Harmonise power input for gadgets, says study

Lack of standards does not allow identification of product efficiency

How much power do your fans, airconditioners and refrigerators consume? Difficult to say, since only four of the ten top-selling brands of ceiling fans in India declare power input.

Similarly, a dozen refrigerator brands do not declare power consumption, though the Bureau of Indian Standards has made it mandatory.

There is also a wide variation in power consumption for all major airconditioner brands with the same capacity and no standards are marked for compact fluorescent lights (CFL), which are supposed to consume less power than the bulbs used at home.

These are some of the findings of a study jointly carried out by Sri Lanka Energy Managers' Association and Consumer Voice, a non-governmental organisation.

Funded by the South Asia Regional Initiative (SARI) for Energy Cooperation and Development, the programme aims to harmonise standards in electrical products across the region.

Initially, compliance would have to be voluntary unless the government steps in. As per the study, power input varies sharply from one brand to another. In case of 48-inch fans, the variation ranges between 50 and 78 watts.

Also, information like air delivery, service value, rated speed and power factor are not mentioned on labels for most of the fans.

In case of CFLs, two brands had energy labels of different countries, while three of 14 ballast did not declare the country of manufacture.

Information like luminous flux, colour temperature, current, life warranty were not mentioned on most of the CFLs. Label evaluation showed that only three brands declared power loss, which varied from 9-12 watts, the study pointed out. "Currently, there are no standards for these products and where they exist, they are voluntary. Lack of standards imply that there is no way of identifying whether the products are efficient from the energy consumption point of view. Harmonisation of standards would take care of the variability of product quality and ensure that manufacturers do not make wrong claims on energy consumption of these products," said P Venkata Ramana, Director, Clean Energy Development, Winrock International.

Common standards would also check against dumping of products into the country, he added.

"The project will create a platform for initiating energy labeling programme for electrical products in the countries. Sharing of project findings with national standards bodies and policy makers will accelerate the process of introduction of labeling in the region," said H Wadhwa of Consumer Voice.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, under the Power Ministry, plans to set standards and give manufacturers a three -year time period to meet them. After this, the standards will be made mandatory. Products will be given ratings of one to five stars. The standards for refrigerators are expected to be in place by March 2005, an official said.

Watt's wrong?

• As per the study, power input varies sharply from one brand to another.
• In case of 48-inch fans, the variation ranges between 50 and 78 watts
• Also, information like air delivery, service value, rated speed and power factor are not mentioned on labels for most of the fans
• In case of fluorescent lights, two brands had energy labels of different countries, while three of 14 ballast did not declare the country of manufacture
• Information like luminous flux, colour temperature, current, life warranty were not mentioned on most of the fluorescent lights
• Label evaluation showed that only three brands declared power loss, which varied from 9-12 watts, the study pointed out