Ecodesign: EU directives for sustainable products

From its manufacture to its disposal, every product has an impact on our environment. The idea of eco-design therefore revolves around keeping these impacts as low as possible. So it's not about appearance, it's about energy and resource efficiency. With a comprehensive Ecodesign Directive, the EU sets out the requirements for ecologically sound product design.

In the end, everyone should benefit from this: manufacturers, consumers – and of course the environment.

Designing sustainable products

Electronic and digital devices are part of our everyday lives. It is perfectly clear that they consume energy. Usually this is also an important factor in the purchase decision. After all, energy costs money, so the technology should be as efficient and economical as possible.

But the resource and energy consumption that has to be spent in the manufacture of such devices is often less present. According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM), for example, the production of a large flat-screen TV produces around one ton of CO2 equivalents.

Young woman relaxing in the evening in a cozy atmosphere

Sustainable design should therefore help to consume less energy and reduce emissions. By 2030, the European Commission expects to save 167 terawatt hours of energy annually through the Ecodesign Directives – equivalent to the annual energy consumption of Denmark.

What's in ecodesign?

Configuration according to ecological guidelines is designed to reduce negative environmental impacts – over the entire life cycle of products. Greater resource and energy efficiency are intended to achieve environmentally friendly design.

Since 2009, the EU Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC has been decisive for the requirements that "energy-related products" must meet for this objective.

Ecodesign is a holistic concept in which product-related resource efficiency is understood very comprehensively. The goal is therefore not simply to use less material and less energy in production.

General ecodesign requirements

The ecodesign requirements go much further and therefore also include aspects such as durability (in terms of service life), recyclability, repairability, expandability, the use of secondary materials and much more.

The EU's Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC summarizes these aspects under the general requirements. This includes, for example, providing consumers with information about the environmentally friendly operation of a product. Or the analysis of a product over its entire life cycle to make it different or better.

Specific ecodesign requirements

For this purpose, special requirements must be met, for which there are product-specific limit values. These regulate, for example, the maximum energy consumption or how high the proportion of recycled materials must be.

If the minimum requirements cannot be met, the affected products can no longer be sold in the EU – just like incandescent lamps that have been withdrawn from the European market since 2009. New products that do not meet the requirements do not even come onto the market.

Which products does the Ecodesign Directive apply to?

With its revision in 2009, the scope of the European Ecodesign Directive was extended. It no longer only covers energy-using products but has since applied to energy-related products. In addition to "classic" electrical appliances, this also refers to products that do not consume energy themselves but can influence energy efficiency. This includes, for example, insulating materials or windows.

Product groups

In total, more than 30 product groups are listed in the EU Ecodesign Directive, for which there are specific requirements.

The list ranges from boilers and combi boilers to PCs, televisions, electric motors, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and smartphones to transformers, elevators and industrial furnaces.

Implementing measures

Directive 2009/125/EC is merely a framework directive, which itself does not yet provide any concrete specifications for the product groups concerned.

These are part of the implementing regulations, which have been developed gradually. For some product groups, they are still in preparation, while others have not yet been affected by measures at all.

In some cases, there are no implementing regulations. Manufacturers will then be required to make a voluntary commitment to environmentally friendly product design.

Relevance for the electrical industry

In an increasingly electrified world, the electrical industry has played a major role in making our way of life more environmentally friendly. Industry, health, household, mobility – electrical engineering plays an important role in all areas of life.

This responsibility is therefore also reflected in the implementing measures of the Ecodesign Directive: Around 40 of them are aimed directly at the industry with its multi-layered and versatile product range.

In addition to technical devices for private households and industrial supplies, building automation, electrical installation systems and power cables, for example, are also covered by the directive.

More innovation through eco-design

The Ecodesign Regulations pay attention to technological neutrality. Although concrete objectives are formulated but the way forward has not yet been defined in the regulations.

This means that manufacturers have "creative leeway" in the implementation of the respective requirements. In this way, innovative solutions should be provided with a good basis.

Whether the solutions meet the ecodesign requirements is checked with the help of harmonised standards. A DIN EN series of standards also provides manufacturers with significant indications for taking into account all relevant product-specific aspects of material efficiency – but they are not instructions for sustainable products.

Ecodesign in practice

As a holistic concept, eco-design requires a much closer look at products and the impact they have on the environment and climate from their production to their disposal. It is important to find the diverse optimization potentials and use them correctly. In fact, many practical best practice examples show how many different paths the electrical industry can take.

Elevator without machine room

The Austrian company Schindler has developed a machine room-less drive system for elevators. It uses smaller motors than conventional passenger elevators and does not require a gearbox to regulate the high motor speeds.

Besides the additional space and less material input, this drive offers another advantage in terms of energy consumption: The system relies on recuperation so that the drive can recover electrical energy. This can be stored for the LED lighting of the elevator. The regenerative drive system consumes up to 30 percent less energy compared to conventional variants.

Recyclates for high-pressure cleaners

For the nozzles of its high-pressure cleaners, Kärcher relies on a high-quality polyamide recyclate. The material does not show any losses in its properties compared to the starting material, which comes from fabric residues from airbag production and used parts.

The polyamide used meets the high requirements. With this measure, Kärcher is one of the first companies to use such a recycled polyamide in series production.

This is also possible because the starting material is industrial waste, which is available in large quantities.

Upcycling for smartphones

More than 200 million old smartphones are stored in German households alone without being used. At least for Samsung devices of the Galaxy S, Z and Note series, which were launched from 2018, there are new tasks in the future.

With the "Galaxy Upcycling at Home" feature, Samsung has created various ways to use older smartphones as smart helpers for the home.

After a software update, the smartphones can be used, for example, as light or sound sensors. The devices can then serve to automate room lighting or as a baby monitor.

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