Home entertainment products

 

Home electronics MEPS planned for 2012

EECA and the Australian Greenhouse Office plan to regulate all home electronics to to meet 1 Watt in passive standby mode, no later than 2012. A regulatory impact statement for home electronics is planned for consultation later this year. Please email regs@eeca.govt.nz if you would like to be kept informed on this.

A cost benefit analysis was developed to investigate the impacts of introducing a home entertainment MEPS into the Australian and New Zealand markets. This was made available for public comment in 2007.

Due to issues that arose from consultation, EECA and the Australian Greenhouse Office are not proceeding with the interim standby requirement for home entertainment. There will not be a MEPS requirement to have a minimum of 4 Watts on standby in 2008 for home entertainment products. MEPS are still proposed however for televisions, external power supplies, computers and set top boxes.

Why are home electronic products being considered for regulation?

Home electronics are a major source of energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand, and by introducing MEPS for home entertainment products, significant greenhouse gas emission reductions can be achieved.

The cost benefit analysis indicated that the introduction of MEPS for home entertainment products would save 886 GWh of electricity by 2020 and abate CO2 emissions by 526 kt with estimated savings of $20 million.

Sales of home entertainment products have increased rapidly from 555,000 in 2000 to 737,000 in 2006.

The home entertainment test standard is AS/NZS 62087 and is available on www.standards.co.nz. This standard explains measurement of standby levels.

Last updated: 12/02/08