COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) 2024/1834 of 3 July 2024 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements for fans driven by motors with an electric input power between 125 W and 500 kW and repealing Commission Regulation (EU) No 327/2011 (Text with EEA relevance)

(1)

Pursuant to Directive 2009/125/EC, the Commission is to set ecodesign requirements for energy-related products that account for significant volumes of sales and trade in the Union, which have a significant environmental impact, and which present significant potential for improvement through design in terms of their environmental impact without entailing excessive costs.

(2)

The Commission first established ecodesign requirements for certain fans in Regulation (EU) No 327/2011 (2). It has carried out a review of that Regulation, pursuant to Article 7 thereof and analysed the technical, environmental and economic aspects of fans. The review was carried out in close cooperation with stakeholders and interested parties from the Union and third countries. Its results were made public and presented to the Consultation Forum established pursuant to Article 18 of Directive 2009/125/EC.

(3)

The results of the review of Regulation (EU) No 327/2011 show that fans are a significant electricity consumer in the Union. It is estimated that without Regulation (EU) No 327/2011, fans would have consumed 336 TWh of electricity in 2020, corresponding to 132 Mt of CO2-equivalent emissions and are expected to rise to 384 TWh in 2030 due to anticipated increased market penetration of fans.

(4)

Fans driven by motors are an important element of gas handling products and systems. Minimum energy efficiency requirements have been established for electric motors in Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/1781 (3). Those requirements also apply to motors that are part of a motor-fan system. However, many fans are used in combination with motors not covered by Regulation (EU) 2019/1781, and the aerodynamic performance of the fans in creating the appropriate airflow is a major part of the product’s efficiency, also not regulated through Regulation (EU) 2019/1781. Rules should therefore be laid down or maintained regarding the energy efficiency of those fans.

(5)

Taking into account the possible overlap on savings accounting with other measures, such as Regulation (EU) 2019/1781, the measures set out in Regulation (EU) No 327/2011 resulted in net savings of about 14 TWh in 2020. That is expected to rise to 27 TWh in 2030, corresponding to 5 Mt of CO2-equivalent in 2020 and 8 Mt of CO2-equivalent in 2030 annually.

(6)

The review study shows that there is significant additional saving potential for cost-effective improvements of fans. The means to realise this potential include technological progress in energy efficiency performance, expansion of the scope of the Regulation, inter alia, with jet fans, and improving the effectiveness of the measure by more accurate definitions.

(7)

The environmental aspect of fans that has been identified as the most significant for the purposes of this Regulation is electricity consumption.

(8)

Improvements in the electricity consumption of fans should be achieved by applying existing non-proprietary cost-effective technologies that can reduce the total combined costs of purchasing and operating them.

(9)

Ecodesign requirements should harmonise power consumption requirements for fans throughout the Union, thus contributing to the functioning of the internal market and to the improvement of the environmental performance of these products.

(10)

Manufacturers should have enough time to redesign or adapt their products where needed. The timing should be such as to minimise negative impacts on the functionalities of fans. It should also take account of cost impacts for manufacturers, including small and medium-sized enterprises, while ensuring that the objectives pursued by this Regulation are achieved in good time.

(11)

An additional transition period should provide flexibility to economic operators who integrate fans into their products, to enable them to adapt their products once the compliant fans are made available on the Union market.

(12)

Measures envisaged by the Commission in its Communication on the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2022-2024 (4) have an estimated potential to deliver a total in excess of 440 TWh of annual final energy savings in 2030 (170 for reviews and 270 for new products). Fans are one of the product groups listed in the Working Plan, with an estimated 10 TWh of annual energy savings in 2030 (5).

(13)

This Regulation should increase the market penetration of technologies that improve the life-cycle environmental impact of fans, leading to an estimated annual electricity savings of 4 TWh by 2030 and 12 TWh in 2040, compared with the situation where no additional measures are taken.

(14)

Regulation (EU) No 327/2011 was estimated to save 14 TWh per year by 2020. As the changes introduced by this Regulation constitute an upgrade of Regulation (EU) No 327/2011, the savings of the latter will be maintained, and the savings expected to be delivered by this Regulation are additional to them.

(15)

Measurements of the relevant product parameters should be performed through reliable, accurate and reproducible measurement methods, which take into account the recognised state-of-the-art measurement methods including, where available, harmonised standards adopted by the European standardisation organisations, as listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6).

