EPA Resumes Work on Energy Star Battery Charger Spec Revision

The EPA said it’s resuming work on revising the Energy Star specification for battery charger systems and development of a spec for uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Work on both was set back this year because of “high-priority efforts related to third-party certification” for all Energy Star products, the agency said. The agency said it wants to cover large battery chargers for industrial and other applications and smaller systems where it sees significant energy savings “opportunities."

Besides looking at the energy use of battery chargers in the active mode, the agency intends to adopt the procedure being developed by the Department of Energy for testing small battery chargers, Energy Star Product Manager Katharine Kaplan wrote stakeholders. The agency will work with other interested governments with the “goal of promoting worldwide harmonization” of battery charger test procedures and specs, she said. The EPA is now analyzing battery charger test data collected by other organizations to “identify any data gaps and evaluate the energy savings potential of all types of battery chargers, including those embedded in products” covered by Energy Star, Kaplan said.

A draft battery charger spec will be released in November for comment, and a final specification is expected in June, Kaplan said. The EPA is planning a stakeholder conference call in December to discuss the draft specification, she said. For UPS systems, the agency said it will publish a final test procedure in December and a final specification in June.