China will soon promulgate energy consumption standards for copy machines to save electricity as a national power strain looms large.

Up to 10 percent of the current duplicators, which failed to meet the new standards, would be forced out of the market, said senior engineer Chen Haihong of the China National Institute of Standardization.

The new standards, which impose power consumption ceilings and specify an energy saving rating for copy machines, is waiting for authority approval. It is expected to be announced in June, he said.

China is a major producer and consumer of copiers. While enjoying the benefits of high speed and definition, the country and the industry have long ignored the whopping power depleted by the useful office tool.

Calls for capping copiers' energy consumption have piled up in China, as the machine has been labeled among the biggest power guzzlers among electrical appliances, along with air conditioners and refrigerators.

The bulk of the power is consumed when the machine is on standby, said Zhang Guoqing, a compiler of the new standard. The new rules would detail power consumption ceilings for the machines in different modes, he said.

The compulsory standards would force producers to sharpen their competitiveness in energy savings and spur the production of environmentally-friendly machines, added engineer Chen.

Su Canqun of Konica Minolta's marketing department said the new standards would edge up production costs slightly. He added consumers, however, wouldn't feel the increase as the copier producer had been making headway in cost controls and energy saving in recent years.

A Hewlett-Packard source also vowed the company would follow the new rules. He promised machine efficiency would not be sacrificed.

The new rules would raise the industry threshold for newcomers and fierce competition was due to come, said Wang Yanping, an analyst with the computer research center of CCID Consulting, a leading IT consulting agency.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2008)