Both the Energy Efficiency Act and the Energy Efficiency Regulations are the governing laws of Canada In 1976, Canada started to label energy efficiency. In May 1978, Canada introduced the first energy efficiency label for refrigerators in the world, namely the EnerGuide Label. This label is a mandatory comparison label issued by the Natural Resources Canada, Canadian federal law requires that the EnerGuide Label shall be pasted on all electrical appliances to demonstrate the annual electricity consumption and the arrow shall indicate the energy consumption level compared to products of the same category. EnerGuide Label was inspired by the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act, encouraging consumers to purchase appliances of high energy efficiency and to avoid being influenced by buzzwords of manufacturers and businessmen.
EnerGuide Label came into force in 1976, covering products such as clothes dryers, clothes washers, clothes dryers& washers, dishwashers, electrical stoves, freezers, refrigerators, room air conditioners, etc.
As the EnerGuide Label system develops, it added voluntary ones besides single mandatory labels in 1990’s. In 1993, voluntary EnerGuide Label for printers was introduced, that for the air conditioners (single central, heat pump-system and air handler-system) was introduced in 1998.
The EnerGuide Label shows four items about energy efficiency: annual power consumption, comparative energy efficiency level among products of the same type (higher efficiency if the black arrow is nearer to the left), model number and other details.