This week, I looked how the EU Energy Star specifications apply to an Apple iMac. I walked through the calculations used to determine whether a computer meets the Energy Star requirements, and compared my results to the Energy Star database.

This week I looked at the energy consumption requirements that computers must meet to use the Energy Star label in the EU.

After publishing last week’s post about EU policy on stand by power consumption for electrical equipment, I discovered the directive it was based on had been replaced. This week, I tried to discover how the new directive would affect the existing regulation on stand by power consumption.

The topic this week is the EU Ecodesign concept and EU policy on stand by power consumption for household electrical items.

This week I looked at why the European Commission is described as representing the common EU interest, and what this means.

Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament

First, the EU and its policies are influential; what happens in Europe appears to influence what happens in the rest of the world.

Second, DssW is an English limited company. This means it is subject to EU laws, and they have a direct effect on our business and our customers.

I’m writing about what I learn over on the DssW blog. I’ve started with two posts:

• Learning about the European Union
• Where does EU policy come from?