(16)

In accordance with Article 8(2) of Directive 2009/125/EC, this Regulation should specify which conformity assessment procedures apply.

(17)

To facilitate compliance verification, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives should provide the information in the technical documentation referred to in Annexes IV and V to Directive 2009/125/EC, insofar as that information relates to the requirements laid down in this Regulation.

(18)

To improve the effectiveness of this Regulation and to protect consumers, products that automatically alter their performance in test conditions to improve the declared parameters should be prohibited from being placed on the market or put into service.

(19)

To facilitate compliance verification, market surveillance authorities should be allowed to test, or witness the testing of, larger fans at premises such as those of the manufacturer.

(20)

Many fans are integrated into other products. To maximise cost-efficient saving, this Regulation should apply to such fans.

(21)

Ecodesign requirements should also include product information requirements that will help potential buyers make the most appropriate decision and make it easier for Member States to perform market surveillance.

(22)

In particular, it is relevant to require quantified information on fan efficiency at part load, in order to enable fan system designers to optimise the energy efficiency of such systems.

(23)

To facilitate reparability of products containing fans, it should be possible for spare part fans aimed at such products to benefit from certain exemptions for a certain period of time in certain conditions.

(24)

The Union action plan for the circular economy (7) and the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2022-2024 underline the importance of using the ecodesign framework to support the move towards a more resource-efficient and circular economy. Therefore, this Regulation should lay down appropriate requirements contributing to circular economy objectives, in particular making the availability of spare parts mandatory and ensuring the availability of relevant information, such as on disassembly, recycling or disposal at end of life.

(25)

In addition to the legally binding requirements laid down in this Regulation, benchmarks for currently available technologies should be identified to make information on the life-cycle environmental performance of products subject to this Regulation widely available and easily accessible, in accordance with part 3, point (2), of Annex I to Directive 2009/125/EC.

(26)

A review of this Regulation should assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of its provisions in achieving its goals. The timing of the review should be set so that all provisions are implemented and the effect on the market can be observed.

(27)

To ensure clarity and transparency regarding the applicable requirements for different fans, Regulation (EU) No 327/2011 should be repealed from the date of application of this Regulation.

(28)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 19(1) of Directive 2009/125/EC,

(1)

‘fan’ means a rotary-bladed machine that receives energy and utilises it by means of one or more impellers to maintain a continuous flow of air or other gas passing through it and, with a specific ratio lower than 1,1 and an output air velocity lower than 65 m/s, which can be of the following categories: axial, centrifugal, cross-flow, mixed-flow or jet, and made of at least an impeller, a motor and a stator, and includes any other significant elements that are supplied with the fan;

(2)

‘significant elements’ means the elements of a fan that contribute to the continuous conversion of electric power into air volume flow rate and pressure, or that influence the efficiency of that conversion, namely:

(3)

‘best efficiency point’ (BEP) means the best energy efficiency point for fan operation, as declared by the manufacturer and specified by the fan speed, expressed in revolutions per minute (rpm);

(4)

‘impeller’ means the rotating part of the fan that is imparting energy into the gas flow and is also known as the fan wheel;

(5)

‘electric motor’ or ‘motor’ means a device that converts electrical input power into mechanical output power in the form of a rotation with a rotational speed and torque that depends on factors including the frequency of the supply voltage and the number of poles of the motor as applicable;

(6)

‘inlet cone’, also known as venturi inlet, inlet bell, inlet radius, means a device that steers the air into the impeller and reduces the vena contracta and turbulence that would occur at the entrance of the impeller;

(7)

‘inlet guide vanes’ means vanes positioned before the impeller to guide the gas stream towards the impeller and which may or may not be adjustable;

(8)

‘outlet guide vanes’ means vanes positioned after the impeller to guide the gas stream from the impeller and which may or may not be adjustable;

(9)

‘diffuser’ means a device that influences the fan performance through static recovery;

(10)

‘protective guard’ means a grid placed at fan inlet or outlet designed to prevent relatively large foreign bodies or human body elements from reaching the moving parts;

(11)

‘stator’ means the stationary part of the fan that interacts with the air stream passing through the impeller and, within the geometrical air-stream envelope between defined fan inlet and outlet sections, includes any element that may increase, and excludes any non-fan element that may decrease, the fan efficiency;

(12)

‘drive system’ means electric motor, transmission or direct drive and a variable speed drive if supplied;

(13)

