Street and office lighting and devices that convert digital TV signals to analogue signals, better known as set-top boxes, commonly used in Maltese households, could all be subject to new EU rules that aim at increasing energy efficiency, under plans drawn up by the European Commission and backed by national experts.

Experts from EU member states, including Malta, yesterday endorsed plans during a meeting of the Ecodesign Regulatory Committee and, if the European Parliament backs the plans and national political leaders agree with their technical experts, the Commission will formally adopt the proposals in January 2009.

The new rules covering lighting would, according to the Commission's calculations, reduce the amount of electricity consumed by lighting equipment in the EU by 15 per cent, or 38 TWh (terawatt hour), an amount that is equivalent to the annual electricity use of Romania. The stricter measures would reduce the EU's annual CO2 emissions by 15 million tonnes.

Further proposed rules include plans to reduce the energy consumption of simple set-top TV boxes, which convert digital signals to analogue. Power consumption limits detailed in the Commission's proposal would reduce the current level of electricity consumption from 14 TWh to 5 TWh by 2014, the Commission said, adding that it expects sales of such boxes to sky-rocket over the coming years as more consumers sign up to digital broadcasting services.

The plans form part of the broader 2005 Directive on Eco-design, which aims at improving energy efficiency on a product-by-product basis. The Commission said that over the coming months it will release further such as household lamps.