Tools and services supporting effective exploitation of EPREL

Introduction

The EU database for energy labelled products (EPREL) provides an effective basis for searching and comparing energy efficient products in the EU market. Thus, EPREL is a valuable information source for consumers, procurers, retailers, policymakers, and other stakeholders supporting sustainable product purchasing and policymaking.

Current Challenges

However, given the recent implementation of the database, there is still much potential for broader exploitation by the target groups. A significant number of stakeholders are not fully aware of the information offered by EPREL or are not used to the utilization of EU level information sources and prefer information provided by their local information channels.

Information Needs

Stakeholders are often searching for comprehensive information packages, including:

1. Environmental aspects
2. Price
3. Availability
4. Technical features of products

Moreover, high data quality (completeness and correctness) on EPREL is key to ensuring the effectiveness and use of the database.

Project Objectives

The proposed project will develop and promote a new type of modular web application, tailored to the needs of consumers, procurers, retailers, and policymakers. This application will provide essential product information via the typical information channels used by the target groups.

Features of the Application

The new modular web application will allow the merging of various product information, including:

• Price
• Operation costs
• Energy/resource efficiency
• Product availability
• Technical product features
• Statistical market information

This will be supported by crawler technologies.

Support for Sustainable Purchasing

The tools developed will effectively support the purchasing of energy efficient sustainable products. They will also aid in the design of product policy instruments, such as:

• Green procurement
• Subsidies

Data Quality Improvement

A second key activity of the project will be the development of tools and processes supporting data quality on EPREL. This will involve:

• Automated software routines
• Crowdsourced checking of market data