Mr. Green

May 17, 2012 - At the beginning of the year, the U.S. EPA implemented a new ENERGY STAR certification process, requiring manufacturers to have their products tested by third-party EPA-recognized labs. (In the past, companies were allowed to submit test results based on in-house testing.) The change was implemented after products were found to have received approval for using the logo, while not actually having met the program requirements. Now, only a few months after the new certification process has become effective, manufacturers are starting to complain.

May 9, 2012 - I had mixed feelings when I received my invitation to attend last week's workshop on the European Commission's Code of Conduct (CoC) for External Power Supplies (EPS). I was excited to finally visit the EC's Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy when the weather was nice (over the years, the meetings I've attended there have always been in dreary winter). I was also a little surprised.

April 30, 2012 - Last month I reported that the California Energy Commission (CEC) was holding a workshop on rulemaking for enforcing appliance efficiency standards (see: The CEC Looks at Efficiency Enforcement). The purpose of the effort is to establish an enforcement process to determine penalties and collection procedures on imported goods that violate California's efficiency standards.

April 25, 2012 - For years, energy efficiency agencies around the world have been trying to fine-tune a set-top box (STB) program specification that dramatically reduces their energy consumption, especially when consumers have turned them off.

April 17, 2012

...At least that's what may soon happen to non-energy efficient products trying to enter the United States.

A notice of proposed rulemaking was recently issued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency that would establish enforcement of Department of Energy standards by preventing non-compliant products from entering the United States.

The official government summary of the proposed rule reads: