26.06.09 Gadgets are ratcheting up our electricity bills

Many of us still think that turning off the lights upstairs when we’re watching the television downstairs is going to make a huge difference to our electricity bills and to the environment. It might make a tiny impact but it gets cancelled out pretty quickly when gadgets such as the plasma TV, the PC, the Blu-ray and all the other gizmos dotted around our homes, are sucking in energy like electronic sponges.

A new report by the non-profit advice group, The Energy Saving Trust, has shown just how expensive all of these gadgets are to run. Here in the UK we love our mobiles, TVs, PCs and anything that beeps, blinks and hums. 25% of our electric usage per year is accounted for by gadgets, and the people at the Energy Saving Trust fear this is going to soar by another 20% over the next ten years.

This would take the average annual electricity bill up to £237 from what it is now (£140). This is only if the electricity companies keep to the tariffs they are currently charging, which would be unlikely given the recent rises in prices. Who knows exactly how much it’ll have gone up to, come 2020.

What can we do? Well it’s more what the companies that manufacture these whirring machines can do. A much sterner attitude needs to be adopted towards building gadgets that are more energy efficient. In the meanwhile you can still turn off the lights, but maybe it’d be better if you didn’t invest in a third television or had your laptop on all day instead.

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