| 11/10/2005
- More than 22.000 consumers have signed a WWF Switzerland
petition with a clear message to producers and retailers
of electric appliances: Stop the energy waste caused by
standby functions! Today WWF
Switzerland confronted SWICO, the Swiss Association for
Information, Communications and Organization Technology,
with this strong public demand for efficient appliances.
WWF and the 22.000 signatories urge
industry and retailers to save electricity and to
- take responsibility for climate
change and cut power use in standby mode to 0.5 Watts.
- ensure transparency by clearly stating the power use
on electric and electronic goods.
- set up an independent institution controlling power
use and declaration on appliances.
“The impressive number of signatures
is a signal the industry can’t ignore”, said Felix Meier,
Head of Consumption and Business at WWF Switzerland. “Consumers
want to know how much electricity is wasted when appliances
are in standby mode. They want the freedom to buy energy
efficient appliances.”
The shocking dimensions of energy
waste
Today, a video-tape recorder uses
60 times more power in standby mode than in play mode.
Standby accounts for 93 per cent of the energy consumption
of printers, printing only for 7 per cent.
Appliances in standby mode are not
doing anything useful, except waiting to spring into life
instantly. This pure waste of electricity has negative
impacts on our climate, because most of the electricity
is generated by burning fossil fuels, which results in
climate polluting carbon dioxide emissions.
In the past, industry associations
had made commitments to reduce this energy waste and increase
transparency by stating the power use on electronic goods.
But a WWF analysis in spring found a clear lack of transparency.
Meier: “Ways to make appliances more
efficient are well known, but they haven’t been fully
implemented. This is surprising, because more efficient
appliances are not automatically more expensive.”
In Switzerland alone, electronics
and office equipment in standby mode waste 864 million
kWh, which equals the annual power consumption of 250.000
households. In EU countries, the energy waste adds up
to 36 billion kWh per year, which is the equivalent of
the annual production of 12 coal power plants. And it’s
getting worse: the EU Commission estimates that appliances
in standby mode will consume up to 62 billion kWh by 2010.
WWF lobbies for replacing waste and
dirty power with clean and efficient alternatives. |
