Boilers & water heaters

Computers, monitors, printers

Computers, monitors and imaging equipment are the cornerstone of information and communication technologies. The rapid expansion of internet and e-services is creating additional electricity consumption and vast amounts of electronic scrap.

Lightbulbs

Lighting consumes as much as 340 TWh of electricity per year in Europe (equivalent to the residential electricity consumption of France, UK and Italy combined). Without policies, it would grow by another 100 TWh by 2020.

TVs

Television contributes significantly to the electricity use of European households (at least 10%). If we do nothing, European electricity consumption from TVs could more than double and increase by 77 TWh by 2020 (as much as the residential electricity consumption of Spain).

Set-top boxes (TV decoders)

As TV channels are switching to digital broadcast, most European households need to buy a set top box (TV decoder) to continue watching programs with their existing set. Dozens of millions of these devices are being be sold, but will be disposed of when digital TV sets become mainstream.

Game consoles

It is a fact that game consoles are increasingly powerful in terms of game experience. However, this should not come with ever increasing energy consumption, especially when the console is only performing a secondary function (such as surfing on the internet or playing a DVD).

Fridges and Freezers

Fridges are one of the top sources of electricity consumption in our homes. European Union consumers use 122 TWh of electricity yearly to power their fridges and freezers (equivalent to the residential electricity consumption of the UK).

Tumble driers

Vacuum cleaners

When buying a vacuum cleaner, we usually consider it best to select the highest wattage. We’ve been made to believe that the higher the power the cleaner our floors will get. This is untrue, but has driven manufacturers to place on the market ever increasing wattages.

Standby

When a computer, a television or a radio is on standby mode it still consumes energy, and a surprising amount of energy given that the appliance is not in use and supposedly ‘at rest’. The energy needed to power the various products on standby can increase household bills by a substantial amount over a year.

Electric Motors

Electric motors are responsible for 70% of industrial and 40% of tertiary electricity consumption in Europe. The potential for emission reductions if industry switches to more efficient models coupled with speed drives is huge.