Leaving your electronics on "stand by" still evil

Research guilt-trip highlights waste from lazy consumers

4 July 2007 11:55 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Recent research from the Energy Saving Trust reveals that we could waste £72 billion worth of energy and 750 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2020 unless steps are taken now to reduce excessive energy use in our homes.

The research states that chargeable and electrical appliances are contributing more than ever to levels of excessive energy wastage in the UK.

Gadgets unnecessarily left on standby or left on charge squander over £740 million worth of energy and result in over four million tonnes of excess carbon dioxide emissions every year, significantly contributing to climate change.

The research says we now have up to 12 different gadgets left on standby or charging at home at any one time. Some sobering stats have been provided to shock all of us gadget-lovers into hitting that "off" switch:

• Stereos left on standby waste £290m worth of energy and 1.6m tonnes of CO2
• VCRs left on standby waste £175m worth of energy and 960,000 tonnes of CO2
• TVs left on standby waste £88m worth of energy and 480,000 tonnes of CO2
• Games consoles left on standby waste £70m worth of energy and 390,000 tonnes of CO2
• Mobile phone chargers unnecessarily left on charge waste £47m worth of energy and 250,000 tonnes of CO2
• Computer monitors - £41m worth of energy and 220,000 tonnes of CO2
• DVD players - £19m worth of energy and 100,000 tonnes of CO2
• Set top boxes - £11m worth of energy and 60,000 tonnes of CO2

The research was commissioned to mark the start of the "Save your 20%" campaign, you can commit to get involved, and find out more via the link below.

Full tags

Biz, Eco, Energy Saving Trust, Microsoft