Ecodesign regulation 1275/2008 on energy consumption in ‘off’ and various ‘standby’ modes was designed as a horizontal piece of legislation, covering a myriad of relevant electronic and electrical products. In 2013 the regulation was amended to include also ‘networked standby’ and add rules on standby of household coffeemakers. In 2023 the regulation was reviewed and replaced by Regulation 2023/826, which extends the scope to motor-operated building elements (e.g. blinds, doors, windows, gates, curtains), motor-operated adjustable furniture (e.g. height-adjustable desks, elevation beds) and products using a low-voltage external power supply (LV-EPS). Regulation 2023/826, which will start to apply on 9 May 2025, also reduces some of the maximum allowed off-mode and standby powers, as detailed in the “Consumers” section below.
In parallel, the policy on standby regulation has changed from a horizontal to a vertical approach. This means that requirements on ‘standby’ are gradually being made part of product-specific Ecodesign regulations when available, and these products are then removed from the standby-regulation. For example washing machines and dishwashers were removed from the scope in 2021, and cordless phones will be removed in 2025, because their ‘standby’ is now regulated separately.
Source: estimations from the Ecodesign Impact Accounting Overview Report 2024
Scope
This Regulation establishes ecodesign requirements related to off mode, standby mode, and networked standby energy consumption for the placing on the market or putting into service of electrical and electronic household and office equipment.
Highlights
A wide range of equipment – audio and video equipment, microwave ovens and electric toys – can have standby and off modes.
- since 2009 these devices are required to switch to a low-power mode (such as standby) after a reasonable amount of time
- since 2013, they must not consume more than 0.5 Watts in standby or in off mode, or 1 Watt if they are on standby while displaying their status or information
EU Ecodesign requirements are mandatory for all manufacturers and suppliers wishing to sell products consuming electric power in standby and off mode in the EU.
Network-connected standby devices
Modern appliances are increasingly connected to the internet during standby mode, consuming higher amounts of energy. This includes television decoders, printers, game consoles and modems.
- specific requirements for network-connected standby devices were introduced in 2013
- since January 2017 devices in networked standby must not consume more than 3 to 8 Watts depending on the product
- since January 2019, devices in networked standby must not consume more than 2 to 8 Watts depending on the product
These rules a very large number of different products (around 800 million products sold yearly, with an estimated 5 billion units in use across the EU). The estimated electricity consumption reduction is around 32.5 TWh per year by 2030. This will save consumers €7 billion and reduce emissions by 4.6 Mt of CO2 per year by 2030.
The revision of this regulation aims to update the Ecodesign requirements in line with the technological progress and to expand the scope to additional products that are being sold in increasing volumes on the EU internal market such as motor-operated furniture and building elements (for example, motor-operated desks, blinds and curtains). Apart from expanding the scope, the rules set new limits
- from 2025, devices must not consume more than 0.5 Watts in standby or in off mode, or 0.8 Watt if they are on standby while displaying their status or information
- from 2027, devices must not consume more than 0.5 Watts in standby, 0.3 Watts in off mode, or 0.8 Watts if they are on standby while displaying their status or information
- From 2027, devices in networked standby must not consume more than 2 to 7 Watts depending on the product
The revised rules make information easily accessible both to EU countries' authorities and consumers. They are expected to bring additional savings of 4 TWh/year and related GHG emission reductions of 1.36 Mt CO2eq./year by 2030.
Facts & Figures
This graphic shows the estimated sales, stock, energy consumption (primary, electric or fuel), greenhouse gas emissions, consumer expenses and business revenues for years 2010 and 2030. The estimated values inside the graph bars are those from the EIA ECO-scenario, they include the effects of Ecodesign and Energy Labelling measures.
The difference with the business as usual (BAU) scenario without these estimated measures is shown next to the graph bar. These figures indicate the estimated savings obtained due to the measures.
Product: (networked) Stand-By, IncL. Double Counted Measures: Regulation (EU) 2023/826 |
|---|
| The striped lines in the charts show the 'Effect of the Regulations' |
SALES (x1000 units)  | STOCK (x1000 units)  | Electricity (TWh/a)  |
GHG-EMISSION  | CONSUMER EXPENSES  | REVENUES  |
Source: estimations from the Ecodesign Impact Accounting Overview Report 2023
In 2020, 4 billion products in the EU27 (18 per household) consumed electricity in off mode or (networked) standby mode.
Nearly 3 billion of these devices are regulated only for standby. This includes a variety of small appliances (57%), sound, media and network equipment (29%), coffee makers (5%), electric toothbrushes (2%), etc.
The other 1 billion products are regulated both for standby and for active use. They include washing machines, dishwashers, laundry dryers, ovens, hobs, printers, fixed phones, game consoles, etc.
On average, these products spend 15 hours per day in (networked) standby- or off-mode. The total time of all EU27 products in 2020 is 23 trillion hours (23 followed by 12 zeros), or 2600 million years. For households this is 277 hours per day.
In 2020, without regulations the average standby power of newly sold products would have been 3.0 W, but due to the Ecodesign regulations it was reduced to 1.9 W (-37%), projected to further decrease to 1.8 W in 2030.
The regulations saved 29 TWh of electricity in 2020, projected to increase to 35 TWh in 2030, a 52% saving due to Ecodesign measures.
The 2030 savings are 1.5% of the total EU27 electricity consumption in 2020, and close to the annual electricity consumption of Denmark.
Due to Ecodesign measures, EU27 users have saved € 5.8 billion on standby in 2020, projected to increase to € 7.9 billion in 2030. This means a 12% saving due to the measures taken.
In 2030, the annual household standby expenses decrease from € 239 to € 210.
Savings
In 2008, when the standby regulation was adopted, the products in scope of the regulation consumed 46 TWh/a of electricity in ‘off’ or (networked) ‘standby’ mode. In the BAU scenario, this would have increased to 70 TWh/a in 2020, but due to the measures taken it has been reduced to 40 TWh/a: a saving of 29 TWh or 41%. In 2030 the savings are projected to increase further to 35 TWh/a, even when removing washing machines and dishwashers from the scope.
The main contributors to the 2020 savings are imaging equipment (5.4 TWh), small appliances (3.9 TWh), complex set top boxes (3.3 TWh), electric ovens (2.2 TWh), wireless audio speakers (1.8 TWh) and radios (1.5 TWh).
Source: estimations from the Ecodesign Impact Accounting Overview Report 2024
Policy
Regulation
- The legal framework is Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/826 of 17 April 2023 laying down Ecodesign requirements for off mode, standby mode, and networked standby energy consumption of electrical and electronic household and office equipment pursuant to Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Commission Regulations (EC) 1275/2008 and (EC) 107/2009 (Text with EEA relevance).
- This initiative was planned under the Circular Economy Action Plan 2020 and is in line with European Green Deal objectives on efficient use of resources. Check the published initiatives on Have your say.
Disclaimer: please pay attention to possible updates/changes as indicated in the Official Journal (green dot)