Vacuum cleaners downgraded by the EU to tackle climate change in Europe
Story submitted by P. Wilson
Anyone wanting to buy a powerful vacuum cleaner has only 10 days left to be certain of getting one – following new EU rules that come in next month.
From 1 September, companies in the EU will be banned from making or importing vacuum cleaners above 1600 watts.
Hoover – based in South Wales – said that most of its cleaners were in that category.
It has been replacing its models since July with less powerful versions, but a few are still left on the shelves.
The new European rules are part of the EU’s energy efficiency directive, designed to help tackle climate change.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28878432
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I don’t see the point of this. Vacuum cleaners run for a few minutes each week. The amount of energy saved in this transient use of the appliance will be miniscule in the scheme of things.
I visualize a black market developing for more powerful vaccum cleaners, an aftermarket retrofit to replace motors with more powerful ones, and a lot of purchases made outside of the EU.
One more reason to dump the EU- they are going to make criminals out of average people who just want to keep their home clean. – Anthony
From Gerry, England on August 23, 2014 at 2:57 am:
The ones they used to replace the meter readers around here can “phone home” using the mains signal as the carrier. If yours need the bandwidth of a cell phone, either the electricity distributor picked the wrong equipment, or they are sending back far more information than they have told you.
Email sent to Marlene Holzner the bi*”h who dreamt this up.
What is it with you people? 1984 was not an instruction manual. Why do you have to meddle with everything? Brits don’t want you and if we could leave tomorrow it would be 1 day too late. The best buy according to Which? is :-
“A Best Buy 2,200w vac costs around £27 a year to run in electricity – only around £8 more than the best-scoring 1,600w we’ve tested.”
But of course you know so much better and in true Newspeak you report that “Consumer’s will get better vacuum cleaners than ever before” This is almost up their with “Let them eat cake.” Perusing you CV shows that you have just the sort of qualifications to determine the best value. Didn’t know they did engineering at the LSE. But not surprising that you should attend that hole. Founded as it was by those cretins B&S Webb. You know who were supporters of the Soviet Union until their deaths. Their books, Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (1935) and The Truth About Soviet Russia (1942) give a very positive assessment of Joseph Stalin’s regime. (Incidentally the second edition of Soviet Communism left out the question mark.) But it’s what I would expect – like the EUSSR who thinks that creating famine and murdering 25 million people was just a “statistic”.
Sooner or later Britain will leave your disgusting organisation. Whether that is before the masses rise up and slaughter all of you is a mute point.
Children just aren’t going to now what a clean carpet is
Gerry, England says:
August 23, 2014 at 2:57 am
Re ‘Smart’ meters: in the UK you currently won’t be forced to have one – but in the cause of saving the non-warming planet that could all change
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Just send your lecky company notification that with regard to installing a smart meter, you have withdrawn their common law right of access to your property. There’s a website out there to help with proformas – http://stopsmartmeters.org.uk/
You can do the same with TVLA (Capita) as well.
That’s what we’ve done. And you can have huge fun taking the piss out of TVLA when you get the regular reminders…
BrianJay That’s a tad violent, don’t you think?
It’s only a Hoover.
All the commentary is about CO2. It misses the point of this “reform.”
The network is highly unstable as a result of all the unreliable wind power, and physically unable to guarantee supply. While the Germans are at least rational enough to go back to coal, that is by no means the norm in the EU. So it’s low powered appliances from now on – this is just a test case.
James Dyson’s comments in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph are excellent. A ‘must read’.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/engineering/11048619/More-suck-for-their-bucks-what-people-want.html
He says “Many machines rely on old-fashioned technology and use vacuum bags and filters to do the hard work of separating dust from the air . . . . 126 million bags and filters were binned last year, but the EU didn’t consider these environmental and financial costs relevant to an energy label.”
just keep selling high power cleaners and start making and selling `limiters` which can be used with higher rated vacuum cleaners to prevent them sucking too much energy out of the mains, get the buyer to sign to say he will use it every time he plugs in his new `overrated` high power cleaner.
simples
keep calm and carry on
All of this knee-jerk venting and blowharding will achieve precisely nothing.
We will leave the EU! Terrific! A blow (or is that a suck) for freedom!
The EU may have proposed these rules but the governments of the member states had to approve them. So blame your national governments.
And if Britain leaves the EU, will we still have vacuum cleaners with more than 1600W? No. Simple reason: exports to the EU or imports from the EU will all be less than 1600W. Think Britain will have its own vacuum which sucks harder than Johnny Foreigner’s? Of course not.
Like most other consumer goods across the world, the trend has been towards saving power through design. None of Dyson’s vacuum cleaners use 1600W or more – did they do this because of EU diktat?
What next? Are we going to have someone from the UKIP lifting a Hoover above his head and saying “from my cold dead hands”?
Sheesh, some of you people seriously need to grow up.
Build an efficient, low wattage, cost effective cleaner and the market will come to you. At the moment, my 2000 watt, $50 kmart job does an excellent clean for the money as was all the could be afforded at the time.
