New campaign will reduce unnecessary power consumption

These days, Danish homes are bulging with appliances that use electricity – even when switched off. PCs are frequently connected to printers, scanners, modems, loudspeakers and other devices. All this equipment uses power – even when devices are on standby. However, a few simple measures can reduce the enormous and unnecessary amount of wasted electricity used by Danish consumer electronics. Half a million Danish homes already have an AutoPowerOff plug bank which acts as an ordinary extension cable but also switches off the power to devices when you power down the PC. AutoPowerOff plug banks are already helping consumers to save over 13 million Euros a year on their electricity bills – and the potential is even greater. This is why the Trust is making a massive effort to increase the number of these plug banks and the efficiency of power supplies.

‘We are not saying that Danes should scrap all their old appliances which have high standby consumption,’ says the Trust’s Head of Secretariat, Göran Wilke. ‘Instead, the campaign must give the market for these plug banks and other energy saving equipment a nudge in the right direction. As long as homes have appliances with high standby consumption, the AutoPowerOff should be a natural accessory when consumers purchase a PC, TV or an Internet package.’

The campaign aims to increase the number of AutoPowerOff plug banks in Danish homes by one million units within the next two years.  However, since the volume of new appliances with high standby consumption is constantly growing, the Trust estimates that there is a potential market for seven million of these plug banks in Denmark.

More energy saving power supplies
While targeting AutoPowerOff plug banks the Trust is also introducing a labelling scheme for energy efficient power supplies. Almost all appliances in the home come with a separate power supply. Some are energy efficient, but others waste large amounts of electricity – both when appliances are in use, and when switched off. In fact, power consumption at idle is responsible for a very high proportion of total standby consumption. The Trust’s labelling scheme will publicise which suppliers of consumer electronic devices and computer equipment are taking consumers’ electricity bills seriously.

‘Danish consumers want to save money on power, but this requires the market to clearly identify whether a power supply is energy efficient or not. At the same time we will work towards solutions where consumers can re-use and combine efficient power supplies and charger units.  For example, even though you replace your mobile telephone, it could be that your old charger is both suitable and energy efficient – so you should be able to keep it,’ says Göran Wilke.

For further information please contact:
Göran Wilke, Head of Secretariat
The Danish Electricity Saving Trust
Tel.: +45 33 95 58 01
Mobile: +45 21 20 55 58
E-mail: gw@elsparefonden.dk