Household appliances (video) – The energy label is finally evolving – News

If you’ve got renewed considered one of your family appliances in the previous couple of months, you’ll have been stunned to seek out, in its field, a energy label – this sheet which summarizes the traits of a product and, particularly, its energy efficiency – totally different from that caught on the packaging. This is the case of Patricia, from Coulommiers (77), who acquired an Electrolux washer in September. “Inside, in a pocket, were inserted the energy label (the same one affixed to the machine in the store), which classifies the device A +++, and another sheet, where it gets an E. , no ? I am very surprised and would like to know which machine I actually bought ”, she wrote to us. We reassured her. There is nothing bizarre about it, it is relatively an absence of pedagogy on the a part of the model.

The rationalization is easy: the energy label will quickly change for a number of product households (learn the infographic), together with washing machine ; Electrolux took a step forward by slipping the brand new model into its packing containers from the beginning of the final college 12 months, so as to facilitate its stock administration and the work of distributors. As this may solely come into impact on 1^er March, sellers are prohibited from displaying it on cabinets earlier than that date. From this deadline, they may have two weeks to switch the labels within the retailer and on the packaging of the units (by sticking the brand new one on high of the outdated one). But, since sellers can’t open the packaging, producers have been allowed to include each variations into it on a transitional foundation. If Patricia was stunned, even fearful on the thought of ​​having been deceived, it is above all as a result of the reference that she had chosen obtained the perfect ranking to date, an A +++, and that she now collects. hui an E, on a scale from A to G. To perceive this plummet, we should return to the creation of the energy label and the explanations for its revision.

No extra A +++ rated units

When it was put in place in 1994, the energy ranking evaluated the efficiency of merchandise on this space, on a scale from A to G. But, over time, the general high quality of the gear has improved. Most of them have reached Class A and even surpassed it. So that consumers can proceed to distinguish the fashions, A +, A ++ and A +++ rankings have been added. So a lot in order that in 2017, greater than 90% of units obtained a rating above class A. At the identical time, probably the most energy-consuming machines have been banned. The instance of refrigerators is revealing. Fridges of sophistication decrease than A + (due to this fact, these rated from A to G) have been banned on the market in July 2012, even when this scale nonetheless seems on the label. An uninformed shopper who falls for a reference with an A + dangers, due to this fact, believing that he is shopping for probably the greatest performing available on the market, when it is in reality a mannequin that has obtained the decrease ranking!

To make the label comprehensible once more for extraordinary individuals, the European Commission has proposed to revert to the preliminary system calibrated from A to G – spurred on by environmental organizations and shopper associations, including UFC-Que Choisir, who’ve been calling for this reform for years. The energy effectivity of all of the gear involved has been recalculated in response to this new scale. The authors of the evaluation didn’t solely tighten the anticipated ranges, additionally they, at instances, modified the way in which they’re measured. For instance, for laundry machines, the calculation was carried out by launching a brand new program, referred to as “eco 40-60”, imposed by the European Union on the finish of 2019. The effectivity of this cycle could differ, as proven by our take a look at devoted to numerous machines: the outdated A +++ fashions now obtain a ranking starting from A to E. This is what occurred to the reference bought by Patricia, which went from A +++ to E: its total efficiency is not worse than earlier than however, on this washing mode, it didn’t obtain the aims set.

The legislator wished class A to be very tough to acquire, if not unattainable, at current, with regard to sure households of apparatus. This “In order to encourage technological progress, ensure regulatory stability, limit the frequency of changes and allow the development and recognition of ever more efficient products”, specifies the textual content of European legislation. In addition, to keep away from that, in just a few years, units jostling at school A and that the issue of readability reappears, the rules present, this time, for the hardening of the size when 30% of the references will likely be on this class, or that the overall of merchandise rated A or B will exceed 50%. And if sure classes are, sooner or later, withdrawn from the market (which is able to undoubtedly be rapidly the case of the G class), they must be grayed out on the sheet in order to not mislead consumers.

Significant energy financial savings

According to the European Commission, the revision of the energy label may save, by 2030, 38 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electrical energy per 12 months within the Union, i.e. Hungary’s annual consumption. For its estimate, the establishment is primarily based on the success of the earlier label, an necessary criterion of selection for 90% of French individuals (Gifam Insight 2018 survey), which might have inspired producers to provide increasingly economical units.

A look at our archives confirms how far now we have come. Thus, the dishwasher that we recently tested consumed, on common, 9.75 liters of water per cycle within the eco program. Exactly 11 years earlier, that quantity stood at 13.6 liters (QC n ° 474), or practically 40% extra… and it amounted to 27.3 liters in 1994, the 12 months the energy label was launched!

The similar goes for the mixed fridges which, nonetheless in 1994, required 1781 Wh / 24 hours, and as much as 4600 Wh / 24 hours for American fashions. Today, a category A +++ fridge is 9 instances much less energy intensive (200 Wh / 24 hours roughly). It ought to due to this fact come as no shock to learn that within the Nineteen Nineties, “cold” appliances (freezers and fridges) in French houses represented 31% of their electrical energy consumption, excluding heating. In 2020, in response to the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe), chilly and washing solely account for 18.5% of family electrical energy payments. Real progress.

How the label evolves

The new energy label will seem on the cabinets from March. Only just a few classes of units will then be affected.

The product households involved in 2021

• Save

Chronology

• Save