Energy efficient office appliancesFrans Oosterhuis

Workshop on Innovation dynamics induced by environment policy, Brussels, 21 June 2006

Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)

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Outline

• Introduction

• Innovation dynamics

• Policy instruments and other drivers(focus on public procurement)

• Conclusions and prospects

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Introduction

• Concern about growing energy use for ICT

• Response by industry:– Power management (computers)– Reducing warm-up time (copiers)

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Progress in energy efficiency

Source:Gehl et al., 2005; original source: American Electronics Association, Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), and Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), 2002).

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Innovation dynamics (1)

Market penetration of Top Runner compliant computers

Source: Naturvårdsverket (2005); original source: JEITA (Japan Electronics & Information Technology Industries Association).

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Innovation dynamics (2)

Development of costs and prices:

– Costs of energy efficiency improvement cannot be isolated (but probably often close to zero)

– Dynamic market; quick decrease in prices of innovative products

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Policy instruments

• (a) labels, market incentives (e.g. Energy Star)• (b) minimum efficiency standards• (c) R&D subsidies etc. (e.g. ‘Copier of the Future’)

Source: IEA, 2000

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Use of energy efficiency criteria in public tenders for PCs, printers and/or copiers, March-April 2006

Use of energy efficiency requirements Country Number of

respondents Referring to Energy Star

Referring to Ecolabel

Other None

Belgium 3 1 1 1 Germany 2 1 1 Denmark 1 1 Spain 1 1 Finland 2 1 1 France 2 1 1 UK 1 1 Norway 4 2 1 1 Poland 1 1 Sweden 1 1 Total 18 4 3 4 7

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Expert views on effectiveness of policy instruments

• Ranking of effective policy instruments:(1) Mandatory public procurement(2) Mandatory energy performance standards(3) Voluntary labelling(4) Higher energy prices

• Criteria should not be too stringent• Technological possibilities should be taken into

account• Measuring procedures and enforcement important

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Conclusions and prospects

• Public procurement can be a powerful instrument for market transformation

• In the EU, the potential of this instrument is not yet fully exploited

• Criteria should be specified (and updated) carefully in order to achieve ‘optimum’ part of the market able to comply

• User behaviour determines final effectiveness