Reflect differences in technology to the standard for HP water heaters ― Conduct survey on energy consumption efficiency
METI(Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry) and ANRE(Agency for Natural Resources and Energy) will conduct a questionnaire survey on energy consumption efficiency for the manufacturers of heat pump water heaters. It is part of the measures to establish Top-Runner standard. By grasping the prospects for future technology development and the extent to which individual technologies will contribute to improvement of efficiency, it will utilize for preparation of the specific standards in the future.
The advisory committee on Energy and Natural Resources (Advisory body of METI) , “EC guideline working group on air conditioners and electric water heater equipment” (WG, Eiji Hihara, Professor of Graduate School of the University of Tokyo) was held on 18th December for the first time in a half year, and the secretariat explained this.
In the Top Runner program, target standards are set with the highest energy consumption efficiency at the time in each fiscal year, taking into account the technological development prospects in addition to the energy conservation level of equipment. This encourages manufacturers to ensure that the average consumption efficiency, which is weighted according to the number of units shipped, exceeds the target standard.
However, manufacturers of heat pump water heaters are trying to improve efficiency using various technologies, and it is difficult to apply advanced technologies uniformly. Setting a standard that focuses only on energy consumption efficiency may lead the consumers to purchase the products that do not meet economic rationality.
For this reason, the questionnaire asks about the degree of improvement in consumption efficiency of each technology. In addition, the prospects for the introduction and dissemination of technologies in the future and their respective costs are also confirmed and reflected to the future discussions. At the meeting, a committee member commented that how to expand the sales channels was also requested to be added to the questionnaire.