Standby

YES, it is important to turn your TV off rather than putting it on standby but remember... CHOOSING THE RIGHT TV IN THE FIRST PLACE MAKES A FAR BIGGER CONTRIBUTON TO ENERGY SAVING!

Nevertheless - it’s tempting at the end of a night’s viewing to point the remote and turn your television to standby. An Energy Saving Trust survey found that 1 in 7 people questioned thought putting devices in standby was actually more energy-efficient than switching them on and off.

An amazing £76 million is wasted in the UK every year by people not putting their TV set in standby mode rather than turning it off.

In energy terms, standby power consumption is small – typical range 0.5 to 10W – but the number of domestic appliances on standby is potentially very large. The graph below shows the estimated annual CO2 emissions from devices left on standby.

STATISTICS SOURCE: ENERGY SAVING TRUST

The International Energy Agency estimates there could be 20 appliances on standby in the average household in the developed world at any given time. At this rate, standby power would be responsible for 5-10% of total electricity in most homes and responsible for approximately 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions. (And that’s without taking into account appliances left in standby mode in commercial buildings and factories).

New technology, can reduce the power consumption of standby mode by 90% and the IEA has asked countries – including the UK - to work towards reducing standby power consumption to just 1 watt per appliance by 2010.