£200 bill just to keep all the gadgets going

OUR dependence on plasma TVs, mobile phones and similar gadgets will soon cost each home £200 a year in electricity, a report shows.

Today, we spend £3billion a year powering appliances for entertainment and communications - the equivalent of £125 per house.

But by 2020 these gadgets will consume £4.87billion of electricity - including millions wasted when appliances are left on standby, the Energy Saving Trust said.

But it is not just the increasing number of gadgets in the home that will send fuel bills soaring.

Many modern appliances are more costly to run than their older counterparts.

For instance, flat- screen plasma TVs use three times more electricity than old-fashioned cathode-ray-tube TVs. Digital radios use seven times as much power as conventional radios.

"Products are being used in ways that were undreamt of just a few years ago," said Philip Sellwoodthe Trust's chief executive. "With trends such as listening to the radio through TV and PC on the increase, it's highly unlikely that consumers realise that this uses far more energy than conventional means.

"Or that some digital radios use almost as much energy when considered switched off at the unit as they do while switched on.

"People will be surprised to hear just what their home entertainment equipment gets up to."

According to the report, the typical family home now has two or three TVs, two video recorders, one or two DVD players, a digital TV set-top box, two music systems, three mobile phones, at least one computer and printer, a cordless phone, one games console, one or two digital cameras, a camcorder and a digital radio.

But by 2020 the average home will have close to three TV sets - and almost all will have plasma and LCD screens. By that time, the gadgets used for entertainment and communication will account for 45 per cent of electricity used in homes - equivalent to the output of 14 power stations.

The country will spend about £1.6billion running TVs by 2020, £1.4billion powering set-top boxes and £970 million on electricity for computers, the report added.

Unless TVs, DVD players and set top boxes are radically redesigned in the next decade, we will spend £607million on gadgets left on standby.

That is enough power to light every street lamp for three years.

However, although our appliances are demanding more and more power, 54 per cent of us are under the false impression that gadgets are getting more energy efficient, the report found.

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