Electric Kettles: An Assessment of Energy-Saving Potentials for Policy Making in the European Union

Antoine Durand (), Simon Hirzel, Clemens Rohde, Marcel Gebele, Carlos Lopes, Emma Olsson and Robin Barkhausen
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Antoine Durand: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany
Simon Hirzel: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany
Clemens Rohde: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany
Marcel Gebele: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany
Carlos Lopes: The Swedish Energy Agency, 631 04 Eskilstuna, Sweden
Emma Olsson: The Swedish Energy Agency, 631 04 Eskilstuna, Sweden
Robin Barkhausen: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-17

Abstract: Electric kettles are found in almost every household in the European Union. Within the preparatory study to establish the Ecodesign Working Plan 2015–2017, the electricity consumption of this product group in Europe was estimated at 20 to 33 TWh in 2012, with an energy-saving potential of more than 20%. This led to an Ecodesign preparatory study on kettles in 2020 to analyse the potential role of environmental policy-making for electric kettles in Europe in more detail. Based on elements from this study, this paper reviews worldwide policies covering this product group, methods to assess its energy efficiency and analyses of the potential of technical improvements to enhance energy efficiency. A method is suggested for measuring the power of kettles, and corresponding power-temperature measurements of selected kettles are presented. Overall, the findings indicate that technical optimization alone has a limited potential to improve the energy efficiency of kettles and to highlight the absence of a standard for measuring the energy consumption of electric kettles. However, user-related aspects of operating kettles offer a substantial saving potential. Heating too much water or at higher than required temperatures increase the energy consumption and related energy costs of private households. This could provide leverage for policy makers to improve the market and to reduce the environmental impact of this product group beyond mere technical optimization of energy efficiency, including aspects related to circular economy and energy sufficiency.

Keywords: electric kettles; Ecodesign; energy efficiency; life cycle costs; minimum energy performance standard (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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