Electric.ie September/October Edition

ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 53 New Ecodesign & Labelling rules become applicable T he two regulations published in 2019 and revised in February 2021 bring major changes for producers and end-users of lighting products. New in the Energy Labelling Regulation (ELR) is the enlargement of the scope to cover all light sources placed on the EU market and the rescaling of the energy label for light sources to the new A – G scale. The energy label for luminaires was discontinued already in 2019. The ELR also clari es the new requirements for registering light sources in the EU EPREL database. The Ecodesign Regulation for light sources and separate control gear, also known as the Single Lighting Regulation (SLR), introduces energy ef ciency requirements that will ban some uorescent and halogen lamps as of today and T8 linear uorescent and other halogen lamps in two years’ ‒ The Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulations for light sources adopted in 2019 and revised in February this year become applicable on 1st September 2021 in all EU Member States. Industry News time. It also introduces new functional requirements, such as those to regulate icker and stroboscopic effects, and new circular economy requirements on the removability and replaceability of light sources and separate control gears and on durability for LED and OLED light sources. LightingEurope has worked closely with regulators on both laws and their amendment to share our members’ technical expertise and market experience. “The new laws are complex and create new obligations for manufacturers. LightingEurope is now concentrating efforts on helping companies understand and apply the new requirements to their products and to help authorities enforce the new rules,” states Ourania Georgoutsakou, LightingEurope Secretary General. “We’ve been getting questions every week from companies on how to apply the rules to specific products and applications. That’s why we regularly update the LightingEurope Guidelines on the new Ecodesign and Energy Labelling rules and on the EPREL Database, based on our member’s latest understanding and on discussions with Member States authorities and the European Commission,” Georgoutsakou adds. The LightingEurope Guidelines on Ecodesign and Energy Labelling are already in their Fourth Edition in less than two years and a Fifth edition is in the pipeline. A second edition of the EPREL Guidelines was published in July 2021. https://lightingeurope.org/guidelines WEEE Ireland, Key Industry and Training Partners Launch New ‘Circular Economy Skills Initiative’ Electrical Repair Course A n industry-wide drive to extend the lives of fixable white goods has been fast- tracked to combat a major shortage of electrical repair experts – whose average age is now 59. The new ‘Circular Economy Skills Initiative’ course aims to produce enough experts to ensure thousands of washing machines, fridges and dishwashers are given a new lease of life in homes and businesses across the country. WEEE Ireland, the White Goods Association and technical training agency FIT (Fast Track to IT) joined forces to create the innovative curriculum and career pathway. The free training course will be run ‒ Ireland is set to train a new generation of repair technicians to prevent thousands of tonnes of electrical appliances going to waste. with the support of Louth Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) in a state-of-the-art centre in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. Up to 20 trainees will complete the initial pilot 26-week programme, followed by 12 weeks’ guaranteed work placement with leading white goods industry supporters of the programme. “ This new course is a fantastic solution to some of the circular economy challenges WEEE Ireland members face,” said WEEE Ireland CEO, Leo Donovan. “It helps address a skill that is vital to ensuring we can keep householders’ electrical goods in circulation for longer. However, we must go further in encouraging circular activity by including the repair and reuse of electrical products in the EU takeback target and not solely end- of-life recycling targets.” “The key aim of this full-time course is to address the growing need for the maintenance, repair and recycling of white goods,” said Elizabeth O’Reilly, Head of Membership and Circular Economy Lead at WEEE Ireland. “To create a truly circular economy where products are kept in use for longer, we need skilled technicians. The longer we can extend the life of appliances and keep resources in circulation, the more we can reduce waste."