For over 25 years, energy labels have helped consumers choose energy efficient appliances.

Instantly recognisable, the labels feature a colour scale indicating the energy efficiency of a product, ranging from bright green (very energy efficient) to red (less so) and, previously, a letter scale ranging from the top, A+++, to the bottom, E.

Under this previous system, more than 90 per cent of products were labelled A+, A++ or A+++. In a world striving to be more sustainable, this left little to no room for improvement.

THE NEW A-G ENERGY RATING

As a result, standards for the labelling system were revised in March 2021 and again in October 2021 for lighting. The new, simpler A-G energy rating scale is stricter and has been designed so that very few products are initially expected to achieve the top “A” rating.

For example, lighting which was previously rated among the most energy efficient products on the market is now typically labelled as either “D”, “E” or “F”.

This does not mean they have become less energy efficient. In short, these products are just as energy efficient under the new labels as they were with the old ones.

Instead, what it does mean for suppliers and developers such as ourselves is that there is now room to innovate and improve in our efforts to create ever more sustainable technology in the future.