CE Industry Restricts Impact of Cal.’s Energy Standards

The CEC put off until next year consideration of standards for cable and satellite set-top boxes. “We do like the progress that we made, but there still are a few outstanding issues,” Jason Linnell, Electronics Industries Alliance (EIA) staff dir.-environmental affairs, told us. Meanwhile, the CEC heard comments at its 2nd public hearing Wed. and prepared for early Dec. adoption of its final rules. The industry said the CEC proposals for external power supplies were still “problematic.”

The CEC’s standards would not apply to any multifunction TV that has VCR, DVD, DVR or electronic program guide (EPG) capability or CableCARD slot. The industry was concerned about how broadly the CEC wanted to define DVD player, said Linnell, but the CEC changed the language to make it a device used solely to play DVDs. The CEC also made changes to the definition of compact audio products, standards levels and effective dates for compliance. Home theater products have been excluded.

“At a basic level, we don’t agree with the idea that electronic products should be subject to mandatory standards,” said Linnell: “We think it causes a problem when we make upgrades in the future.” And when that happens and the products don’t meet the standards, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are inefficient, but only they have more functionality to them, he said. He said the standard for external power supplies (EPS) was “still very problematic.” The CEC is trying to track the U.S. EPA’s process in setting an Energy Star specification for EPS. Because they are used with many devices, the standards would have a very broad impact, Linnell added.

In comments filed with the CEC, the EIA said CEC’s proposed regulations make “an underlying assumption that the federal Energy Star program has failed for consumer electronics, and that California must set mandatory energy use limits or else there will be no energy savings.” The high-tech industry believes, it said, that Energy Star is the appropriate way to promote energy efficiency in electronics due to its voluntary nature and federal applicability: “State-level energy efficiency requirements are unnecessary and could jeopardize the future of the Energy Star program for electronics.”

The EIA pointed out that the Davis Energy Group study commissioned by CEC had said “the rapid changes in features and functions makes manufacturers reticent to commit to fixed standard levels on equipment that may need to soon have new functions with unknown standby power implications.” That is a “key drawback” to implementing mandatory energy use limits for electronics, the EIA said. Saying the industry’s tentative solution is to focus on basic equipment, the EIA warned that if a broad definition of basic equipment was developed, it would cover many products with features never envisioned when the standard was set: “This could limit their availability on the California market and lead to consumer frustration.”

Moreover, using Energy Star for mandatory energy limits in one state would “dramatically alter” the negotiations between industry and EPA on new product efficiency levels, EIA said. The EPA tries to set “challenging” energy efficiency levels, it said, but if “these challenging levels are used as the basis for future state-specific mandatory standards, companies would view the Energy Star specification development process in a much different light.” State standards would similarly impact the ability of Energy Star to represent the top performers in the market, the EIA said. Manufacturers will have little incentive to participate in Energy Star programs if Cal. requires products to meet a standard at or near the Energy Star level, it added.

The EIA raised jurisdictional issues on states’ right to regulate TV standards. TVs are a “covered product” under the Energy Policy & Conservation Act, it said, and the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DoE) has determined that states are preempted from setting energy efficiency standards for covered products. The CEC needs to address federal preemption, it said. A CEC spokesman acknowledged “some ambiguity” over the state’s jurisdiction, but he said the CEC was inclined to pass the regulations anyway and resolve jurisdictional issues later.

On the inclusion of DTV adapters, the EIA said that while these products were crucial to the digital transition, they are needed only for households that rely solely on broadcast video delivery. It said proponents of energy consumption restrictions on adapters were mistaken in saying that the FCC’s digital conversion mandate would result in a “sudden and overwhelming” need for digital converter set-top boxes. It said it was important the CEC know that the FCC’s deadline concerns only over-the-air transmission of analog signals. Currently, 87% of Americans receive their TV content from cable or satellite, it said, and the FCC’s 2006 deadline wouldn’t affect these TVs. Pointing out that DTV adapters haven’t come to market in great numbers, the EIA contended it would be “inappropriate” for the CEC to set mandatory standards on these products based on inadequate data from the U.S. market and on “arbitrary” standard levels discussed at a International Energy Agency workshop on set-top boxes.

On EPS standards, the EIA proposed moving the effective date for tier I standards to Jan. 2007 and tier II standards to Jan. 2009. The industry, it said, is in a “massive transition” to lead-free solder and other components as a result of the European Union’s restrictions on the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.