About ERP
ERP is also named EuP which is short for Energy Using Product, is an environmental-protection clause which regulated by EU to define the power on sumption for the completed system .According to EuP, the total AC power of the completed PC system shall be under 1.0 Watt in off mode status, which defines a more effective and embodied strategy to reduce the energy consumption.
As of November 20, 2009 the Eco-Design Directive EuP was replaced with the new energy-related products directive (ErP) 2009/125/EC. The old Eco-Design Directive for energy using products only covered products that were using energy such as a microwave, washing machine or a television. The new ErP-Directive covers products under the old EuP Directive as well as products that are energy-related and do not directly use energy such as such as double glazing windows, taps and showerheads.
According to the European Commission the definition of an energy-related product is; “any goods having an impact on energy consumption during use". Energy-related products include all energy-using products, plus energy-saving products such as windows and some water-using domestic devices, which can reduce water consumption and therefore the amount of energy needed to heat water. The ErP Directive will be implemented in each EU member country starting November 20, 2010. The European Commission has not yet come up with a product list for the new Directive and the final text of the Directive is still to be published in the EU's Official Journal.
Apart from the user's behaviour, there are two complementary ways of reducing the energy consumed by products: labelling to raise awareness of consumers on the real energy use in order to influence their buying decisions (such as labelling schemes for domestic appliances), and energy efficiency requirements imposed to products from the early stage on the design phase.
The production, distribution, use and end-of-life management of energy-using products (EuPs) is associated with a considerable number of important impacts on the environment, namely the consequences of energy consumption, consumption of other materials/resources, waste generation and release of hazardous substances to the environment. It is estimated that over 80% of all product-related environmental impacts are determined during the design phase of a product. Against this background, Eco-design aims to improve the environmental performance of products throughout the life-cycle by systematic integration of environmental aspects at a very early stage in the product design.
The Council and the European Parliament therefore adopted a Commission proposal for a Directive on establishing a framework for setting Eco-design requirements (such as energy efficiency requirements) for all energy using products in the residential, tertiary and industrial sectors. Coherent EU-wide rules for eco-design will ensure that disparities among national regulations do not become obstacles to intra-EU trade. The directive does not introduce directly binding requirements for specific products, but does define conditions and criteria for setting requirements regarding environmentally relevant product characteristics (such as energy consumption) and allows them to be improved quickly and efficiently. It will be followed by implementing measures which will establish the eco-design requirements. In principle, the Directive applies to all energy using products (except vehicles for transport) and covers all energy sources.