Hi-tech teens are 'new villains' in "energy conservation" war!!

Hi-tech teens are 'new villains' in war to cut electricity bill

By SEAN POULTER Last updated at 23:59pm on 14th December 2006

Action time: A youngster gets to grips with his new computer game. New research reveals children under 16 are some of the biggest wasters of electricity in the UK

Today's gadget obsessed children, with bedrooms that have been turned into electric palaces, are wasting huge amounts of energy.

Thermal images of a teenager's room today reveal that energy consumption is running some 30per cent higher than 30 years ago.

However, the value of the electricity wasted by gadgets left turned on - or on standby - is put at more than £100 million a year.

While the total energy consumption of the gadgets used by the UK's teenagers exceeds the output of all the country's wind turbines or the annual output of an average nuclear reactor.

New reseach claims energy waste attributed to teens could be reduced by a third if they were to switch appliances off rather than leaving them on standby.

In the 1970s, children were lucky to have a record player in their bedroom, while a boy might have had a Scalextric racing track.

Today, the list runs from games consoles like the Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii through to personal computers, lap-tops, TVs, MP3 players, mobile phones and sophisticated toys like the Robosapien.

And while all these gadgets will be used from time to time, the fact is that many are left turned on, or on standby, 24 hours a day.

New estimates suggest that raising a child to the age of 16 will generate 88 tons of carbon dioxide.

That equates to more than 60 million tons for all of today's 16-year-olds.

* 88per cent of 10-year-olds have a TV in their room, with 86per cent of these left on standby all the time.

* More than half of all 16-year-olds have their own PC, with 41per cent of these constantly left on standby.

* 95per cent of 16-year-olds have their own mobile phone, however 85per cent never unplug their chargers when not in use.

* 90per cent of 16-year-olds have a games console of some description. The huge amount of waste has been picked up in two separate studies, one from E.ON Energy Experience and another from British Gas in partnership with Forum for the Future.

The Forum's Ben Tuxworth, said: "Teenagers are clearly the new standby villains.

"It is very worrying that energy is hemorrhaging out of the grid via teenagers' gadgets left on standby."

He said the manufacturers of electrical goods need to do more to produce devices that do not suck up power when on standby.

British Gas experts say four per cent of the energy consumed by teenagers’ gadgets is consumed when they are switched off. For example, mobile phone chargers draw the same amount of electricity from the plug whether they are connected to a phone or not.

While modern PCs and monitors continue to consume electricity even when they are switched off at the terminal.

Currently, the only way to prevent waste is to switch them off at the wall.

Energy Director for British Gas, Lois Hedg-Peth, said: "Almost a third of all the electricity used by teenagers is wasted through leaving appliances on standby and, because of their low power consumption, these devices are often overlooked when households look for ways to save energy."

Nina Hughes of E.ON, who produced the thermal images of a child's bedroom, said: "For the digital generation, technology is just a part of their lives. "We need to educate them that there are simple ways to cut down on the amount of energy they use without it curtailing their lifestyle. We all use energy and have a responsibility to cut down on the amount we use.

"A vital part of this is the need to educate our children at an early age about generating and using electricity in an energy-efficient way and the part we all have to play in protecting the environment."