standby
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UK households to get "free" energy monitors
The environmentalists in the UK have certainly been earning their paychecks of late, as it's been the Brits who have looked at outlawing standby buttons, offered up a way to kill power en masse, and now, officials are readying the launch of free household energy monitors to bring wasteful habits to light. As a part of the upcoming Energy White Paper, England is hoping that the real-time monitors "will help cut greenhouse gas emissions and the amount of energy wasted by appliances being left on standby." The devices are supposed to give dwellers a quick look at just how much energy is going to waste by leaving the bathroom light on, and a handheld extension allows you to view the killowatt-burning action from all over your domicile. Of course, it should be noted that while citizens can request one for free starting sometime in 2008, "the cost of the scheme will either be recouped through taxes or their energy bills."[Image courtesy of MoreAssociates]
Wii Warm Up: to Standby, or not to Standby
Don't get us wrong, we trust Nintendo. However, the idea of our system being in Standby mode frightens us to new levels of fear. We worry about going to bed with the Wii in Standby mode, only to be awaken in the middle of the night by a bright, horrible sight. One that has our Wii in flames and melting a slow, horrible death.We're sure it's absolutely safe to leave the Wii "off" with a yellow light on the power button, but our irrational fears have caused us to make sure our system is totally off every night by first changing the Standby mode feature through the Wii's settings into the off position and holding down that power button until we see that beautiful red light. That got us to thinking; could we be complete loons or are their others out there in the world who worry about the longevity of their system and the effects the Standby mode might have on it just as we do? Do you Standby?
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TV standby buttons to be outlawed
The British government is fed up with standby mode; according to a recent energy review, devices left in standby account for 8% of their annual energy usage. In an attempt to curb waste, combat rising energy costs, and apparently annoy citizens, the government is set to outlaw switches that allow TVs, DVD players, and who knows what else to go on hiatus -- mandatory redesigns to remove sleep functions from numerous devices are supposedly on the docket. Whatever comes of this, keep a close eye on the next Windows Update: you might just reboot to find your precious "Stand By" option MIA.
Joystiq readers are environmentally friendly
Claims that the majority of Joystiq readers are harmful to the planet's health have been disproved, as the results from our do you leave your console on standby? poll proves. Out of the 8,500+ respondents that took part in the poll, 53% make a conscious effort to turn off their consoles once they're finished with another 10% occasionally forgetting to do so. We can only assume that the remaining 36% who leave their consoles on standby all the time are part of the North American SUV drivers for simultaneous use of air conditioning and heating lobby group. The comments thread provided some excellent commentary on the responsibility we have to conserve our energy so we've highlighted some of the most interesting ones after the jump.
Scotland to get medieval on zombie gadgets
Remember that report in late 2004 that stated that as much as 10% of our energy draw could come from aggregate power use of devices in standby? Well, Scotland's mad as hell, and they're not gonna take it anymore. ScottishPower, Scotland's biggest power company, is calling for standby-free devices -- you know, like back in the good old days when an off device meant the device was off. In fact, according ScottishPower, gadgets in standby cost Scottish consumers over £62 million (about $108.5 million US) and produce 360,000 tons of CO2 annually. Of course the influence on the global consumer electronics market ScottishPower wields is, um, less than knightly, but if more power companies and government energy conservation programs (like EnergyStar) in more countries get behind ScottishPower, we might just be able to slow down this global warming thing (a little) with some clear(er) conscience devices.
