The Directive affecting external power supplies was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 6 April 2009 and it comes into force 20 days after publication. The minimum standards will become mandatory 12 months later, from 26 April 2010.
The Directive is primarily focused on increasing the energy efficiency of external power supplies to substantially decrease power losses. A study carried out on behalf of the Commission has shown that the annual energy consumption of external power supplies due to power conversion losses and no-load power consumption amounts to more than 17TWh, the equivalent of emitting 6.8 million tonnes of CO2. The aim is to use specific ecodesign measures to substantially decrease this energy use during the life cycle of power supplies.
The Directive spells out ecodesign requirements both for the no-load power consumption of external power supplies and for their efficiency during operation. The Directive does not apply to:
• voltage transformers
• uninterruptible power supplies
• battery chargers
• converters for halogen lamps
• external power supply units for medical devices
• For external power supplies which are to be used as a replacement part, a special provision of the EuP applies.
The first phase comes into effect on 26.04.2010 and requires that:
• no-load power consumption does not exceed 0.5W (P0max <= 250W)
• the average efficiency during operation must not be less than that given in the table below
| No-load
power consumption
| Average
efficiency |
P0 <= 1W
| 0.50W | 0.50 * P0 |
1W < P0 <= 51.0W
| 0.50W | 0.09 * In (P0)+0.50 |
51.0W < P0 <= 250W
| 0.50W | 0.85 |
The second phase comes into effect on 26.04.2011 and requires that:
• no-load power consumption does not exceed 0.3W (P
0 max = 51W) or 0.5W (51W <P
0 <=250W)
• the average efficiency during operation must not be less than that given in the table below
| No-load
power
consumption
| Average
efficiency
(during operation < 6V) | Average
efficiency
(during operation < 6V) |
P0 <= 1W
| 0.30W | 0.48 * (P0)+0.14 | 0.497 * (P0)+0.067 |
1W < P0 <= 51.0W
| 0.30W | 0.063 * ln (P0)+0.622 | 0.075 * ln (P0)+0.561 |
51.0W < P0 <= 250W
| 0.50W | 0.87 | 0.86 |