The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Energy Commission formally announced Efficiency Challenge 2004, an international design competition for power supply efficiency, which will be held February 23, 2005. Interested parties have through April 9, 2004, to submit their comments for review via e-mail to [email protected]. The final rules and guidelines will be issued April 19, 2004, officially launching the contest. To review the current documents and to submit questions, please visit http://www.efficientpowersupplies.org/competition.html.
The design competition features two major classes. The first class covers internal and external "market-ready" designs that can save energy cost-effectively in particular types of consumer electronics products. The second is an "open" class, intended to showcase the most efficient power supply designs from industry and academia without cost constraints. Opportunities are available not just for the companies that manufacture power supplies, but also for the much larger companies that buy them for use with computers, televisions, printers, monitors, etc.
