We’ve now added standby power consumption figures to our database. At first glance they may look like very low figures, however when you multiply this by 24 hours a day, 365 days per year it all adds up! sust-it would like to rank all the products by their combined standby and in-use energy usage. The only problem is that not all manufacturers seem to reveal both figures.

With eight out of ten consumers trying to save energy on a day-to-day basis, there is great potential to encourage people to focus some of their green efforts on life at home.

The National Consumer Council‘s new shopping survey, “Information blackout: why electronics consumers are in the dark”, found just how little information is available when it comes to energy efficiency.

The survey highlights the complete lack of data from major retailers and manufacturers. Which is was why the sust-it websites came about, due to my own frustration on the lack of power consumption figures. The quotes below are from retailer’s staff, when asked by NCC about energy efficiency of the products on sale.

“I think you can change the settings on the laptop so it turns onto sleep mode quickly.” (Comet)

“If you turn it off, rather than leaving it on standby, it will use less energy.” (John Lewis, talking about DVD players)

“Most modern models are energy-efficient so it’s not a problem.” (Currys.digital, talking about televisions)

“Well, all electronic products use energy. They’re all the same.” (Tesco, when asked about laptops)

“We don’t have that sort of information on our system. You could try getting in touch with the manufacturer” (Debenhams customer service)

“If you go into a store, a member of staff will be happy to get in touch with the manufacturer for you” (John Lewis customer helpline)

Quotes taken from the National Consumer Council’s report: “Information blackout: why electronics consumers are in the dark”.

I hope the sust-it database will become a useful tool for the 81 per cent of consumers who are trying to save energy on a day-to-day basis.

• National Consumer Council Press Release
• Click here to download the report (126KB PDF).
• BBC Radio 4 “Business Update” report (free RealPlayer required)

1980s computing brand Commodore are back with a new range of super-charged gaming PCs. Great for games, not so good for power consumption. The top-of-the-range ‘Cxx’ model comes with a whopping 1,000W ICE Cube Power Supply Unit!

Games consoles have been added to sust-it the database; again it’s taken a lot of digging to find the power ratings. In doing so we came across lots of US blogs regarding the power consumption of the latest US PlayStation 3. Which has a 380 watt power supply. Trying to confirm this has been difficult as usual. We even tried contacting Sony in the US to get the technical specification, which they sent minus the power ratings. We eventually found a PDF version of the official user manual that confirmed its power rating of 380 watts! So that’s x7 times more energy hungry that a PlayStation 2. We are still trying to find the specifications of the UK version of the PS3. If you own one of these rare beasts, please drop us email with its power ratings and we will add it to our database.

So Honda launches its green livery for its Formula One car – is this a true commitment to reducing emissions or a clever marketing strategy? I guess its both as any forward thinking car manufacturer will be looking to the future, and that means building more efficient vehicles. I personally think all the car manufacturers within F1 should be lobbying the governing body to include stringent new rules to encourage green technologies; this approach would show a real commitment to environment. F1 will always push technology to the limit, which will eventually trickle down into more efficient road vehicles, thereby potentially saving more tonnes of carbon than it emits transporting this circus around the world.