UK – manufacturers join consumer electronics efficiency initiative

Intellect‘‘s Consumer Electronics Council has joined the British Retail Consortium, retailers and the Government to work on the details of an initiative to phase out energy-intensive consumer electronics products that cost consumers and the environment dearly, Minister for Climate Change Joan Ruddock said.



The manufacturers‘‘ organisation, Intellect, has joined the initiative announced in the autumn to develop proposals to promote energy efficient consumer electronics products.



Meeting with key names from the UK‘‘s consumer electronics manufacturers, Joan Ruddock emphasised the importance of working with the industry to take forward government plans to improve performance standards and promote energy efficient choices to consumers in a drive to slash CO2 emissions by up to 1MtCO2 a year – the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road.



This initiative will aim to set clear targets in the next few months and participants will be look ing at ways to analyse the energy efficiency of consumer electronic products, starting with set-top boxes and to consider how a significant reduction could be made in stand-by energy use.



The British Retail Consortium is leading the work, in partnership with the Government, the Energy Saving Trust, retailers and manufacturers to develop proposals for an initiative to promote more energy efficient consumer electronics products with the aim of cementing commitments in early 2008.



NOTES



The Government is keen to aim for a firm agenda to phase out the least efficient consumer electronics products from UK markets, including those which use excessive power in standby, with the aim of significantly reducing carbon emissions from these products over the next four years. If retailers were to adopt the Government‘‘s published range of indicative performance standards for consumer electro nics a reduction in emissions of up to 1MtCO2 a year would be achieved.



Joan Ruddock met with Intellect, the trade association for the UK technology industry and manufacturers: Alba, Humax, JVC, Sony and Pace. The British Retail Consortium and leading retailers attended a meeting in November: Amazon, ASDA, Comet Group, The Co-Operative group, DSG International (Dixons.co.uk/Currys/PC World/Pixmania), Home Retail Group (Argos/Homebase), John Lewis, Marks &Spencer, Sainsbury‘‘s, Tesco and Woolworths. All the major consumer electronics retailers have been approached and others have indicated that they would consider joining such an initiative. This is an open process reaching out to all retailers, small or big.



The initiative to phase out inefficient consumer electronic products follows the success of the voluntary initiative to phase out inefficient lightbulbs, announced by Hilary Benn on 27th September 2007 and being led by major retailers and energy suppliers. Both projects reflect energy saving measures for general product policy laid out in the Energy White Paper.



In the Budget 2006, Gordon Brown, then Chancellor, announced ‘‘a new initiative, in partnership with major retailers and the Energy Saving Trust, to introduce voluntary schemes in the retail sector, which encourage the purchase of more energy efficient alternatives in consumer electronics.‘‘ Discussions held yesterday are part of this process

Check Also

Waste management poses challenges, but could unlock major environmental and economic gains

Every day, the city of Rio de Janeiro, one of the largest metropolises in the Southern Hemisphere, generates 17,000 tonnes of waste, ranging from large industrial debris to candy wrappers bought innocently at newspaper stands. While this waste presents a serious and urgent environmental challenge, it also fuels an increasingly significant portion of the economy, with benefits extending beyond financial gains. - When we look at developed European countries, many are already recycling between 40% and 50%, with some reaching 60%. From an economic standpoint, both recyclable materials and organic waste hold tremendous value - stated Adalberto Maluf, National Secretary for Environment and Environmental Quality at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), during the Methane Forum: Climate Emergency Brake, at the Rio Nature and Climate Week. Citing a 2025 report, Maluf mentioned that Brazil literally throws away R$27 billion annually, while municipalities spend significantly more - R$45 billion - managing all this waste, often overlooking the environmental impact or economic potential buried in landfills and dumps. - We spend R$45 billion to collect and dispose of waste in landfills, yet we manage to recycle less than a third of the potential. I believe it will be necessary to review contracts, create performance-based remuneration mechanisms, and pay for both effectively sorted materials and those diverted from landfills - he added. According to the IBGE, 60.5% of Brazilian municipalities adopt some form of selective waste collection, and several initiatives serve as examples of how to manage city waste. In his panel presentation, Bernardo Ornelas, Project Coordinator at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (Comlurb), highlighted Ecoparque do Caju, a national benchmark in waste management and recycling. There, received materials are sorted and can be used for biogas production, organic compounds for urban gardens, or human consumption, in the case of still...