ENERGY STAR UPS Program Update

December 15, 2010 - In February, the US EPA started the development of a new ENERGY STAR efficiency program covering Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) (see Mr. Green blog Interrupting Non-interruptible Energy Waste). At that time, the plan was to have the program specification requirements finalized by the end of 2010. Due to the variety of products covered, progress has been slower than expected - program completion is now targeted for mid 2011. But activity on his program has begun to heat up, with a draft test specification and two stakeholder web conferences occurring during the last few weeks.

The potential for energy savings is high; the EPA estimates up to 710 million kWh per year of power currently consumed by UPSs in the US can be avoided. Products eligible for ENERGY STAR qualification will include:

• Single and three phase UPSs for home, small office and data center use
• Static and rotary UPSs
• AC-output and DC-output UPSs

In November, the EPA distributed and discussed their initial test method draft, based on IEC standards 62040-3 and 88528-11, for use in the data collection phase. That draft calls for efficiency measurements at 100%, 75%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, 10% and 0% of the test load, including any modes labeled as Energy Saver Modes. Additional tests include Power Factor and overload operation. Earlier this week, the second stakeholder meeting was held to help the EPA better understand what product characteristics are important to UPS end users, including data center purchasers, and what energy efficiency data would be useful for the program to provide.

The EPA hopes to have the test specification finalized before year end, unit test data collected in the first quarter, and the program specifications finalized and published by July 15, 2011. Because it's a new program, it will become effective immediately.

If you want to get involved in the UPS spec development, email your contact information to UPS@energystar.gov to be added to the stakeholder list. For additional information, including a copy of the test specification and stakeholder meeting presentations, go to: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_specs.uninterruptible_power_supplies