EU Supports Regulation to Reduce Energy Use of Circulators
March 31, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
European Union (EU) member states expressed support for a regulation to reduce the electricity consumption of circulators, which was proposed by the European Commission (EC) and discussed during an EU Ecodesign Regulatory Committee meeting on March 27.
The regulation covers standalone circulators that are small pumps mainly used for the circulation of water in heating applications in commercial and residential buildings and boiler-integrated circulators that form an integral part of a boiler.
"The measure is a concrete contribution to reach the EU's energy efficiency and climate protection targets and will result very quickly in significant energy savings and benefits for the society and industry, as foreseen in the European Commission Economic Recovery Plan," said EC Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
The regulation will forbid, by 2013, the placing on the market of low- and standard-efficiency circulators. By 2015, only very high-efficiency "intelligent" circulators will be allowed.
Most of the 140 million circulators in use today in Europe are running constantly, independently of whether there is a need or not, except if turned off by the user when no heating is necessary. This means that up to a 20% share of the average household energy bill is used for inefficient circulators.
A large energy saving could be made by using the high-efficiency circulators. The proposed legislation will allow only the sale of very high-efficiency intelligent circulators that function only when needed and that are able to adjust their speed according to the need.
The regulation is expected to create 7,000 jobs and make electricity savings of €2.2 billion by 2020. The legislation will lead to annual use-phase electricity consumption savings throughout the EU of about 23 terawatt-hours by 2020, corresponding to an annual reduction of 11 Mt of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The two-staged approach allows manufacturers, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, to adapt to the new requirements. The regulation is built on the results of an in-depth analysis of the technical, economic and environmental aspects of circulators, which was carried out together with stakeholders and experts from around the world.
The proposal will now be examined by the European Parliament and the European Council. It is scheduled for formal adoption by the EC in July 2009.
Further ecodesign measures will follow in the coming months to cover more product groups. For more information, see the EC's web site, Energy policy for a competitive Europe.
Source: European Commission (EC).