The electricity consumption of household appliances in the European Union and the effects of existing EU energy efficiency policies on its evolution

The final total electricity consumption of the residential sector has increased by almost 40% in the period between 1990 and 2010 in the EU-27. Excepting a slight decrease between 2008 and 2009, the annual variation trend of final per capita electricity consumption has been always positive during these two decades. Nevertheless a lower average annual growth rate can be observed starting from 2005 and the contribution to this trend has varied significantly among the different household electricity end-uses. For instance lighting contribution to household electricity consumption seems to have been decreasing during the last years and important energy efficiency improvements in the white appliances sector have been achieved thanks to a combination of EU regulations (e.g. energy labelling schemes and eco-design requirements), national programmes and voluntary agreements by manufacturers. This paper aims to analyse the present status of electricity consumption of domestic appliances and the energy efficiency progress recently registered in this sector. The main energy efficiency policies implemented at the EU level for domestic appliances are also described together with related expected impacts on energy consumption. The paper focuses also on the process leading to the implementation of these policies and tries to provide some general indications concerning its strengths and possible needs for improvement.

LABANCA Nicola;  BERTOLDI Paolo;  HIRL Bettina; 

2014-12-03

Publications Office of the European Union, 2014

JRC82044

978-92-79-38406-6,   

1831-9424,   

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/books/proceedings-7th-international-conference-eedal-2013-energy-efficiency-domestic-appliances-and,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC82044,   

10.2790/2313,