Top Ten

The website www.topten.info presents and compares the most efficient products (best available technologies) of a type. Each website provides the energy consumption of the product, the life-cycle costs, and other key attributes as well as a typical inefficient alternative. The target group are consumers. They can easily compare products and find the energy-efficient and cost-effective appliance.

Summary

TopTen is an international programme promoting energy-efficient electrical appliances and other products. It operates mainly through a website, on which consumers and other buyers can find the most efficient products of a type.
National sites cover 19 countries, including 17 European countries, China and the USA. Each country site presents the most energy-efficient products in that market, in categories including office equipment, lighting and household appliances. Each of the national TopTen sites is accessible through the common portal www.topten.info.
The website provides the energy consumption and cost and key attributes of the around ten most energy-efficient products as well as a typical inefficient alternative. The tool is easy to use and simplifies the buying decision. Consumers can easily find the most energy- and cost-efficient appliance to meet their needs and see the savings they can make. Separate Topten Pro pages provide advice for professional buyers, including procurement guidelines and sample tender documents.
Product details are tailored to each category but the key criteria are energy efficiency, other impacts on the environment, human health and quality. Details are updated every six months to create a dynamic benchmark. (Bush et al. 2009).

Additional information provides advice and encourages consumers to save energy by showing how it causes climate change and what consumers can do to reduce their impact. A TopTen game has started in several countries to reward the entrant with the greatest energy savings.

TopTen is neutral, rigorous and transparent. It is not influenced by manufacturers or retailers and the selection methodology for each sub-category is explained online. It makes the current status of energy efficiency explicit in each national market and can be used as a reference in negotiations between government and manufacturers.The various TopTen activities reinforce each other to encourage and accelerate the design, marketing and buying of super-efficient appliances and equipment.TopTen has had an impact on the market: it is a market shifter, a facilitator, an educational tool, a decision making aid. The website is used as a basis for environmental policy design, labelling strategies, dissemination programmes, minimum energy efficiency requirements and specifications for multinational buyers (Bush et al., 2009). Hits and visitors to the website and the number of newsletter subscribers are increasing. The 2009 European TopTen evaluation reported the following website coverage and resonance:

12 country websites (19 sites by 2011, of which 17 in the European Union) presenting continuously updated selections of best appliances, recommendations for users and selection criteria
Information available in more than 10 languages
166 product categories scanned in the 12 countries, broken down into more than 600 market segments relevant to consumers’ preferences
More than 9,5 million visitors over the three years of the first European project, 4,3 million in 2008 and 432 000 average monthly visitors for all TopTen partners (Jan-Oct 2008 period)
Substantial media coverage, reaching over 150 million readers, viewers and listeners, worth over 2,1 million € (in only six countries which were able to quantify their media coverage). Conventional media have reported on the TopTen market surveys.
An open TopTen platform: new organizations can join at any time-
Differentiated impact on numerous target groups: tailored information delivered to consumers, procurement officers, policy makers, NGOs and institutions, support to utilities, support and recognition to product manufacturers and retailers investing in energy efficiency (Attali et al. 2009).

Success factors

The ease of use of the website and the energy cost information encourages users to “play” with the tool, which raises awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency.
The calculation method is easy to understand for people without technical knowledge.
Country-specific websites cover only nationally available products and meet local language requirements.
The website is regularly updated, monitored and evaluated to respond to new TopTen product launches.
Information campaigns and educational programmes raise awareness among target groups.
The growth of the website raises manufacturers’ awareness and interest in energy efficiency.

Other examples

The Government of Canada designed a rating system for various appliances including refrigerators, clothes washers etc. Although it is possible to look only for Energy Star rated products, one cannot sort the results on the basis of low energy consumption or low energy costs. Thus, at least compared to the TopTen-platform, the Canadian rating system is less handy and less customer-friendly (see: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/home).

