Promotion and support to the implementation of the energy labelling for Space, Combi Heaters and Water Heaters with a focus on the “Package label”

Project Information

LabelPack Aplus

Grant agreement ID: 649905

DOI

10.3030/649905

Project closed

EC signature date 4 February 2015

Start date 1 March 2015

End date 31 July 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 1 385 797,50

EU contribution

€ 1 385 797,50

Coordinated by

SOLAR HEAT EUROPE
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LabelPack Aplus (Promotion and support to the implementation of the energy labelling for Space, Combi Heaters and Water Heaters with a focus on the “Package label”)

Reporting period: 2016-09-01 to 2018-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project aimed at supporting the implementation of the energy labelling of heating appliances while boosting its impact, the focus being on the “package label” and its potential to push for the uptake of renewable technologies, in particular solar thermal, in combination with efficient conventional technologies. The LabelPack A+ project supports the entire support chain (industry, installers, public authorities, consumers).
Main objectives were:
- To achieve common understanding of the regulations to support its implementation and increase its impact from the beginning: the package label has been an innovative element within the energy labelling framework. The supply chain of heating products differs significantly from others products previously labelled and the dealers/installers have been be confronted with new responsibilities usually borne only by suppliers. Considering such challenge, LabelPack A+ provided clarification, interpretations and validation to different actors of the value chain and public authorities.
- To increase visibility and a specific targeted promotion of the “package label” as an innovation within the dispositions of the regulations on the energy labelling of heating appliances: this “innovation” constituted by the package label required (and still requires) a specific, targeted promotion to ensure that all actors of the value chain and in particulars the suppliers of packages, the dealers of packages and the consumers of packages were addressed, informed and trained about its specificities.
- To involve the supply chain in the preparation and implementation of the “package label”, in order to remove barriers and increase acceptance. The activities addressing the implementation of the package label allowed to closely involve actors of the supply chain. On the one hand to support their information and preparation, on the other hand their participation and feedback contributed to ensure the adequacy of the outputs of the project to their needs.
One important dimension of the project was reinforced during its implementation. The project also included the monitoring of the package label implementation. As this implementation was, in overall terms, more trying than originally expected, the consortium also focused on the future of the package label, assessing options and issuing recommendations that can support public authorities in enhancing the roll out of the package label in the market.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The first stage of the project was the most demanding, putting into place the concepts, on-line platforms (European and national), materials and trainings. This stage was critical to ensure the availability of tools and materials during the first months of implementation of the package label. It involved intense work among partners, understanding how the regulations interacted with their markets, how to develop a common understanding while respecting national specificities in this work.
The second stage focused on the evaluation of the work done within the project but more importantly on the overall implementation of the package label in the consortium countries. This evaluation and learned lessons indicated that there were important shortcomings in the implementation of the package label. Hence the consortium agreed to focus more resources on the assessment of such problems, looking into recommendations to improve the acceptance, awareness and understanding about the package label, as well as addressing the motivation of market players, namely installers to put this into practice. This work extended also to countries not part of the consortium.
Based on a common platform, including the development of tools, materials, training content, the Label Pack A+ work was mainly based in National Pilot Projects in the countries represented in the consortium. These are relevant solar thermal markets and therefore constituted priorities for the support on the roll out of the project support to the implementation of the ErP Lot 1 and Lot 2 regulations. The online platform, including the calculation tool, the guidelines, training materials, and specific training and communication activities were developed jointly and made available in national language and promoted and implemented nationally by the National Pilot Projects.
These were complemented by National Stakeholders’ Platform. In each of the countries a Platform gathering all relevant stakeholders was constituted, to provide input and validation to the work carried out by the partners. Likewise, at European level, advisory meetings helped putting together the experiences and ideas from stakeholders of different countries.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main beneficiaries of this project are consumers, though not constituting the main target group of the project. This is so because the good roll-out of the new energy labelling obligations for space and water heaters, including the package label, shall ultimately benefit the consumers, supporting a better informed choice on equipment that is vital for their comfort but also represents an important portion of their costs. In terms of sustainability, by inciting consumers to use more efficient heating systems, the energy/heat losses will be significantly important, and it means by “ricochet” a reduction of CO2 production and an efficient use of electricity.
Consumers willing to gather better information, can benefit directly from LabelPack A+’s, as there are resources, including the online tools, that were developed taking into account that they should be as simple as possible in order to allow non-experts to use them.
By addressing market players, installers, manufacturers and public authorities, the project helped in the implementation of these regulations. Primarily, installers as they need to consider their legal obligations but also because they can use the energy label to guide them toward finding more energy efficient solutions for their clients, when installing heating systems. It offers them the possibility to more easily prepare a package label, comprising the calculation of the energy efficiency of a solar device. These tools were built to comply with the current European legislations and to allow an open and simplified use. They are also easy to access from your phone by simply going on our website. In addition to the tools, the LabelPack A+ resources accessible on the website also provide them with extensive explanation of the energy label, from the simplest guides to the European regulations on the topic. On top of this trainings were organised in the countries involved in the project, giving installers the possibility to get more information on the package label, from the technical and regulatory perspective.
For manufacturers, such tools, materials and the training were also relevant, not only as a way to have additional resources available to their own staff but also because it allowed more information for installers, so that they would not be limited to “brand” specific materials, trainings or tools, which is particularly relevant in the case of SMEs.
Furthermore, the LabelPack A+’s work can also benefit to Public Authorities, through a set recommendations for the implementation of the “package label”, providing a comprehensive set of solutions to efficiently deploy this label, can assist public authorities in the identification of push and pull measures for an improved roll-out of these obligations in Member States.

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