We all know the A-G Energy Label rainbow. From the top, it starts with the A-rated green bar of a highly energy-efficient product, moves through the D-rated yellow bar of medium energy efficiency, and down to the E-rated red bar of energy inefficiency. 

Claude Turmes, Luxemburgish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) said the appliance producers “may have qualified themselves for next year's 'Worst EU lobbying awards' for their misleading campaign”. But with this vote, “they fortunately failed to secure a system that would continue to grant an A grade efficiency label to virtually all of their products.”

This political deadlock can now only be solved through a negotiation between EU decision-makers, in the framework of the revision of the Directive for Energy Labelling. In the meantime, the European Parliament has managed to block the new label for televisions, but failed to do so with the proposed new label for fridges. Therefore, it is as if the European Parliament had sent two contradictory messages. This unprecedented political situation, due to the nature of these votes and the different numbers of votes required, should not hide the fact that a majority of MEPs has expressed strong doubts about the industry way.

And Environmental NGOs and the Cool Products Campaign insist that this political imbroglio should not delay the adoption of other important energy efficiency measures on products.

As Coolproducts launches, we hear from Friends of the Earth and the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment that a group of "penguins" will set up on Thursday 12th November a penguin refugee camp made of refrigerators just outside the European Commission's Berlaymont Building, in Brussels. A mass petition signed by European citizens will also be delivered to EU negotiators by Avaaz.org.

Environmental organisations are urging Europe not to agree weak energy efficiency measures and confusing changes to energy labels for key appliances this week. Experts from European Union member states will vote on ‘green’ standards for household appliances like televisions and fridges and how to update or introduce new energy labelling of these products. Environmental groups call on European decision-makers to stop caving in to industry pressure and strengthen the proposals so that Europe can meet its environmental and climate change targets.

The EU aims to become 20% more energy efficient by 2020. According to the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment and Friends of the Earth Europe, ambitious eco-design rules have the potential to cut Europe’s CO2 emissions by 450 million tons per year by 2020 - equivalent to the emissions of all European cars!

Increased efficiency of products to be voted on this month, including electric motors (11 March), fridges (13 March), televisions (17 March), dishwashers (30 March) and washing machines (31 March) could account for a 100 million ton CO2 saving annually.

Find out more from Friends of the Earth Europe

The year 2009 started with a big controversy in the British media about… lightbulbs. And as Europe prepares for a big round of votes this month on requirements and labels for a variety of products, we can expect more debate. But is the media doing its best in helping readers understand the facts, or does it sometimes contribute to creating unnecessary confusion? Are policy makers looking for yet more excuses to delay the fight against climate change?
More precisely, the controversy in January was about the UK government and EU plans to phase out inefficient incandescent lightbulbs as part of eco-design legislation and to fight climate change. The Daily Mail initiated the whole controversy with a front page story about ‘panic buyers’ in the UK making a mad rush for the last incandescent lightbulbs. Consumers, it is said, will soon be ‘robbed of their right’ to those traditional bulbs.

In our view (and that of many experts), this was all a bit sensationalist and in many ways inaccurate. But things got really interesting when The Sun newspaper criticised its competitor for getting its facts wrong and later responded by giving away not one but three super–efficient Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) for each reader. Then The Guardian tried to help their readers understand the debate by going back to basic facts – albeit only after having allowed writers on its ‘Comment is Free’ section to go as far as invoking Stalin’s work camps and genocide when talking about CFLs (hmm…seriously?). Then it all went quiet again.
Until, that is, The Guardian noticed that another controversy was brewing – over A–G energy efficiency labels (more about this in the next blog entry). Who would have guessed that this could become a controversial issue? Well, it now is.