Well I’m curious. Does this apply to the new cordless ‘vacuums’ like the Dyson DC35? Technically, they don’t draw any power while operating, only while charging the battery (and they use ‘cyclone’ tech so again, technically, they aren’t ‘vacuum’ cleaners either. I looked around but could not find the specs on the charger for these new devices so I don’t know how much power they draw while (or whilst if you prefer) charging. Then again I suspect that the charger does not fall under these new rules, or does it?
Many EU homes have tiled or solid wood floors so weal vacuum cleaners are OK but in the UK we have fitted carpets which require frequent vacuuming. With a weak machine you vacuum more so this rule will INCREASE emissions.
Then again, the above Dyson battery powered lasts all of 13 minutes in ‘floor’ mode, 6 minutes in ‘high power’ mode, and, since the battery pack is NOT detachable like my Weed Wacker and leaf blower, it would take me multiple charge cycles to vacuum the house once (or I’d have to buy one for the living room, and one for the bedrooms, etc — good thinking on Dyson’s part).
From GeeJam on August 23, 2014 at 3:53 am:
Dyson: We all want more suck for our buck.
Looking for a vacuum with just the right amount of suction.
I have seen far too much of CBS’ The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to comment further.
as a pet owner with large hounds who go in and out all day and bring in sand and mud all day
as do I.
I sweep kilos of dirt up before I vac and it takes an hr per room with a gutsy vac to get the rugs even part respectable.
but
as we are supposed to be half blind, in the dark with those crappy mercury bulbs already
(hint, many of us arent using them:-)
the idea is you dont see the doirt you cant get up.
and as for smart meters
Mandatory in my state of aus
power bills tripled since install
and ours run on mesh RADIO as the power lines here wont allow their use for data flow apparently
so
were paying near 100 every 3 mths for increased service fees.
ie the meters.
for bugger all use value or need!
were hackable and our data IS being onsold to? USSA companies. admitted in the very very fine print.
so grab LED lights or halogens and any old bulbs you can
buy all the older vacs you can afford and bags, or MAKE bags from old denim jean legs or doubled flannelette shirtsleeves:-)( works, I do it all the time)
and protest against DUMB meters at all and every chance you can/
Is it just a coincidence that the 900 watt vacuum cleaner dictate comes in the same year that the UK has a referendum to consider whether to stay in or leave the EU?
“From 1 September, companies in the EU will be banned from making or importing vacuum cleaners above 1600 watts…”
1600 watts will be reduced to 900 watts in about 3 years, along with an ever-lengthening list of other appliances. Lookout for the next two items: water pumps and tumble driers. The idea that people will have to use these items twice as long to get the same result and at no benefit never intrudes upon the mind of the power-mad Eurocrat.
This is only the beginning.
We will soon have kettles that can rise to only 60 deg C. 1W microwaves, 10W electric room heaters. This will save the planet.
Unfortunately major energy intensive companies are now leaving Europe because of high energy costs.
Welcome to the Mediaeval EU!
Looks like Dyson has paid some bucks to the EU.Any idea how much a Dyson costs to buy in Australia? They are not worth the money.They are fine to start off with then they get clogged with dust.They are cumbersome and heavy and you have to wash the filter every month if you have carpets.A big con is all they are.I would not buy another one.
Putting an obsessive idea into action will end up with everything the idea comes into contact with being tainted by the obsession. Vacuum cleaners rationally offer nothing to change the climate. Climate obsession is not about rational thought or action. It is about indulging an obsession.
Is this a Buy signal for shares in the makers of asthma treatment? All those sensitive lungs and extra dust waiting to be breathed in.
Those with wood floors don’t need the high wattage models. To the extent they use less than 1,600 watts, shouldn’t they be able to trade this social good through a carbon credit?
How about establishing a VC (vacuum cleaner) market where those with 2,000 watt models can buy the necessary credits so they may be exonerated of carbon sin? Yeah, that’s the ticket…
Are the “smart” electric meters their solution to the potentially dangerous and/or destructive situations that will result due to the highly unreliable nature of “green” electrical energy?
If an extended “brownout” occurs, ….. the potential for a “fire” increases, as does the potential for the “burn-out” of motorized appliances, etc.
Nobody seems to have asked the real question – who benefits? This isn’t about power consumption, it has to be about money. Which makers and/or countries hosting same will benefit, and which will see their products adversely affected? Corruption has to be the reason.
This of course will only be a temporary measure until they work out the kinks of the centralized solar powered vacuum system, then they can ban those old-fashioned wasteful electric units.
During the daytime the sunlight warms a large air-filled black tank that vents through a one-way valve to the surrounding air, achieving lowest air density possible. At night after it cools, it becomes a vacuum reservoir you can tap for your cleaning. Simple.
Sure, to last long enough to be useful it has to be as large as your attic. Actually it replaces your attic, which is good as the tank will dual-function as an insulating layer. The exterior will have a pleasing shingle-like appearance.
After you’re done cleaning for the night you can enjoy the final benefit, you can use the remaining negative pressure to draw air through a micro-turbine and generate electricity for your house. Thus proving that clean green renewable energy can indeed be available when there is neither sunlight nor wind and without a storage penalty. It is self-storing, no loss!