Project Review of EuP Preparatory Study Evidence (EuP Review)

Now that the Ecodesign of Energy Using Products (EuP) Framework Directive has been recast as the Ecodesign of Energy Related Products (ErP) Directive, there is an opportunity to revisit the environmental improvement potential of the ErP ecodesign legislative framework beyond “energy in use” impacts alone as it can be a powerful driver for environmental improvements across product supply chains.

Resource consumption, use of recycled plastics, bio-based materials and fewer substances of health and environmental concern, lifetime extension and design to facilitate recycling are only some of the design options which offer significant environmental improvement potential.

Objectives of this project for the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs were as follows:

1. Review existing evidence (EuP Preparatory Studies included in the EC’s 2009-11 Working Plan and wider sources) to determine products with significant non energy in use impacts for consideration in future instruments.
2. Determine whether the evidence in the Preparatory Studies is robust enough to inform Implementing Measures (IM) for non energy related requirements.
3. Provide clarity on the reasons that the regulation has not focused on non energy in use impacts to date.
4. Develop evidence based recommendations for incorporating non energy in use improvement targets in the ecodesign implementing measures or other instruments going forward. This takes into account the role of other legal and market instruments impacting energy-related products e.g. WEEE, RoHS and voluntary initiatives.
   

Services offered by the Department of Environmental and Reliability Engineering