We believe that alignment is an achievable goal in the not too distant future and we are hoping to get the commitment of regulators to take the next step, sit down together, and tackle these challenges.
Regional and global action to improve energy efficiency has increased significantly in recent years. This support for green technologies has come about through growing public appreciation of environmentally-friendly practices together with the added economic incentive for industry to make better use of available resources.
One area where the drive for energy efficiency has been abundant is in the production of new information and communications technology (ICT) products and their associated devices.
With an expanding consumer market and a growing range of goods, industry innovators and government agencies have become increasingly concerned to ensure convergence in energy efficiency regulations and performance standards for ICT products.
A recent APEC workshop brought industry and regulators together in Seoul, Korea to consider the next steps in advancing minimum energy performance (MEPS) requirements for personal computers.
The Aligning Energy Efficiency Regulations for ICT Products: Developing a Strategic Approach Workshop was organized by the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance in cooperation with the APEC Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EGEEC).
The Chair of the EGEEC, Terry Collins, said fundamental change has been underway over recent years in the way electronic products are used, and producers are responding to this market demand.
“From labor saving devices that include washing machines and microwave ovens to new ICT products like personal computers and flat screen televisions, energy demand and use is considerably different today than from our parents’ generation,” Mr. Collins said.
According to the EGEEC Chair one of the most significant changes is that it is not only ICT products like computers and televisions that are consuming power, but the vast array of peripherals and networked attachments that ICT products utilize also do.
“These peripheral items could include more than one monitor, printers and a router, games consoles or a surround sound system,” he said.
With the convergence of technologies and devices, other attachments are now also commonly plugged into computer systems such as smart phones and other mobile devices.
“These new products certainly make life easier, but they are all drawing on the energy requirements of our economies.”
Terry Collins emphasized that ICT products are at an advantage when it comes to aligning regulatory requirements because there are commonalities among existing standards that would make alignment easier to achieve.
Importantly, he said enabling developing economies to participate in both the production and use of increasingly energy efficient ICT products is an important element in promoting trade and investment in the region.
Josh Rosenberg, Director of Global Policy at the private sector-led Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), and a key facilitator at the workshop, noted the commonalities among the APEC economies’ current energy efficiency programs.
“We hope to build on that and at this workshop we have proposed some concrete steps toward regulatory alignment,” Mr. Rosenberg said.
“Specifically, we are looking at the possibility of leveraging an existing global standard for testing and an international conformity assessment program that might be applied to drive alignment of minimum energy performance requirements for personal computers.”
“We believe that alignment is an achievable goal in the not too distant future and we are hoping to get the commitment of regulators to take the next step, sit down together, and tackle these challenges.”
Maximizing the energy efficiency of these items has been the focus of product research around the region. This includes work being done on power management systems for when products are not in use but still connected to the power supply.
Mr. Rosenberg also noted that “when it comes to energy efficiency requirements, we want to emphasize that a one-size-fits-all solution does not work for complex ICT devices with greatly varying levels of efficiency. For example, what works for PCs does not necessarily work for servers.”
At a technical level, these joint industry-government events identify specific steps for APEC economies to develop a plan to harmonize details for energy performance standards for the region. This includes articulating a common standard for test methodology and product categories, developing a feasible means to establish transportable test results and the collation of a reference dataset of actual energy performance figures.
“The idea is to implement a one test, one result and one acceptance system,” Mr. Collins emphasized. “This means that when a laboratory tests a product in one economy according to a common test standard, the results of that test can be recognized by others and the product does not require retesting when it is imported.”
“This lowers compliance costs resulting in both cheaper prices for goods, and importantly, fosters greater consumer confidence in the energy efficiency of ICT products.”
“The EGEEC did some research recently with the APEC Market Access Group and found that compared to some other products there is already a good convergence of standards that apply to computers,” he added.
“The Seoul workshop was about ensuring that in our focus to improve the energy efficiency of products, test standards do not become different between economies in the region.”
“We do not want divergence because different economies are moving at different rates of development,” Mr. Collins reiterated.
The EGEEC Chair said that he hopes the private sector will continue to take a leadership role in setting standards for ICT products.
“It is important to get buy-in from both industry and regulators to develop standards,” Mr. Collins said.
“If we can get industry and regulators to adopt common a standard across the board, there is less of a role for regulators in each of the individual economies to become involved because the markets function properly.”
Ultimately, action to develop standards that will facilitate the regional expansion of energy efficient products is in line with the stated objectives set by Leaders in Honolulu in 2011. The United States President Barack Obama spoke on behalf of Leaders stating their desire to reduce tariffs on environmental goods and make it easier to export clean energy technologies that create green jobs.
“We raised the bar on ourselves and we’ll aim for even higher energy efficiencies,” President Obama said after the meeting.
The Aligning Energy Efficiency Regulations for ICT Products: Developing a Strategic Approach Workshop took place in Seoul, Korea, on 18 July 2012.