EPA to Scrap Energy Star for External Power Supplies
The EPA said it’s shutting down the Energy Star program for external power supplies and end-use products that use power supplies. The agency had sought comments on its proposal to terminate the program in June. Some stakeholders wanted to continue using the Energy Star label but they didn’t provide “compelling information contradicting the rationale to sunset” the program, said Ann Bailey, chief of the Energy Star labeling branch.
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The agency’s decision to close the program was based, among other things, on the “relatively high market Energy Star penetration” for power supplies, federal regulations limiting power use in the products and “diminishing scope of end-use products using the Energy Star program” because of new Energy Star product specifications like those for small network equipment, Bailey said. Following the decision to close the program, no new partnership agreements for power supplies will be accepted, she said.
The EPA will recognize until Dec. 31 Energy Star power supplies and end-use products at its website. Product makers must stop using the Energy Star name and mark in all products made after Dec. 30, Bailey said, but qualified products made before that date can carry the Energy Star mark or the power supply graphic on their packaging and product literature. To cut costs associated with labeling changes and to be in compliance by Dec. 31, manufacturers can remove Energy Star references on websites or in “other collateral material,” she said.
The agency intends to change Energy Star specifications for products that require the use of Energy Star power supplies like computers, displays and TVs to incorporate the International Efficiency Marking Protocol Level 5 for power supplies, Bailey said. That standard is consistent with the Energy Star version 2.0 specification for power supplies, she said. “For applicable product categories, these changes will occur as part of the specification revision process associated with enhanced testing and verification requirements,” she said. The agency is also looking at changing the Energy Star battery charging systems specification to broaden eligibility to cover products currently covered by end-use products using power supplies like cell phones, she said.
The EPA’s citing the existence of federal regulation to shut the power supplies Energy Star program has caused raised eyebrows in CE circles. The contention at the agency has been that “mandatory regulations won’t disturb the Energy Star program,” said a CE executive. Advocates have been saying that regulations go “hand-in-hand with voluntary programs but at least in external power supplies it doesn’t seem that’s the case,” he said.