European Ecodesign Directive

European Ecodesign directive

The Ecodesign Directive from the European Union is a directive with mandatory environmental demands with regards to all energy-consuming and energy-related products. Within this directive more than 40 products (boilers, lamps, televisions, refrigerators, etc.) were identified to be collectively responsible for approximately 40% of the harmful emissions in Europe. The purpose of the Ecodesign Directive is to compel manufacturers to reduce the energy use and other negative environmental influences of energy-consuming and energy-related products.

The Ecodesign Directive is designed as a framework. All defined product groups have specific requirements they must meet in the near future. The hot water and heating products will have to display the energy label by September 2015. And in the course of the next three years, the requirements will be stricter.

Which product groups are concerned?

Lot 1: CH and Combi boilers

Products up to 70 kW will be labelled
Products between 70 and 400 kW should be measured according to the Ecodesign Directive (this information will be found in the documentation), but are not labelled

Products > 400 kW are not affected by the Ecodesign Directive

Lot 2: Water heaters

Products up to 70kW and < 500 litre will be labelled
Products between 70 and 400 kW and 500 – 2000 litre should be measured according to the Ecodesign Directive (this information will be found in the documentation), but are not labelled
Products > 400 kW and > 2000 litres are not affected by the Ecodesign Directive

Important key dates

26 September 2015: all products in the above mentioned product groups werelabelled
26 September 2017: a second level of efficiency requirements have been applied to lots 1 and 2
26 September 2018: the third level of efficiency requirements will be applied to lots 1 and 2 and limit the maximum NOx emissions to 56 mg/kWh.

We care for our environment

As a company A.O. Smith wants to contribute to a better environment. Therefore we closely follow, with various industry related associations, all developments of the European Union’s legislation and guidelines. The last couple of years a lot of effort was put into integrating the Ecodesign Directive. Being part of this process enabled us to implement this knowledge directly to our internal improvement process. Most of our products are far ahead of the Ecodesign guidelines. Naturally, product improvement doesn’t stop here. Our R&D department will remain to research even more environmentally friendly technologies to implement in our products.

For more information, please download our ErP leaflet.

Click here to access Product Fiches and Energy Labels.