‘direct drive’ means a driving arrangement for a fan where the impeller is fixed to the motor shaft, either directly or with a coaxial coupling, and where the impeller speed is identical to the motor’s rotational speed;

(14)

‘transmission’ means a driving arrangement for a fan that is not direct drive, including using a belt drive, gearbox or slipping coupling;

(15)

‘variable speed drive’ (VSD) means an electronic power converter, integrated or functioning as a separate unit, that continuously adapts the electric power supplied to a single motor, or multiple motors in order to control the motor’s mechanical power output according to the torque-speed characteristic of the load driven by the motor, by adjusting the power supply to a variable frequency and voltage supplied to the motor, including EC (electronically commutated) motors’ internal controllers, excluding variable voltage controllers where only the supply voltage for the motor is varied, including all integrated protection devices and auxiliaries;

(16)

‘specific ratio’ means the stagnation pressure measured at the fan outlet divided by the stagnation pressure at the fan inlet at BEP;

(17)

‘fan flow angle’ means the angle between incoming and outgoing gas flow direction of the fan impeller, expressed in degrees, as set out in Annex III;

(18)

‘axial fan’ means a fan with a fan flow angle < 20°, as set out in point 4 of Annex III;

(19)

‘centrifugal fan’ means a fan with a flow angle ≥ 70°, as set out in point 4 of Annex III;

(20)

‘mixed flow fan’ means a fan with a flow angle ≥ 20° and < 70°, as set out in point 4 of Annex III;

(21)

‘centrifugal blade angle’ means the blade angle β2 of a centrifugal fan, expressed in degrees, as set out in point 5 of Annex III;

(22)

‘forward curved fan’ means a centrifugal fan with a fan blade angle β2 > 90°, as set out in point 5 of Annex III;

(23)

‘backward curved fan’ means a centrifugal fan with a fan blade angle β2 where 0°< β2 ≤ 50°, as set out in point 5 of Annex III;

(24)

‘backward inclined fan’ means a centrifugal fan with a fan blade angle β2 where 50° < β2 ≤ 90°, as set out in point 5 of Annex III;

(25)

‘cross-flow fan’ means a fan in which the gas path through the impeller is in a direction essentially at right angles to its axis both entering and leaving the impeller at its periphery;

(26)

‘jet fan’ means an axial, centrifugal or radial fan that produces a high velocity jet of air in a space (thrust), unconnected to any ducting, where the jet of air induces movement of the surrounding air, creating an overall air flow through the space, and that is designed for operation with open inlets and outlets rather than operating against pressure, including radial and centrifugal jet fans with an angle entrance of ≤ 90° to the outlet;

(27)

‘declared values’ means the values provided by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative for the stated, calculated or measured technical parameters in accordance with Article 4, for the verification of compliance by the Member State authorities;

(28)

‘equivalent model’ means a model that has the same technical characteristics relevant for the technical information to be provided, but which is placed on the market or put into service by the same manufacturer, importer or authorised representative as another model with a different model identifier;

(29)

‘model identifier’ means the code, usually alphanumeric, which distinguishes a specific product model from other models with the same trademark or the same manufacturer’s, importer’s or authorised representative’s name;

(30)

‘multiple speed motor’ means a motor of which the rotating speed can be varied by energising different motor windings;

(31)

‘air-circulating fan’ means a fan that is unconnected to any ducting, without a stator or with a stator that cannot be connected to ducting, used for moving air within a space, such as a room or open-air area. There is no partition between inlet and outlet and the air circulates freely from outlet to inlet, it operates against zero external pressure and is not a jet fan and is not marketed as such. Its measurement arrangement is as per measurement category E. Fans for which performance information at any pressure different than zero Pa is provided on the manufacturer’s website, catalogues, brochures, technical documentation, or other relevant means are not air circulating fans.

—

whether it is appropriate to revise the metrics with an extended and technology-neutral product approach, including part load performance;

—

whether it is appropriate to revise the efficiency limits in line with the new metrics and technological progress;

—

the relevance of regulating fans below 125 W electric power, air circulating fans and large comfort fans;

—

the relevance of regulating jet fans below 750 W;

—

resource efficiency, repairability, reuse and recycling, recycled content and durability;

—

the relevance of the exemptions laid down in Article 1;

—

the relevance of the circumvention provisions laid down in Article 6;

—

the potential of 3D printing of elements;

—

whether it is appropriate to revise the requirements on the storage of product information due to the possible introduction of a digital product passport;

—

the relevance of requiring an energy label.