Study Claims TV, Cellphone Use Offset Energy Efficiency Gains
The International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that demands for energy-thirsty gadgets such as cell phones, iPods, PCs and plasma TVs are undoing efficiency gains elsewhere, Reuters reported.
A report by the Paris-based energy adviser urged governments in 28 developed countries to keep pace with the invention of new consumer devices when crafting efficiency standards, as well as asking consumers to make thriftier purchases.
Without such changes, the energy used by household electronic devices could triple by 2030, according to the IEA report.
Because most electricity is generated from burning high-carbon fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, energy consumption is associated with carbon emissions.
However, IEA analyst Paul Waide noted that the world doesn’t have to curb an insatiable appetite for more clever, exciting or fashionable gadgets, provided people chose the most efficient versions available.
He stated that consumers can still enjoy the latest technology by being much more proactive on efficiency.
"We can hold total consumption at today’s levels by using best available technologies, despite a dramatic growth in use," he added.
Since these types of products change so much from year to year, Waide said governments have been reluctant to introduce policies that regulate their use.
The report found that for most appliances, technologies were already available to improve efficiency by at least 40 percent, but uptake depends on the choices of the consumer.
It stated that the extent of savings is large, yet the energy and financial savings on individual residential appliances often appear insignificant to most consumers.
In the face of an upcoming global climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol, rising home energy use underlines how dramatic action on climate change would need action by individuals as well as governments.
As people’s lifestyles become increasingly more affluent, the report underlined the difficulty this may cause in the mission to cutting greenhouse gases.
The IEA showed that since 1990 residential electricity consumption has been growing in all regions of the world at an average of 3.4 percent a year.
While the electricity use of appliances like refrigerators and clothes washers in many rich countries, which had previously accounted for most usage, are falling, growth in use of electronic devices such as iPods, video games, televisions, personal computers, modems, mobile phones and printers more than offset those falls.
Electricity consumption by television sets in the U.S. more than tripled in the past 10 years, and personal computers (PCs) showed sharp rises.
Power use for heating and refrigeration fell, however.
Estimates show the number of people using a PC would pass one billion this year, according to the report.
Currently, there are nearly 2 billion television sets in use and over half the global population subscribes to a mobile telephone service.
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