N.Y. Enacts Energy Efficiency Laws for DTV Converters, CE Products

Pataki said the N.Y., law will serve as a model for a “more comprehensive” national energy efficiency standard. The N.Y. measure is similar to a Cal. regulation imposed last year in the CE products covered, although it doesn’t set specific standards. Besides digital converters, CE products targeted include TVs -- though not sets with DVD, VCR, DVR or EPG functions -- VCRs, DVD players and recorders and electronics programming guide (EPG) devices.

Industry is “very concerned” about a patchwork of regulations emerging in the states, said Parker Brugge, CEA senior dir. and environmental counsel. Manufacturers produce for the national and global markets, he said, and products can’t vary by state. He said there was talk that the N.Y. bill may be reopened later this year because some dates weren’t feasible. So the CEA will work with the N.Y. Energy Authority, which is directed to develop standards, as well as the legislature to “see if we can get some changes.” It’s encouraging that the Energy Authority has discretion in setting standards, Brugge said: “They can even make a decision not to set a standard on a particular product.”

Brugge denied that the industry had rejected an offer from the American Council for Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE) to negotiate a national standard: “The offer was never made.” He said the industry would “consider talking” to energy advocates if an offer were made, but “we don’t believe that energy efficiency standards on technology products is the way to go. It would stifle innovation.” He said CE products don’t even rank in the top 10 sources of energy use in the home. When that was explained to lawmakers in other states, CE products were removed from bills, he added.

N.Y. went beyond the model bill developed by the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships in embracing TVs and other CE products, said Isaac Elnecave, NEEP energy efficiency project mgr. The only CE product NEEP included this year was DTV converters, he said. NEEP -- which has been trying unsuccessfully about 3 years to get standards enacted for CE products -- was “very excited and enthused that consumer electronics were finally enacted,” he added. That 2 states have regulations on CE products “does change the dynamics” in drawing up legislation next year, Elnecave added.

Elnecave blamed the CE industry for failing to respond to an offer of negotiations for consensus CE standards. “We have been successful in getting consensus national standards with other trade associations such as those for commercial refrigerators and air conditioners.” He said efficiency advocates were “always open” to negotiations to develop national standards because “that’s our ultimate aim. I would rather have a converter standard nationally than just in New York.”

He said the industry argument that it didn’t make sense to set standards for DTV converters when they weren’t yet available in the market wasn’t valid. Boxes meeting the 1 w (standby) and 8 w (active) standards have been built in the U.K. and Japan, he said. Before setting regulations, Cal. did “significant” research on converter boxes and determined that standards were feasible, he added. The reason NEEP is “proactive” with DTV converter box standards, he said, is that the demand for the boxes will peak initially with the switch to digital, and decrease over time. Waiting for a standard until after the boxes start coming into the market means losing 3-5 years’ window “where we can gain a lot of energy savings,” Elencave said: “So right off the bat we want to able to have the efficient items instead of going through the normal process of waiting until the technology matures.” - - Dinesh Kumar