Posted on October, 11 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.