What is the Government going to do about reducing standby power?
In 2000, the Ministerial Council on Energy agreed to implement a national program to reduce standby power. The program was prepared after extensive consultation with industry. It is made up of voluntary and mandatory options. Better design of equipment – at the manufacturing stage – can lead to retention of all functions and significant standby power savings. There are three types of standby power being targeted by the program: Active standby mode is where an appliance is turned on and ready for use but is not actually being used. An example is a stereo system that has finished playing a CD. A 2006 report, Standby Power – Current Status, found that, on average, stereo systems consume around 20 watts in this mode. Technology can now reduce this amount of power use quite easily. Passive standby mode is where an appliance is turned off by a remote control and is awaiting instructions to reactivate. The appliance needs to consume power to await a command. Often an appliance can be in this
