Watch what you're wasting
In the UK we now spend a whopping £2 billion a year to power our telly, stereo and other consumer electronics. Plus this figure is on the up, as we buy more TVs, set-top boxes, games consoles and so on.
One of the easiest ways to save energy and money is to make sure you never leave these devices on ‘standby' but turn the power off on the device or at the mains when you are not using it.
The other main thing you can do (apart from reading a book instead) is to buy an energy efficient model. For example, now is a good time to think about buying a new, more efficient television because of the digital switchover which will happen between 2008 and 2012 (see the digital television site for more information).
But watch out! Many of today's new LCD and plasma flat-screen televisions actually use even more electricity to run than older types of television. Large flat screens can add up to £85 to your annual electricity bill. Plus set top boxes that some televisions need to receive digital are also power hungry.
It is actually quite hard to work out which makes and models use the least energy in consumer electronics. Disappointingly the EU Energy labelling scheme doesn't extend to consumer electronics, so it's often not easy to find out how much energy they use. You should try to follow these rules:
- Televisions - buy an LCD set rather than a Plasma set, which generally uses a lot more electricity
- Buy an Integrated Digital television (IDTVs) which have the capacity to receive digital signals without the need for a set top box. IDTVs will save around 20 kg of CO2 per year compared to a TV with a separate set top box
- Buy a smaller LCD screen (26 or 32 inch) rather than a big one (e.g. 42 inch). The larger screens consume a lot more electricity than the smaller ones
- Get rid of any extra TVs rather than having lots of sets around the house.
- Avoid buying ‘Home theatre' systems, as most of these use extremely large amounts of energy
- Buy a laptop computer rather than a desktop, as they use electricity much more efficiently
