Do you have a Vampire in your living room?

Did you know that when your TV or DVD player is on 'standby', it's sitting there like a leech on our grid, consuming energy and contributing to global warming? In Australia it's been calculated that almost ten percent of household energy usage is just to power devices on standby. For example, some microwave ovens consume more energy throughout the year just running it's digital display clock than they do for actual cooking!

The Australian Government will work with state governments and industry to ensure, by 2012, all electrical appliances would be regulated to meet the ‘one watt target’. Currently some appliances use up to 25 watts for their standby mode.

Minister Macfarlane said that not only will this action save greenhouse gas emissions, but also have significant economic benefits.

“In Australia alone this initiative is set to save the Australian community more than 2.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and about $350 million per year,” Mr Macfarlane said.

Around ten per cent of all energy used by Australian households is made up of standby power. Based on the most recent data, this equates to around 750kg of greenhouse gas per house each year.

Senator Campbell said that the Australian Government is working with industry to ensure only appliances that meet this new standard will be available on the Australian market.

“This action on ‘standby’ power also has huge potential internationally," Senator Campbell said.

“Last week Prime Minister, John Howard announced that through the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6) household electricity consumption could be slashed with coordinated policy action on standby power in partner countries.

“Such action could have the potential to save more than 140 million tonnes a year of greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 across AP6 countries– approximately 40 per cent of the total projected electricity consumption for Australia across all sectors in 2030,” Senator Campbell said.

Senator Campbell said if you applied that across the entire world, the potential savings in greenhouse gas emissions was enormous."

“I call on all international economies to follow the lead of Australia and mandate the one watt initiative as soon as practicable.” - Sciencealert