In a joint effort Australia’s and New Zealand’s administrations also developed a website on which consumers can quite easily identify the most energy-efficient products of respective product categories (see: http://www.energyrating.gov.au/). The website sust-it.net, based in the UK, is an interesting case as it provides information on various products and product categories and, moreover, offers links to retailers (sust-it NA).

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Find essential basics on this good practice policy example and explore how this example was applied

Aim of policy

TopTen was designed to stimulate the demand and supply of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly equipment by providing credible, up-to-date information on the most efficient products available in national markets. The project aims to encourage consumers to demand energy-efficient products by raising awareness with quick and easy access to independent product information tailored to people’s needs (Bush et al. 2007). It also aims to involve retailers and large buyers, and to create multinational pressure to push manufacturers towards greater energy efficiency across their range of products.

Governance level

It is a sub-national policy.

Sectoral focus

Relevant sectors

Residential: The sectoral focus is the residential sector.

Related appliances

The technological focus are appliances.

Target groups

Relevant target groups

User
Manufacturer

Beneficiaries

Direct beneficiaries

User
TopTen allows consumers to more easily identify energy efficient products and compare the energy consumption with other products.

Indirect beneficiaries

Manufacturer
The website provides a level playing field for manufacturers to position their products in terms of energy efficiency in their marketing and design activities in a predictable way. It can be a powerful marketing tool.
Retail company
Top Ten also provides a level playing field for retailers to position their products in terms of energy efficiency.
Governmental actor
Public authorities can benefit. They can use the information on the website to buy their products. TopTen provides advice for professional buyers, including procurement guidelines and sample tender documents.

Barriers addressed

Relevant barriers

Knowledge and information barriers: Sometimes actors may not be informed about possibilities for energy-efficient improvements. Therefore the main barriers addressed by the voluntary labelling scheme are information asymmetries that result from high transaction costs for consumers to obtain relevant information on product characteristics.

Incentives addressed

Relevant incentives

Saved energy costs: After a period of time, the upfront costs, which are normally higher for energy-efficient products compared to their less-efficient counterparts, are amortised due to lower running costs. The ENERGY STAR is a well-known label that informs customers about the environmental and cost benefits.
Unique selling proposition for suppliers: The unique selling proposition is a strategic benefit. It can lead to competitive advantages or even market leadership and ultimately contributes to increased profits, too.

Policy package

The programme has supported research and development and the creation of instruments such as energy labels, minimum energy performance standards, rebate programmes, information campaigns, white certificates, technology and cooperative procurement. TopTen policy recommendations relate, for example, to appropriate levels for mandatory and voluntary minimum energy performance standards or the design of financial incentive schemes (Attali et al. 2009).

Policy innovation

Country-specific websites cover only nationally available products and meet local language requirements.
The product list is updated regularly (every 6 month) to ensure that the most current products are always reflected on the site and to create a dynamic benchmark. National pages show the most efficient products soon after they become available.

Possible further improvements

Funding
Each national TopTen system has pieced together its own mosaic of funding sources, but the main finance came from the “Intelligent Energy Europe” initiative.

Test procedures
Topten relies on declarations of existing labels and schemes, for which some tests are undertaken by authorities.

Find out how this good practice policy example was implemented and explore the associated factors and side-effects

Steps of design and implementation

The most important steps are illustrated in the next figure.

The Top Ten concept

Source: Attali et al. 2009

The programme consists of the following steps:

Develop technical specifications and selection criteria (especially energy efficiency, CO₂ emissions) that take account the most recent technological and market developments. As far as possible, criteria are the same for each country.
Define appropriate subcategories based on type, size and other characteristics that are meaningful for consumers, the main website target group.
Search for and analyse data for the product selection criteria, co-operating with national standards and labelling schemes.
Select TopTen products and verify the quality of data and the methodology with manufacturers. This includes working with manufacturers willing to make their products more efficient.
Design a consumer-friendly website for each country, with information on product energy efficiency, background information on the category, news pages, etc.
Develop media attention to increase public awareness of efficient products.
Continue as an iterative process, monitoring, evaluating and updating the websites. The information is updated every six months to keep up with the market and with new product launches.
Introduce associated developments such as the European Union TopTen competition for the best promotional campaign and product exhibition of TopTen products.

