By Chris Bundy, Senior Brand Manager for ELAN, Xantech, Panamax, Furman, BlueBOLT at Core Brands.
Governments around the world are proposing directives designed to increase energy product efficiency. While these new initiatives excite environmentalists, power product manufacturers are left scrambling to comply with new standards. To remain relevant, commercial industry manufacturers have no choice but to stay ahead of the curve. This change, though at times burdening, offers manufacturers the opportunity to innovate.
Europe's Ecodesign Directive, the Energy-related Products (ErP) directive, is one of the European Union's many framework directives adopted in 2005 to set the energy standard. The directive was designed to focus on the EU's 20-20-20 target, which aimed to reduce energy use by 20% and increase the share of renewable energies by 20% by 2020.
While a significant portion of energy reduction regulations focus on electric motors, pumps, and refrigerators, the European Custom Installation industry has also begun to experience change through the implementation of the Standby Regulation EC/1275/2008 directive.
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Furman's F1500-UPS E Uninterruptible Power Supply[/caption]
This 2008 regulation stated that consumer electronic products could not exceed more than 1 watt of power on standby mode by 2010, and no more than .5 Watts by 2013. As the Standby Regulation begins to manifest itself fully, CI manufacturers are pushed to reinvent the mainstays of their product lines.
While compliance may lead to gaps for CI customers as new products trickle out of testing facilities, ErP Directive compliance is driving innovations that reduce 'wake-up' time, increase energy efficiency, and boost support of standards like PoE and HDBaseT for manufacturers around the world.
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ELAN's g1 System Controller[/caption]
Core Brands has spent more than a year developing products that meet global energy reduction needs. ELAN has launched several products that utilise PoE, including a new series of controllers and interfacesthat draw less than a watt on standby. For products that require more power to operate, such as the new UltraMatrix line, ELAN has implemented a method of serial power activation so that power hungry internal components like IP cards remain off when the unit is in standby.
Niles and SpeakerCraft have joined suit on their MRA offerings, with PoE-powered touchscreen and keypad interfaces. Furman has been busy enhancing their product lines by adding BlueBOLT energy conservation technology to their 220V-240V products, such as the F1500-UPS E battery backup and CN-3600S E power conditioner.
Over the next year, Core Brands is focusing cross-pollinating energy conservation advancement across all brands. Legal compliance is not the only driving force for Core Brands efforts though. The goal is to have a full line of best-of-breed products that together can reduce an entire home’s energy footprint by about 10 to 15 percent. Â It’s the direct impact on our users that set the bar for success.
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Furman's CN3600 SE SmartSequencer[/caption]
As energy demand increases, governments will continue to evaluate—and, if necessary, regulate—the design and use of energy-using and energy-related products to increase efficiency and mitigate demand requirements. Manufacturers will need to innovate and comply, or face their customers with skeletal offerings as power hungry products fall out of favour.
www.corebrands.com