IEC GUIDE 118:2017

Inclusion of energy efficiency aspects in electrotechnical publications

IEC Guide 118:2017(E) is intended for technical committees and gives guidance on how to consider energy efficiency aspects when preparing IEC publications.
Its purpose is:
- to describe the contributions of IEC publications to energy efficiency;
- to describe the concept of an energy efficiency aspect;
- to provide categories of energy efficiency aspects and a list of energy efficiency aspects to be considered by technical committees.
This Guide:
- helps in harmonizing the approach to energy efficiency;
- raises awareness that provisions in IEC publications can affect the energy performance of the product itself (taken individually) and of the entire application (embedding the product), in both negative and positive ways;
- helps technical committees to identify energy efficiency aspects that contribute to energy efficiency improvement of the product itself and of the entire application;
- promotes the use of a systematic approach when addressing energy efficiency in the context of standardization;
- promotes the use of a systems approach when addressing energy efficiency aspects in the context of standardization.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 27-Mar-2017
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 27.015 - Energy efficiency. Energy conservation in general
• Technical Committee: IEC/TC - IEC/TC

Relations

• Revised: IEC GUIDE 118:2024 - Preparation of basic and group energy efficiency publications including energy efficiency aspects
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC GUIDE 118 ®
Edition 1.0 2017-03
GUIDE
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inside
Inclusion of energy efficiency aspects in electrotechnical publications

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IEC GUIDE 118 ®
Edition 1.0 2017-03
GUIDE
colour
inside
Inclusion of energy efficiency aspects in electrotechnical publications

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 27.015 ISBN 978-2-8322-4115-8

– 2 – IEC GUIDE 118:2017 © IEC 2017
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Standardization and energy efficiency . 7
4.1 General considerations . 7
4.2 The concept of energy efficiency . 8
4.3 Systems approach . 9
4.4 Contribution of standardization to energy efficiency . 9
5 Energy efficiency aspects in IEC publications . 10
5.1 General . 10
5.2 Energy efficiency improvement process . 10
5.3 Inclusion of energy efficiency aspects in IEC publications . 11
5.4 Energy efficiency publications . 13
Annex A (informative) Market barriers to energy efficiency . 14
Annex B (informative) Engineering approach to energy efficiency improvement . 16
B.1 General . 16
B.2 Boundary definition . 16
B.2.1 Principle . 16
B.2.2 Explanation . 16
B.3 Loss identification . 17
B.3.1 Principle . 17
B.3.2 Explanation . 17
B.4 Loss estimation . 17
B.4.1 Principle . 17
B.4.2 Explanation . 17
B.5 Loss evaluation . 18
B.5.1 Principle . 18
B.5.2 Explanation . 18
B.6 Energy efficiency improvement . 19
B.6.1 Principle . 19
B.6.2 Explanation . 19
Annex C (informative) Inclusion of energy efficiency aspects in IEC publications . 20
Bibliography . 23

Figure 1 – Key elements in energy efficiency definition . 9
Figure 2 – Iterative process of energy efficiency improvement . 11

Table 1 – Energy efficiency aspect categories and examples . 12
Table A.1 – Examples of generic market barriers to energy efficiency and possible
measures to overcome them from a standardization point of view . 15
Table C.1 – Energy efficiency aspects and examples of their inclusion in publications . 20

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
INCLUSION OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY ASPECTS
IN ELECTROTECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This first edition of IEC Guide 118 has been prepared, in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives,
Part 1, Annex A, by the IEC Advisory Committee on Energy Efficiency (ACEE). This is a non-
mandatory guide in accordance with SMB Decision 136/8.
The text of this IEC Guide is based on the following documents:
Four months' vote Report on voting
C/1979A/DV C/2002/RV
Full information on the voting for the approval of this IEC Guide can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.

– 4 – IEC GUIDE 118:2017 © IEC 2017
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
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INTRODUCTION
Energy efficiency is key to addressing the challenge to support energy policies while
preserving the environment.
Many energy efficient technologies and solutions are already available and cost-effective;
nevertheless, a variety of barriers inhibits the deployment of these technologies and impedes
harvesting their energy efficiency potential.
Standardization can play an important role to help overcome these barriers and to
disseminate and promote energy efficient technologies, solutions and services.
This Guide aims to give advice to technical committees on the way energy efficiency should
be considered and included in IEC publications.
IEC publications may deal exclusively with energy efficiency or may include clauses specific
to energy efficiency; however technical committees are encouraged to:
• consider energy efficiency in their standardization work;
• identify which aspects of energy efficiency are relevant for their standardization;
• use a structured approach when addressing energy efficiency;
• use a systems approach when addressing energy efficiency.
This Guide helps to fulfil IEC Energy Efficiency Policy by indicating how energy efficiency
can be included in electrotechnical publications.
In this Guide, the term “technical committees” also includes subcommittees and system
committees. The term “publication” includes “International Standard”, “Technical Report”,
“Technical Specification” and “Guide”. In addition, the term “product” includes “process”,
“service” and combinations thereof, commonly known as “systems”.
Technical committees dealing with subjects relating to energy efficiency for the whole, or for a
specific part of their activities, are invited by SMB Decision 136/8 to follow the provisions of
this Guide.
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