Last week, the European Commission adopted four ecodesign regulations to improve the energy efficiency of industrial motors, circulators, televisions, refrigerators and freezers. The regulations lay down energy efficiency requirements which will save about 190 TWh per year by 2020, which is comparable to the combined annual electricity consumption of Sweden and Austria.

"This package is a milestone on the road to achieving our energy efficiency, climate change and economic recovery objectives. It will save impressive amounts of electricity, CO2 emissions and electricity costs, while creating jobs and boosting the deployment of highly innovative technologies," said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

The regulation on motors sets energy performance requirements for most of the electric motors used in industrial applications. Furthermore, it will foster the use of variable speed drives, which adjust motor output to actual needs, instead of operating always at full capacity. The energy savings triggered by the motor regulation are about 135 TWh per year by 2020.

The regulation on circulators will shift the market to "intelligent" high efficiency circulators capable of adjusting their performance to the needs of the heating system. Circulators can be found in almost every building's boiler or heating system, and the electricity savings are expected to be about 25 TWh per year by 2020.

The two regulations on televisions and refrigerators/freezers will leave only efficient products on the market. The expected annual electricity savings by 2020 are about 30 TWh.

In total, nine ecodesign regulations have now been put in place, which are expected to save about 315 TWh electricity per year by 2020 if fully implemented. This is more than the annual electricity consumption of Italy.

Further information on Ecodesign in Europe is available here.

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