Standby Power - Product Profiles

Standby "product profiles" are being developed for each product type or category. The profile will provide an overview of the product in terms of its standby characteristic (including a review of measurements that show the distribution of standby power), the purpose and functionality of their standby function, market status, ownership levels and trends in sales and product types. Product profiles will provide the initial basis for making an assessment of the need for further action in terms of reducing standby and will provide the basis for initial discussions between government and industry regarding concrete measures to reduce standby. Standby profiles essentially initiate the development of plans for each of the key products identified. Standby profiles are released on this web site as they become available.

The 2002 standby discussion paper proposed a list of potential product types for consideration as candidates for specific product profiles. This list was the subject of extensive comments by many stakeholders, as was the need to adopt a flexible approach to the plan for each product, especially in the timing of when to move from stage one (voluntary measures) to stage two (mandatory measures).

The revised product list in the MCE standby strategy continues to be prioritised into two classifications - 'immediate' for action in the first year of this strategy and 'subsequent' for action within the first three years of the overall strategy. The following criteria were used to determine the initial classification priority:

high standby power consumption (particularly when this appears unnecessary to maintain functionality);
high (or potentially high and/or growing) ownership or penetration levels of that product type;
wide ranges of standby levels found within differing examples of that product type, demonstrating that reducing standby is technically possible.

Targeted Products

The following table is the schedule proposed for the release of draft Standby Profiles for those products that have been identified as being potentially problematic.

Product Group A - Prioritised for "Immediate" Action	Number of Products	Time Frame for Progressive Release of Individual Product Profiles within each Group
Information Technology Group A¹	6	From early 2003
Entertainment Group A²	7	From early 2003
Major Appliances Group A³	4	From mid 2003
Small Appliances Group A⁴	3	From early 2003

1: Includes personal computers, PC monitors, photocopiers, printers, scanners and multi-function devices.
2: Includes analogue TVs, digital TVs, VCRs, DVDs, digital TV set top boxes and converters, pay TV set top boxes, integrated and portable stereos.
3: Includes clothes washers, clothes dryers, dishwashers and airconditioners.
4: Includes external power supplies, smoke detectors and microwave ovens.

Product Group B - Prioritised for "Subsequent" Action	Number of Products	Time Frame for Progressive Release of Individual Product Profiles within each Group
Information Technology Group B⁵	4	From mid 2004
Entertainment Group B⁶	Multiple	From mid 2004
Major Appliances Group B⁷	Multiple	From early 2005
Small Appliances Group B⁸	Multiple	From early 2005

5: Includes fax machines, laptop computers, modems and PC speakers with separate power supply.
6: Includes separate sound system components (receivers, amplifiers, tuners, CD players and tape decks).
7: Includes water heaters (gas with mains connection), space heaters (electric & gas with mains connection), ovens and ranges (electric and gas with mains connection), cooktops (electric and gas with mains connection) and rangehoods.
8: Includes bread makers, coffee machines, security systems, remote garage door openers, networked/smart home products and motion detectors.

The priority list of products is dynamic - as new products come onto the market the list will be reconsidered and possibly revised. Individual products may move from one classification priority to another depending on the performance of the relevant industry over time.

A Staged Process

All products will be dealt with through a process that potentially has two stages. This staged approach will provide the opportunity to firstly identify the products that need attention and secondly, provide industry with the opportunity to develop voluntary measures to address standby for the product, and then move to more interventionist measures (mandatory actions) if and when necessary.

Stage 1 Profiles: Identification of major product groups and initial actions (as short as 1 year and as long as 5 years)

All key products will have a product profile prepared which outlines its current status with respect to standby power. These will be prepared and progressively released within the first three years of the strategy (and as needed for future products). When an individual product has been identified as being "problematic", a specific standby product profile will be developed to promote consultation with key stakeholders. This profile will record the information gathered about the product (see Appendix A for an example of the major areas of interest) and government proposals for the product.

Australian governments will announce the standby target for each product in the product profile. Generally, this target will be the Energy Star level promoted by the US Environmental Protection Agency or some other previously identified internationally accepted level. The standby target will be included in the relevant Australian Standard, to ensure all stakeholders have a reasonable opportunity to become aware of the target level and compliance dates.

The E₃ Committee will continue benchmarking surveys each year and gather other market intelligence to monitor standby levels. The data will be used to measure improvement for each product and build on the existing data sources and analysis. This monitoring function will be assisted by industry agreements where suppliers agree to supply government agencies with standby levels for relevant products. Where a product profile has specific measures and targets included within it, a formal review of progress will be undertaken once milestones have been reached. This analysis will draw on benchmarking data and may also necessitate collection of specific data for that measure and product. A review will generally result in either a "positive result", meaning that reasonable progress has been made to date and that the voluntary measures in place can continue as proposed, or a "negative result", meaning that insufficient progress has been made (or is unlikely to be made) and that specific mandatory measures under Stage 2 will be necessary.

Stage 2 Mandatory Action Plans: Escalating Government Action (1 to 5 year process)

Stage 2 is where action moves beyond voluntary measures and seeks to impose mandatory measures. Government would move to regulatory intervention ONLY:

Where progress by voluntary measures is shown to be inadequate (ie a negative review at the end of Stage 1); or
The potential for excessive standby is well documented from overseas experience and that regulation appears to be warranted as a pre-emptive measure or voluntary measures are unlikely to be effective; &
The Ministerial Council on Energy accepts that regulation is necessary to achieve the standby target.

Any regulatory action would be subject to the usual processes of economic analyses (regulatory impact statements involving cost-benefit analysis and public consultation) and would only proceed if it is in the public interest and complies with governmental regulatory requirements.

This page last modified 27 June 2007