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Standby Product Profile - Microwave Ovens (sb200304-microwaves.pdf - 468 kB)
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In 2002, the Ministerial Council on Energy released "Money isn't all you're saving" a long-term strategy to address excessive standby energy used by consumer appliances and equipment. This strategy is also known as the "1 Watt" standby power plan.
This standby product profile covers Microwave Ovens. A microwave oven uses microwaves (radio waves) to heat food. Most microwave ovens use a radio wave frequency of roughly 2,500 megahertz (2.5 gigahertz). Radio waves in this frequency range have an interesting property in that water, fats and sugars absorb them. This makes microwave ovens efficient in their use of electricity because a microwave oven heats only the food.
Since its introduction, the microwave has had several options and features added, such as the addition of convection heat, probe and sensor cooking, which enables the appliance to perform a wide variety of cooking functions. The development of the microwave oven has led to the appliance now being available in a wide range of styles, sizes, shapes, colours and prices. Microwave ovens can have electronic or mechanical controls.
This standby product profile for Microwave Ovens covers the following broad topics:
To support the preparation of this and other profiles, NAEEEC commissioned store surveys of products in major retail stores during 2001, 2002 and 2003 to collect standby measurements from a wide range of appliances and equipment. The results of these measurements are available in NAEEEC Report 2003/04.
In accordance with the National Standby Strategy, NAEEEC intends to recommend to the Ministerial Council on Energy an 'interim' target. The purpose of which is to provide governments with confidence that Australian products will meet the ultimate target, of one watt in 2012. If the 'interim' target is not met in the specified year, government will commence dialogue with industry to explore other options, including the possibility of moving to Stage 2 mandatory measures.
This target applies to all microwave ovens brought into Australia for sale in that year. NAEEEC proposes to monitor the sale of microwave ovens in that year and to move toward regulation should that target not be met by a significant number of suppliers of products.
The National Standby Strategy sets out the target of one watt, to be achieved by 2012. This is consistent with international activities, in particular, the IEA "One Watt Initiative". This target should apply to all microwave ovens.
Government will announce whether this product should be targeted for stage two intervention under the National Standby Power Strategy (involving possible regulatory intervention) or whether the abovementioned actions together with industry intervention have been successful in meeting the target at the NAEEEC Forum in the year: 2008.
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