ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Security Industry Association (SIA) and the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) have written a joint letter to Natural Resources Canada – a government department responsible for natural resources and energy in the country – stating that electronic security and life-safety devices should be exempt from energy efficiency requirements that cannot realistically be applied to such appliances.
Natural Resources Canada is considering efficiency standards that would define energy consumption rules for electronic devices in “stand by,” “no-load” and “off” modes. However, in the letter, SIA and CANASA noted that because electronic security and life safety devices must always be on in order to be effective, energy savings would not be produced when applying the efficiency standards to the equipment because the devices are never to be operated in those modes.
“Life-safety and security systems do not operate in a no-load or stand by modes and are not designed to be turned off,” the letter explains. “Accordingly, it is not feasible to measure energy consumption of power supplies used to power security systems in stand by, no-load and off modes.”
Additionally, SIA is seeking a security and life-safety exemption from similar regulations in the United States. Legislation that would provide this exemption has been introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
