New energy technology list (ETL) rules
New rules are imminent for retail display cabinets, professional (catering) cabinets and refrigerated display retrofit items. The new requirements have been submitted to the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and once approved will be applied.
Refrigerated display cabinets
Proposals are in place for beverage coolers to become a separate category and so will not be listed alongside other refrigerated display cabinets. The method to present the efficiency of display cabinets will also change to align with the eco-design requirements and the differentiation between horizontal and vertical cabinets will be removed. This will provide a single energy threshold for each temperature class. In addition there will be a requirement for the refrigerant used to have a global warming potential (GWP) of less than 150. This means that only natural refrigerants and some low GWP HFC/HFO refrigerants will be able to be used when listing on the ETL.
Professional cabinets
New rules are also proposed for professional cabinets. These include updated, more stringent, energy requirements, a GWP limit of 150 and use of BS EN 16825:2016 for testing unless ISO 22041:2019 is harmonised before the criteria are published.
For both the refrigerated display cabiets and profesional cabinets there will be further consultation with stakeholders on the specifics of the final criteria.
Retrofit measures for to refrigerated retail display cabinets
As part of the ETL, manufacturers can list items that save energy when fitted to refrigerated open-fronted retail display cabinets. This includes strip curtains, blinds, transparent sliding doors, transparent hinged doors and enhanced air flow management systems. In the past these items could be listed on the ETL without any proof that they saved energy. The assumption was that they do save energy and so this was sufficient for them to be listed. Recently there has been a wish to assess the performance of these retrofit measures more accurately to determine their relative performance and energy savings. Therefore, in the future, such items will need to be tested to prove their performance and to provide comparable energy performance figures.
For all the retrofit measures the testing will be carried out as prescribed in BS EN ISO 23953-2:2015 at climate class 3 (25°C and 60% RH). An open-fronted refrigerated display cabinet will be used for the testing and must have an Energy Efficiency Index (EEI) less than prescribed values for either the M0, M1 or M2 temperature classifications. Testing will be carried out with and without the retrofit measure applied at the same temperature classification for both tests. Conditions applied in terms of door openings (for sliding or hinged doors) and for strip curtains, blinds or enhanced air flow management are prescribed. The overall percentage energy savings (derived from total energy divided by total display area) achieved through applying the retrofit measure will be reported.. The testing must be carried out by an independent party or verified through witness testing, or representative testing.
Testing
RD&T provide independent expertise to assist manufacturers in complying with the above new requirements. If you would like help or advice with listing on the ETL then please contact Judith Evans at RD&T (j.a.evans@rdandt.co.uk).