Energy Qualification Criteria Different for Set-Top Makers, EPA Clarifies

Set-top box makers and service providers will be subject to different requirements to qualify for incentives proposed for “deep sleep” feature in the boxes (CED Sept 29 p9), the EPA clarified Monday. The feature is offered as an option and not a requirement as the agency revises the Energy Star set-top box specification. Service providers need only deploy boxes with deep sleep capability to qualify for incentives, whereas box makers will have to also ensure that the feature is enabled by default, an EPA consultant said on a conference call with stakeholders.

Service providers that deploy boxes with deep sleep capability will be able to count them 1.5 times toward the number of qualified boxes they need to purchase to join the Energy Star program. Simply having deep sleep capability in the boxes -- a button on the remote or on the box -- is a “worthwhile achievement” for the service providers, the consultant said. Manufacturers will not only have to incorporate the feature in the box but also ensure that it turns on automatically, he said. It has to be an “automated, intelligent, user-independent system that will work on its own,” he said.

For manufacturers that make compliant boxes, the EPA is proposing to change the typical energy consumption (TEC) rules, an action it hopes will help boxes qualify for Energy Star where they couldn’t previously, he said. The agency is proposing that the boxes be required to enter deep sleep at least four hours a day but is leaving it to box makers to decide “what the right implementation will be,” he said. The agency is “just putting incentives out there so people will come up with the best” solutions, he said. The industry appreciates the agency’s not having set power limits for deep sleep, an executive of a cable trade group said. But the agency should explore ways to achieve deep sleep other than by cutting off network access, he said.

The agency is open to suggestions on other ways of achieving deep sleep that would produce a “meaningful drop” in sleep energy use, the consultant said. The EPA was proposing a prorated requirement for annual service providers’ purchases of Energy Star boxes, after hearing concerns that if they joined midyear they would have to meet a full year’s purchase and deployment requirements, said Katharine Kaplan, Energy Star program manager. The agency also is changing rules to allow manufacturers to qualify boxes for Energy Star even if they sell to service providers who are not Energy Star partners, she said. “What we are saying is that if the products meet the TEC requirements, assuming it is on 24/7, then it can earn Energy Star whether or not it is going to an Energy Star service provider,” she said.