(via PVR-wire)
“But I live in the US – I don’t care about that!” you might protest. And the truth is, for both of my regular readers, it probably doesn’t matter much (and I exaggerate – I doubt I have 2 regular readers). But this is a preview of a law I honestly expect to see come state-side eventually. Why? Well, check out the reason for a no-more-standby-mode law.
THE Government is to outlaw standby switches on televisions and video and DVD players to cut the amount of electricity wasted in the home.
Refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers will have to become energy-efficient, and lightbulbs that burn too much energy will be phased out.
According to yesterday’s Energy Review, standby facilities use 8 per cent of all domestic electricity.
See that? Standby mode makes for 8% of domestic UK usage. Eliminating standby mode means after you turn off your TV, you’ll have to actually get your rear off the couch and push the power button on the box to turn it back on. This is because the remote-control power-on feature relies on the TV being in standby mode instead of being powered-off.
Of course, what more likely will happen is people will leave more equipment on when possible, thus increasing overall power consumption. But I’m just cynical enough to think people will take the lazy way out instead of the economical way out. Almost no one will notice the extra buck or two leaving on the computer or TV on will cost over a month, but they’ll remember having to drag that lazy ass off the couch to take three steps and turn on the TV with the button on the device.
[tags]UK power consumption, Electronic equipment standby mode[/tags]