标准2025消费者很难对产品的寿命进行思考。目前为止，与能源效率相关的标准化工作非常关注产品使用阶段的能效问题。产品的使用寿命逐渐被遗忘，人们的关注点正在改变。随着循环经济的出现，人们越来越关注能源效率的重要性。
欧盟在努力推进使经济从线性模式转变为循环模式，能耗特性逐渐成为大家关注的重点。另外，标准化对欧洲法规的支持发挥了十分重要的作用。
一、耐用性、可循环性和可维修性
2015年欧盟委员会表达希望从产品使用阶段到产品报废阶段扩大能效方法，调节产品的耐用性、可循环性和可维修性。术语“材料效率”就包含了这一理念。
今天，除了常规使用阶段的要求，欧盟生态设计法规很可能设定门槛，增加材料效率要求，并在未来应用到新标准的制定中。
二、展望循环经济
为使制造商能够在公平竞争的环境中检查是否符合这些未来要求，制定协调标准十分必要。因此，欧盟委员会要求欧洲标准化委员会（ CEN）和欧洲电工标准化委员会（CENELEC）制定协调标准为未来发展铺平道路。
2015年12月发布的循环经济一揽子计划表达了欧盟委员会的意图，即“要求欧洲标准化组织制定材料效率标准，以满足未来制定产品耐用性、可循环性和可维修性的生态设计要求。”
这促成了与材料效率相关的生态设计标准化要求的M/543委托书， CEN和CENELEC已接受该项委托。
过去为了测定各种产品的耗能特性，CEN和CENELEC通过提供专题方法来支持众多欧洲标准的制定，以此应对欧盟委员会发布的标准化要求，因此CEN和CENELEC也十分支持本次能源类产品的生态设计指令2009/125/EC的实施。
energyefficiency – Products living longer thanks to energy efficiency
As consumers, thinking about our products end of life can be difficult. So far, standardization work related to energy efficiency has mainly focused on the energy efficiency of products during their use phase. The end of life of products was forgotten… but changes are taking place. The need to tackle this issue has since been recognized with the emergence of the circular economy.
The energy performance of products concerns us all with more light being shined on it thanks to European Union efforts to put in place drivers so that our economy shifts from a linear to a circular one. And standards play an important role given the support they bring to European regulation.
Durability, recyclability and reparability
In 2015 the European Commission expressed the wish to extend the energy efficiency approach from the use phase of products to their end of life and to regulate aspects such as durability, recyclability and reparability. The term ‘material efficiency’ encompasses the concept.
Today, EU Ecodesign Regulations are more likely to include material efficiency requirements in addition to regular use phase requirements, and to set thresholds that in the future will be applied during the development of new standards.
Looking ahead to a circular economy
So that manufacturers can check compliances with these future requirements on a level-playing field, harmonized references are needed. The European Commission has requested CEN and CENELEC to pave the way.
The Circular Economy Package released in December 2015 mentions the European Commission’s intention to ‘request to European standardisation organizations to develop standards on material efficiency for setting future Ecodesign requirements on durability, reparability and recyclability of products.’
This has led to the standardization request on ecodesign related to material efficiency, M/543, which was accepted by CEN and CENELEC.
In the past CEN and CENELEC have supported the development of dozens of European Standards by providing ad hoc methods for measuring the energy performance of various products in response to standardization requests issued by the European Commission, thereby supporting the implementation of Directive 2009/125/EC on ecodesign of energy-related products.