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EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

energy-efficient-products.ec.europa.eu

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Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#21

Post by microtonal »

availability of operating system upgrades for longer periods (at least 5 years from the date of the end of placement on the market of the last unit of a product model)

This is so great! A lot of manufacturers were counting from the date of introduction. A lot of phones only had a 3 year support period. If they are on the market for two years, the people buying last would only get one year of support. This swaps to the last date of sale, which is much more consumer-friendly. I still have to read up on what operating system upgrades entails.

rules on disassembly and repair, including obligations for producers to make critical spare parts available within 5-10 working days, and for 7 years after the end of sales of the product model on the EU market

Awesome!

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#23

Post by makomk »

wiz21c wrote: post #13

In the shop in my town, they sell televisions. Led ones, oled ones, big screen, the usual stuff. They have about 50 models. All have energy labels C or worse. No A, no A+, no B... Once there was an A one but the picture quality was horrible. I'm happy to be more conscious, but someone is working against the scheme: I don't have a real choice...

In addition to the laws of physics and the engineering required to build TVs working against this, the EU deliberately changed the energy efficiency scale for things like TVs a few years back to specifically make an A hard to get and something that wouldn't be achieved by products currently on the market. They were probably too optimistic about future improvements too - a lot of TVs had to add special eco modes that aren't really designed to be used to meet the minimum efficiency now required by EU rules.

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#24

Post by nottorp »

pjc50 wrote: post #18
greatgib wrote: post #14

I have mixed feeling about this. On one side, it is good to have consumer friendly regulation like manufacturers to be forced to support right to repair. But on the opposite side, lots of bullshit requirements again like the energy labelling, that will do that we have less products, mostly from big actors only, and more expensive due the then useless regulation barrier. And the mixed feeling is stronger for things li…

> to have small actors being able the try innovation Yes. While I'm generally in favor of the EU regulatory approach they need to learn about and understand the concept of "small business", including the fact that you can't get a new large EU business without it going through the small business stage. There should be a lot more de minimis exemptions from the whole CE marking system.

> There should be a lot more de minimis exemptions from the whole CE marking system.

There are a lot of EU wide requirements that create barriers to entry. Before Altman's scareware campaign to "regulate" "AI", there was:

Exhibit 1:

https://pcengines.ch/recycle.htm

See the blurb about not being able to sell direct to customers in the EU.

[Think the company has shut down or is shutting down, possibly because of that too.]

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#25

Post by nottorp »

mtoner23 wrote: post #19
wiz21c wrote: post #13

In the shop in my town, they sell televisions. Led ones, oled ones, big screen, the usual stuff. They have about 50 models. All have energy labels C or worse. No A, no A+, no B... Once there was an A one but the picture quality was horrible. I'm happy to be more conscious, but someone is working against the scheme: I don't have a real choice...

How much TV does one have to watch to impact your energy bill? Does anyone care about it's energy usage?

Modern HDR blinding devices can go up to hundreds of watts.

All in the name of not having to place your TV in a shaded corner, and maybe acheiving a higher contrast ratio on paper.

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#26

Post by alnwlsn »

wiz21c wrote: post #13

In the shop in my town, they sell televisions. Led ones, oled ones, big screen, the usual stuff. They have about 50 models. All have energy labels C or worse. No A, no A+, no B... Once there was an A one but the picture quality was horrible. I'm happy to be more conscious, but someone is working against the scheme: I don't have a real choice...

What does it even mean for a TV to be energy efficient? A TV's job is to convert electricity into... light, I guess? It's not light like a light bulb, nor would you want it to be. You wouldn't light your home with TVs.

So is it something like "only produces light where needed on the screen" or "uses the least energy when turned off" or "does image processing for x format with the least energy" What are they measuring here?

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#27

Post by robin_reala »

wiz21c wrote: post #13

In the shop in my town, they sell televisions. Led ones, oled ones, big screen, the usual stuff. They have about 50 models. All have energy labels C or worse. No A, no A+, no B... Once there was an A one but the picture quality was horrible. I'm happy to be more conscious, but someone is working against the scheme: I don't have a real choice...

This is actually an example of the regulation working. The original energy labelling had done such a good job that every product was routinely getting A or up ratings. So the EU introduced a new system that was much more stringent, dropping everything down to a C at best but more usually an F. Gradually manufacturers are improving again.

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#28

Post by nottorp »

pjc50 wrote: post #15
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only the EU was like "you can save money and our environment by buying Chinese EVs instead of smokey German, Italian & French diesels" in the same spirit. Oh well. It's pretty easy to regulate things that aren't made by your domestic companies.

The tariffs on Chinese EVs are very unserious at the same time as subsidies are being withdrawn while the alleged deadline for phaseout of ICE is still in place. VW showed which side they were going to bet on with Dieselgate and should get no further sympathy.

I wonder how much charging infrastructure China has built inside their borders for their cheap EVs.

In the EU, everyone who could afford an EV probably already has one. The rest will buy what they can afford and can charge.

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#29

Post by pona-a »

pjc50 wrote: post #18
greatgib wrote: post #14

I have mixed feeling about this. On one side, it is good to have consumer friendly regulation like manufacturers to be forced to support right to repair. But on the opposite side, lots of bullshit requirements again like the energy labelling, that will do that we have less products, mostly from big actors only, and more expensive due the then useless regulation barrier. And the mixed feeling is stronger for things li…

> to have small actors being able the try innovation Yes. While I'm generally in favor of the EU regulatory approach they need to learn about and understand the concept of "small business", including the fact that you can't get a new large EU business without it going through the small business stage. There should be a lot more de minimis exemptions from the whole CE marking system.

Most regulations are motivated by universal normative prescriptions. People don't want to be served asbestos in their food, structurally unsound homes being built, or data brokers conspiring to raise your insurance, regardless of the violator in question.

Everyone can agree regulation burden exists, but I too often see it invoked in bad faith, like in the case of GDPR. This primes me to ask for concrete proof why any regulation would be especially burdensome for small business.

Re: EU Energy labelling will apply to phones and tablets from June 2025

#30

Post by myrmidon »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #11
myrmidon wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I (unironically) love how the charts are basically "this is gonna save you money by you buying less shit/year, you're welcome".

If only the EU was like "you can save money and our environment by buying Chinese EVs instead of smokey German, Italian & French diesels" in the same spirit. Oh well. It's pretty easy to regulate things that aren't made by your domestic companies.

This is oversimplifying; European EV tariffs are company specific and (formally) aim to counteract state subsidies.

From a an average voter perspective, "sacrificing" local industry for a (temporary?) 20% discount on EVs is not too popular anyway, and neither is it gonna meaningfully save the planet IMO.

Tariff levels are basically the same as US import tariffs on pickup trucks, so not especially high, either.

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