The world’s 14 billion online electronic devices are wasting huge amounts of energy because of inefficient technology, and that needs to change, says the International Energy Agency. Officials from Canada, the U.S. and Europe are considering imposing mandatory standards or voluntary measures to get manufacturers to improve their devices’ energy efficiency.
The problems is that when devices like modems, printers and game consoles are on “network standby” they consumer as much electricity as when they are activated.
The agency projects that if there were better efficiency, 600 TWh of energy could be saved. That’s the equivalent of shutting 200 standard, coal-fired power plants. And that, says the agency, would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 600 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
In the meantime, you could just shut down your devices when not using them.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.