New EU energy label: The technical information is hidden







Although the new energy labels are still simply called “EU energy labels”, they now offer detailed technical product information for consumers – albeit only at second glance. We show how you can quickly get to the hidden information.

Before buying a new television, monitor, refrigerator or any other electrical device, it is particularly worth taking a look at the electricity consumption in view of the sharp rise in energy prices. Because the electricity costs quickly exceed the original purchase price over the entire service life of the device!

Before the proverbial saving at the wrong end, the so-called

EU energy label

to warn. They have been mandatory for a whole range of household appliances for years and show at a glance how much electricity a device consumes per year. The classification in energy efficiency classes should also make the value comparable to other devices.

New energy labels ensure new energy efficiency classes

The energy efficiency classes have changed for the first product groups in the past few months. New EU energy labels with two major innovations have been introduced for televisions, PC monitors, refrigerators and freezers, dishwashers, washing machines, washer-dryers and lamps.

Because the energy consumption of modern devices has steadily decreased in the course of technical development, the categories have been redefined: The previous additional markings with +, ++ and +++ are no longer applicable. The classification in class A now applies again to particularly economical models. As a result, the identical product is suddenly rated significantly worse than before, even though it consumes the same amount of electricity.

Because old and new labels are still allowed until next year, please make sure before you buy whether the goods have the old label (scale up to A+++) or already the new one (scale up to A).

The tiny QR code contains important product information

The new labels can also be recognized by the

QR code

. This is important because it contains a lot of additional technical information: in the case of TV sets, many details such as automatic brightness control and speech recognition, in the case of monitors, the panel technology and the refresh rate, among other things. In addition, there is information about how long the manufacturer guarantees the software update and spare parts supply – such details are unlikely to be known by the sales staff in the shop.

The product details are stored in the European product database (EPREL). In principle, any smartphone app for QR scans can be used to record the QR codes on the energy label, but “Energy Label” from the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Android and iOS) is particularly recommended. This allows you to save the scans to the watch list and later compare the details of different models at home.

Two comments at the end: The new energy label is only valid for a few device categories, by 2030 all product groups should be converted to the new classification. And: Due to a court ruling, vacuum cleaners are currently sold without labelling, new labels are expected to appear in 2024.

See also:

EU: Whatsapp and iMessage need to open up to smaller platforms

Response: EU would not shed a tear for Facebook

Digital Services Act: EU passes “historic” internet law





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