§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research has been conducted by her Department on assessing the role of consumer choice in product purchase and its impact on energy efficiency and total energy demand from domestic electrical appliances. [77594]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Department's Market Transformation Programme (MTP), working with the Energy Saving Trust, the Carbon Trust, manufacturers, retailers and other experts, carries out or acquires market research and analysis to help develop measures for reducing the total energy consumed by domestic appliances and other equipment. MTP currently maintains detailed consultative Policy Briefs accounting 571W for around 90 per cent. of domestic energy consumption with baselines and projections to 2010 and beyond. All this information is open to scrutiny and review on the programme web-site (www.mtprog.com)
The role of consumer choice and reliable consumer environmental product information is a central consideration in constructing effective action programmes. The approach is to achieve better choice of efficient products by stimulating innovation and competition (for example, by mandatory EU "A to G" energy rating labels); encouraging market take-up of the best available products (for example, by the "Energy Efficiency Recommended" endorsement scheme and the Energy Efficiency Commitment); and discouraging the poorest performing equipment, by regulation or by voluntary agreements with industry.
Our analysis shows that this approach has been very successful in increasing consumer choice of efficient products and in raising overall efficiency levels. For example, in 1995 the most efficient fridges and freezers generally available to UK consumers would have been rated "B", with nearly half of UK consumers choosing the least efficient categories "D, E and F". Today, the range of choice is within a much higher band of energy performance: the most efficient products actually exceeding the "A" rating and only a very few available below a "C" rating.