China’s Standardization Administration announced (English here, Chinese here) on Friday that it had released 46 new national standards on “energy consumption issues ranging from coal-fired power to household induction cookers.”
These standards are specifically designed to improve the implementation of the newly amended Energy Conservation Law (the subject of several previous posts) that went into effect April 1, 2008.
Liu Pingjun, chief of the Standardization Administration said the 46 standards
including 37 newly formulated and nine revised standards, of which 36 were mandatory. Most of the standards will go into effect on June 1 and the others are scheduled to take effect sometime on or before November 1.
The standards involve energy consumption norms on 22 products in five high energy consumption industries such as power, steel and building materials, fuel consumption limits on five vehicle types, energy efficiency grades on 11 consumables for end-users such as household induction cookers and water heaters, and eight calculation and measurement principles.
There were contrarian opinions as to how effective these new standards would be:
“What if those products which fail to meet the standards are nonetheless produced, sold and used?” said Jin Yuefu, deputy chief engineer of China Automotive Technology & Research Center.
High up-front costs often blind consumers to the greater cost-efficiency of energy-saving products in the long run, according to Jin.
On the other hand, tight government control over key energy prices is in effect subsidizing enterprises that drag their feet in improving energy efficiency.
I’ll get copies of the new standards and, at least, list the titles for you.
2 responses so far ↓
1 All Roads // Apr 19, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Charlie,
I notice that the question by Jin Yuefu went unanswered….
Is there any mention of audits or monitoring of the manufacturers/ products?
If not, then this will be another effort that results in little more than driving more consumer confusion and distrust. … just like the the Organic/ green food labeling
R
2 cmcelwee // Apr 19, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Rich, the whole energy efficiency labeling system in China is fairly confusing, but in most cases the requirement rests solely with the manufacturer or importer to provide accurate energy use labels; there is little or no governmental oversight. As you note, this can lead to abuse and consumer distrust. There is no formalized auditing system established in the law, and we all know that even if there were, there are not sufficient resources available to the enforcement agencies to hire the staff necessary to conduct effective auditing. Caveat emptor!
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