Dr. Brenda Boardman leads the Energy and Environment Programme at the ECU, which includes the seven researchers on the DECADE team. She has been a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford since October 1991 and has specialised in the efficient use of energy since 1981. Her approach is interdisciplinary and includes economic, social, technological and political dimensions.  The DECADE team is bidding to undertake an analysis of the effect of the "cold appliances" energy label throughout Europe, for the European Commission, and has started work on the "wet appliances" energy label in the UK, introduced in September 1996 for washing machines and tumble driers.