Do your products meet the new energy efficiency standards?

Minister for the Environment Peter Garrett has introduced new measures to help improve Australia’s role as an energy efficient nation. The new initiatives include new performance standards and energy labels for TVs, as well as an extended 10-star energy rating scale for fridges, freezers and air conditioners.

“Energy efficiency is one of the cheapest, smartest and most effective actions we can take to drastically cut carbon pollution, live and work more comfortably, and help householders take control of their energy use,” Mr Garrett said.

Up until recently, energy efficiency labels were predominantly used only on whitegoods to help consumers compare the efficiency levels of each product, now this standard is mandatory for televisions as well.

“In Australia, we buy over two million TVs every year, adding to the 18 million already in homes and businesses. In a single day, a large widescreen TV can use more energy than a dishwasher, washing machine and clothes dryer combined,” Mr Garrett said.

“For the first time, TVs imported into Australia must now meet new minimum energy performance standards and display an energy rating label, helping consumers select the most efficient model that suits their needs and budget.”

In addition to this, the energy rating scale for various whitegoods has been changed. The scale for fridges, freezers and air conditioners has now been increased from six stars to 10 stars and this has been implemented to demonstrate the differences between an ‘efficient’ product and a ‘super efficient’ product.

“The race is on for Australia’s first ‘super efficient’ whitegoods, and you can spot these products because their label will have seven or more stars,” Mr Garrett said.

In his announcement, Garrett also discussed the phase out of traditional incandescent light bulbs from Australian retailers and the upcoming measures to improve the energy efficiency of desktop computers, laptops and computer monitors.

These household energy efficiency measures are expecting to save 32,000 gigawatt hours per year by 2020, prevent up to 19.5 million tonnes or carbon emissions every year by 2020, save the Australian economy up to $22 billion over the next 16 years and save Australian householders up to $5 billion by 2020.