UK Are Hooked On All Things Electrical

By budda on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 comments

According to the Energy Saving Trust British consumers will buy about 30 million "essential" electronic items over the coming six months.

Over the next five years electrical gadget purchases are expected to double, as essential items like cordless phones and electric toothbrushes (!) swap consumers homes.

The trust is calling for gadgets to carry labels warning shoppers how much they will cost to run. It believes labeling might persuade shoppers either to buy less or to choose more energy-efficient models.

"We don't want to be saying 'don't have it' - a lot of it is about information and choices," said EST chairman Edward Hyams.

"On televisions, for example, we would like to see labels saying 'if you watch it, it will cost x pence per hour, if you leave it on standby, it will cost y pence'. Then you can present the environmental cost in monetary terms," he told BBC News.

Newer appliances are generally more efficient than old ones; so in principle, purchasing new goods can reduce energy demands.

But many gadgets are not bought as replacements, but as additions to the household. By 2020, British households are forecast to contain 2.6 televisions on average. For most gadget mad buyers the number of TV's in the home is probably already 3 or more, especially if you then count computer screens too.

Televisions are an exception to the trend of rising efficiency. Modern plasma screens can use four times as much electricity as a conventional cathode-ray set, though exact comparisons are difficult because plasma screens tend to be much bigger.

The trust describes plasma TVs as "a prime example of gadget addiction".

Britons are clearly becoming more voracious addicts. Over the past 10 years, the trust says, electricity use by electrical and electronic gadgets has risen by 47%; but the next five years will see an increase of 82%.

Full Story: bbc.co.uk