Efficiency Advocates Won’t Push for State Regulations on Electronics in 2011

Electronics makers can expect little state legislative activity concerning efficiency standards for their products this year. Environmental groups said they aren’t pursuing state regulation, because the federal government has stepped in. A Department of Energy proposal to take up standards for TVs and other electronics has led to a “pared down focus on the states this year” for the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), said David Lis, the group’s appliance standards project manager.

NEEP also is turning away from state level standards for electronics because TV makers have “responded so quickly to the upcoming 2013 California standards,” Lis said. About 80 percent of TVs already seem to be meeting California’s requirements for 2013, he said. “So we're sort of shifting our focus to the federal level.” The DOE has told stakeholders that it’s looking at a “negotiated rulemaking” for TVs, and the department has had a mediator talk to NEEP on the subject, he said. “At this point we are waiting to hear how DOE intends to go forward, but indications are that they will be beginning that rulemaking in some fashion in the first half of this year."

The Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) left TVs out of its 2011 model standards bill for states, citing reasons similar to NEEP’s. A dozen states have enacted appliance efficiency standards based on ASAP’s model legislation since 2001, the group said. The DOE TV rulemaking and the fact that about 80 percent of models meet the California standards leaves little room for states to “garner significant” energy savings from adopting California-type standards, said Marianne DiMascio, ASAP’s outreach director.

NEEP and ASAP aren’t pushing for state energy limits on set-top boxes either this year. NEEP’s Lis said the DOE has indicated that it plans to add to its agenda in 2011 set-top boxes and computers as “products they potentially may bring under the federal program.” He said, “They are going to formally be opening determination of coverage” of the boxes. “I am assuming they will present a market profile and talk about some of the savings they may be able to achieve."

NEEP has for some years unsuccessfully pushed state legislation to regulate energy use of set-top boxes. ASAP would like to see set-top boxes regulated by states, but it’s a “little bit challenging” because there is “more or less a split incentive” that consumers don’t actually purchase and make choices about what box to get, said DiMascio. “It’s the cable companies that are giving them out so it’s a bit of a challenge to work that out.” For now ASAP is relying on “market incentives” to push box makers to increase the efficiency of their products, she said.