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Standby buttons face axe to curb energy wasteDavid Smith FOR couch potatoes, life will never be the same again. Ministers want to do away with the standby buttons that allow them to flick their TVs and other electronic gadgets on and off while moving barely a muscle. Over more than 30 years, standby buttons and remote controls have transformed the lives of determined slobs. But now global warming, and fears of energy shortages, could put paid to that. The government’s long-awaited energy review, to be published this week, will signal a clampdown on the wasting of energy in the home, alongside measures to develop new nuclear power stations and more use of alternative energy. Officials drawing up the report have discovered that heating, lighting and entertainment in households is responsible for 27% of the energy used in Britain, and that a sixth of this is accounted for by electronic gadgets. But with purchases of low-price TVs, DVDs, computers and other products rising sharply, in five years gadgets will be responsible for a third of household energy use. Much of this is when they are on standby. Figures contained in the review will show that gadgets left unnecessarily on standby or connected

to chargers squander electricity worth £740m each year and are responsible for 4m tonnes of excess carbon dioxide emissions each year. The biggest culprits are not televisions but stereo systems, responsible for £290m of wasted energy, followed by video recorders, £175m, televisions, £88m, games consoles, £70m, computer monitors, £41m, DVD players, £19m, and set-top boxes, £11m. Mobile phone chargers left plugged in unnecessarily waste £47m of electricity each year, enough to supply 66,000 homes. The government has rejected one proposal, from the energy company Scottish Power, that standby buttons on existing electrical products be removed or disabled. But it will work with manufacturers to “design out” standby buttons from new products. The government will also build on the existing labelling system for energy-efficient fridges, washing machines and cookers, and could force manufacturers to withdraw the least efficient products from the market. The Energy Saving Trust says that energy use from electrical products in the home has doubled in the past 30 years in spite of improved energy efficiency. One likely recommendation for some products is that they be designed to switch themselves off. Peter H

 

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