Seasonic – Ready and ahead of time for new Ecodesign requirements
Essential news for PC system builders
Taipei, Taiwan – April 1, 2014
On July 1, 2014 the EU commission will take another step towards the implementation of the Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC) and will introduce new requirements for a range of energy related products that include computers and computer servers. This initiative is targeting to drive forward the development of energy-efficient products within the European Union.
The new directive (EU regulation 617/2013) states that internal PC power supplies will need to reach at least 85% efficiency at 50% load and 82% efficiency at 20% and 100% of their rated output power. These standards correspond to the requirements of the international energy-saving certification level of 80PLUS® Bronze. Apart from these efficiency benchmarks, the EU also demands a power factor of 0.9 at 100 % of the rated output power for all internal power supplies with a maximum rated power of more than 75 W.
Besides power supplies, the new regulation will have an affect on the ratings of other PC components and will also require manufacturers and assemblers of PC systems to provide relevant information regarding components. This reporting process will become part of the CE certification process for computers. As a result, only the desktop computers that fully comply with the new EU regulation will receive the CE marking in the future.
Maintaining a keen focus on the research and design of the best-in-class energy efficient power supplies for all PC markets, Seasonic has been supporting system builders by manufacturing the highest efficiency power supplies since 2005, when it became the first company to achieve 80 PLUS® certification. Ever since that time, Seasonic has been a forerunner to develop the widest range of retail and system integration power supplies currently on the market and is proud that all its current units already comply with the European Ecodesign directive soon to come into effect.
