Retrospective Analysis of the Impacts of Energy Labelling and MEPS: Refrigerators and Freezers

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Summary

The report was prepared for E3 by EnergyConsult in October 2006.

Refrigerators and freezers are among the most common household appliances. Refrigerators and freezers are estimated to be responsible for nearly 17% of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2000 as a result of residential use of energy. As they are in continuous operation, they make a significant contribution to total household energy consumption wherever they are present.

In order to increase the energy efficiency of refrigerators and freezers, mandatory appliance labelling was introduced in late 1986 followed by the introduction of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) in October 1999, which was followed by more stringent MEPS in January 2005.

The anticipated impacts of the introduction of the MEPS were projected/forecasted before the introduction of the MEPS policy options. Government decisions to implement energy efficiency programs are usually based on these estimates of the reduction in energy consumption that programs are expected to achieve, and the impact on product costs. The benefits (i.e. the value of the energy reductions) and costs of such programs are usually expressed as the difference between a 'Business as Usual' (BAU) projections and a 'with-measures' projections.

These projections are rarely reviewed after the fact. In 2005, the Productivity Commission completed an inquiry in Energy Efficiency (PC 2005) gave considerable attention to MEPS. One recommendation from this inquiry was to evaluate the impacts of the policies that have been implemented. Hence the objective of this study is to estimate the energy saving impacts from the MEPS and labelling of refrigerators and freezers, and provide a comparison with the projections made before the policy was implemented.

This page last modified 05 November 2006