UK's gadget-mania blamed for surge in emissions

The surging boom in new technology for home entertainment, from CD players and DAB radios to flat-screen televisions, is taking up huge amounts of energy and undermining the fight against climate change, a report claims today.

The consumer electronics sector is now only three years away from becoming the biggest single user of domestic electricity in Britain, according to the report - and in 2010 it will overtake lighting, and "white goods" such as fridges and freezers, in home energy use.

By 2020, entertainment and computer technology in the home will account for an extraordinary 45 per cent of all electricity used in UK households, according to the study from the Energy Saving Trust (EST).

This is equivalent to the output from 14 power stations, the report says, and undermines the battle to reduce C02 emissions - as well as costing the owners of the gadgetry £5bn a year.

The report, The Ampere Strikes Back, explains why computers and consumer electronics are becoming such a drain on energy supplies. "New, more sophisticated and 'higher spec' versions of electronic gadgets tend to consume more electricity than the products they replace, unlike fridges and washing machines that are usually more efficient as they develop and evolve," the study says.

Furthermore, it is much too easy, according to the report, to leave electrical products switched on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with standby functions tending to be used more frequently than the "off" button. "Indeed, some products no longer have a manual 'off' switch, making it impossible for consumers to switch off the gadget, except at a wall socket," it says.

The report points out that new electronic products are also used in ways "undreamt of" just a few years ago. For example, digital television (which can itself be two products: a set-top box and a television set) may be used to listen to digital radio stations. "What used to be a low-energy exercise of listening to the radio is now a highly energy-intensive one," the report says.

A typical modern household contains an array of gadgets ranging from television sets, to mobile phones, to computers and MP3 players. The increase in single-person households is also said to be "taking its toll".

Young, cash-rich professionals who are quick to buy emerging new technology will see entertainment, computer and information technology taking up a growing proportion of their electricity bill.

"UK consumers will be surprised to hear just what their home entertainment equipment gets up to," said Philip Sellwood, the EST chief executive. "The Ampere Strikes Back... shows just how easy it is to lose track of what is sucking up energy in our homes and costing us and the environment dear."

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