Buyers kept in the dark about green issues

Eighty per cent of consumers say that they are not given enough environmental information to make informed choices about electrical products.

The latest in a monthly series of surveys for The Times by Populus, charting consumers’ social and environmental attitudes, finds that while many want to make ethical choices, they are frustrated by a lack of information.

The findings follow growing calls from across the political spectrum to make consumer electricals more environmentally friendly. Despite proposed measures such as banning standby buttons and forcing manufacturers to print carbon footprints on their packaging, the survey shows that an information gap is driving a wedge between consumers’ intentions and their actions. Electrical goods are on the frontline in the battle against carbon emissions, according to campaigners. While it is estimated that household appliances become on average 2 per cent more energy efficient every year, the fall has been more than offset by the soaring number of electrical items in homes.

The Energy Saving Trust says that the average number of electrical goods in British households has risen from 17 in the 1970s to 42 now. Appliances on standby comprise 8 per cent of Britain’s domestic consumption of electricity. A ban on standby buttons was mooted in a recent Conservative Party policy review and had been suggested already by Gordon Brown.

Marcus Leroux
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