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Organisationseinheit der BAM
Improving the energy efficiency of products was identified as the most important short-term opportunity to decrease energy consumption and therefore CO2-emission worldwide. More efficient products are created due to technical innovation. Restricting market access to efficient products only and making the most efficient products stand out by energy labelling are legislative approaches to encourage this development. Market surveillance authorities’ checks are fundamental to protect the consumer from wrongly declared goods on the market and ensure fair competition between manufacturers. However, the activities of market surveillance authorities are limited by their financial resources. Testing all product efficiency parameters in an accredited laboratory is very time consuming and cost intensive. In this article, a theoretical concept is presented which can be used to develop screening tests enabling market surveillance authorities to perform product tests with less financial resources. The concept identifies components which lead to non-compliance or make a product less energy efficient with minimum effort. The principle is based on a combination of random product tests, disassembling specific products and comparing components. This represents a new approach in product testing procedures beyond the current market surveillance activities. The concept is being tested within a research project funded by the German government.
Several models of range hoods were tested by independent and accredited testing institutes. The results have been compared to the information declared by the manufacturer on the energy efficiency label and the product fiche. The measured electric power input of the lighting System and the measured grease absorption factor often differed significantly from the declared values.
The reasons for these observations and the necessary steps to ensure accurate measurements and a meaningful EU energy efficiency label are elucidated. It is suggested that the ranges of the lighting efficiency classes are readjusted to fit the nowadays prevalent LED technology.
Furthermore the tolerance in the regulation for the nominal electric power input of the lighting could be extended by a minimum absolute tolerance. The grease absorption test method may need a rework to achieve a satisfying accuracy.