The Cal. Energy Commission (CEC) won’t adopt energy efficiency st...

The Cal. Energy Commission (CEC) won’t adopt energy efficiency standards for appliances and consumer electronic (CE) products Wed. as originally proposed, a spokeswoman said: “We have received numerous comments on our proposal and are going to be reworking it slightly. So on Wednesday we will not be adopting anything.” She said the CEC would shortly issue modified proposals, incorporating issues raised in public comments, along with a date for adoption shortly: “We do not anticipate adopting anything until some time in December.” The CE products targeted are TVs, compact audio players, DVD players/recorders and DTV adaptors. The CEC decided it would take up energy efficiency standards for cable and satellite set-top boxes in a separate rulemaking next year. None of the CE products are now subject to state energy efficiency standards. A Davis Energy Group study commissioned by the CEC said the biggest factor working both for and against mandated standards was the very high rate of change in consumer electronics. That makes it easy to incorporate design changes in new equipment, as design cycles can be a year or less, the study said. But rapid changes in features and functions make manufacturers reluctant to commit to fixed standards on equipment that may soon need new functions, with unknown standby power implications. That concern can be reduced by confining the standard to basic equipment, the study said, but it may have the unintended consequence of encouraging manufacturers to add functions to evade standards.