The term energy input labeling involved producers of goods and services determining how much energy is used to produce their product, and then including that information on their product packaging. Energy input labeling is sometimes known by the acronym EIL. Energy input labeling provides the advantage of knowing how much energy was used to produce a product, but it does not indicate how much energy a product uses to operate, such as the European Union energy label

European Union energy label

EU Directive 92/75/EC established an energy consumption labeling scheme. The directive was implemented by several other directives thus most white goods, light bulb packaging and cars must have an EU Energy Label clearly displayed when offered for sale or rent...

, and is not in itself a standard for energy efficiency such as Energy Saving Trust Recommended or Energy Star

Energy Star

Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products originated in the United States of America. It was first created as a United States government program during the early 1990s, but Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European Union have also adopted...

.

History

Energy input labeling originated as a project by several energy and economics activists to explore energy accounting.

Usage in industry

Energy input labeling is intended to be easy for producers to implement, At minimum, they can report and label the energy used by their firm to produce products, which is called "Energy Inputs Added", some sometimes merely "Energy Added." If a firm is able to also account for all of the energy imputed by its suppliers, then a firm can report and label "Total Energy Inputs" or "Total Energy", but this is rare at present. Energy Input Labeling is presently being used and further developed by the European Organization for Sustainability.

External links

• http://www.technocracy.org/EIL_Standards_08_v1_0.pdf