Co-operation of countries
Project partners from Europe, the USA and China developed the websites, working with the TopTen International Group, a non-profit association created to coordinate the programme internationally. Its goal is to increase influence on energy efficiency standards, to safeguard the quality and independence of TopTen projects, to speed up exchange of experiences and data and to provide access to tools and web systems for national TopTen organisations.

Actors responsible for design and implementation

Responsible for the design and implementation is the Topten International Group Paris, France

Monitoring and evaluation

Evaluation
An ex-post evaluation exists.

Policy dynamics and handling side-effects

Dynamic market transformation and/or innovation: Product details are updated every six months to create a dynamic benchmark. In most cases the data includes an energy efficiency index and users can rank products according to this or any of the criteria (Bush et al., 2009).

Sustainability aspects and co-benefits

Sustainability aspects
Product details are tailored to each category but the key criteria are energy efficiency, other impacts on the environment, human health and quality.

Find out the potential impacts of this good practice policy example alongside energy savings and cost effectiveness.

Expected energy savings

There are only some limited data available concerning the policy impact. Therefore no detailed information on the energy and cost savings can be provided here. We hope that we can add some further information in future.

TopTen is a “soft measure” that does not have easily definable “hard” data on energy savings achieved. TopTen has calculated potential savings of approximately 120 GWh per year for the European Union. This assumes approximately 1.2 million website visitors, 300kWh typical electricity consumption per product per year and a saving of 33% for each visitor.

Actual costs

Core budgets in Europe have typically been in the range of EUR 100 to 250 thousand per country per year. Each national TopTen system has pieced together its own mosaic of funding sources, but the main finance came from the “Intelligent Energy Europe” initiative. It allocated a budget of €1,711,516 for the duration of the project (22.12.2008-22.12.2011). The European Commission contributed 75 %, the other 25 % being funding from national partners and governments (Bush et al. 2009; TopTen,info undated).

Authors

Tholen, Lena (Lead author)
Thomas, Stefan (Reviewer)

Official document

Official document code:

www.top10.cn

www.topten.eu

www.toptenusa.org

References and further reading

Attali, Sophie; Bush, Eric (2005): www.topten.info goes European. How to get Mr. Smith hooked to energy efficient appliances. Proceedings of the eceee Summer Study 2005 www.bigee.net/s/4i4ddf
Attali, Sophie; Bush, Eric; Kreitz, Therese (2009): Click your way to energy savings. Find out the most efficient products in Europe with a simple click on Euro-Topten websites www.bigee.net/s/x394ns
Bush, Eric; Attali, Sophie; Brunner, Conrad U.; Arquit Niederberger, Anne (2007): Topten – Best in Europe. How do best product perform and why aren’t they sold across Europe. Proceedings of the eceee Summer Study 2007 www.bigee.net/s/fyped2
Bush, Eric; Arquit Niederberger, Anne; Attali, Sophie; Brunner, Conrad U.; Qiaohong, Cao (2009): TopTen.info: Market Pull for High Efficiency Products. Topten International Group TIG. Proceedings of the EEDAL conference 2009 www.bigee.net/s/tg2ae8
Energyrating (n.y.): Energy Rating - Compare Appliances www.bigee.net/s/1ah78y
Euro Top Ten (n.y.) Euro-Topten: Project Beschreibung und Analyse www.bigee.net/s/1e56df
Sust-it (n.y.): Yes, you’ve sust-it – the best place to find energy saving electricals. About this site www.bigee.net/s/fixa57

Info

Location:
China, United States, European Union (EU)
Type of policy:
Provision of targeted information
Implementation period:
2006 to present
Part of the package:
United States

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