Battery Chargers and External Power Supplies

Overview

From 2006 to 2013, D+R International supported the development of appliance standards for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office (BTO) (previously Building Technologies Program). BTO had been legislatively directed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to provide a determination on energy conservation standards for battery chargers and external power supplies, and later set standard levels.

The Solution

To assist DOE BTO in establishing standards, D+R completed assessments on the markets, purchasing patterns, and end-use for battery chargers and external power supplies. In these assessments, D+R identified the many kinds of consumer products that use battery chargers and external power supplies, described trends in the markets for these products and the manner in which they drive demand, charted distribution networks, identified key manufacturers, and established standard usage profiles for end-use consumers.

D+R also created computer simulation models to estimate the national energy savings potential and net present value of proposed efficiency standards for these products.  These findings and calculations were presented to industry stakeholders for public comment and feedback.

The Impact

DOE BTO established energy conservation standards for battery chargers, effective June 13, 2018, and updated standards for external power supplies, effective January 29, 2019. Appliance and equipment efficiency standards have served as one of the nation’s most effective policies to improve energy efficiency and to save consumers energy and money.