Consumers are waking up to the energy costs of electronics

Author: Daphne Kasriel

Date published: 22 Feb 2008

The seemingly unstoppable rise in home and personal entertainment and communication devices is facing a growing hurdle due to their power requirements. The sheer prevalence of sophisticated, power-hungry devices is making them an increasingly visible part of the energy debate, just at a time when energy consumption is rising as a global consumer concern, both in terms of environmental impact and, more recently, cost.

Key trends

Household appliances still energy-guzzling;

Consumers' energy concerns migrate from white to brown goods;

Energy efficiency drives targeting the consumer electronics sector.

Commercial opportunities

Consumer electronics products are about to see a fundamental change. Energy authorities and now consumers are now looking closely at the energy requirements of the new, largely digital, technology products proliferating around the home;

The first practical casualty is likely to be the standby button, at least in its present format;

The energy life, and ease and efficiency of recharging, portable phones, music players and other personal devices also remains a key issue for consumers, both on environmental grounds and usability.

Background

Energy consumption is a major global consumer concern on environmental grounds. Rising fuel prices mean that this has also become a cost issue for households around the world.

Electronics gadgets are one of the fastest growing energy users around the home. This is due to the higher power requirements of many new, advanced products; the growing range of new information and entertainment products; and the growing unit population, as households acquire multiple TVs etc. and as household numbers (driven by single person households) expand.

The energy efficiency drive that has already transformed the major home appliance industry (led by white goods such as refrigerators and washing machines) is now set to transfer to the consumer electronics sector, where consumers are already reported to be looking at energy options as part of their buying decision.

Household appliances still energy-guzzling

Despite the concerns of some consumer segments, household appliances are still major energy users. Refrigerators, for example, are necessarily left on 100% of the time (even people who unplug all appliances before taking a trip away from home leave the refrigerator on), and many clothes dryers are especially heavy energy users.

In the USA and parts of Asia the prevalence of air conditioning in the home is another energy- sapping form of household appliance. In Europe, the EU energy label is obligatory for all major household appliances, running from A (highly efficient, with improvements now leading to an A++ rating) to G (least efficient). Washing machines and dishwashers are also rated according to water consumption.

Interestingly, consumers are now also advised to unplug appliances when not in use, in order to save on lights and displays – a growing issue in the home electronics product sector.

Consumers' energy concerns migrate from white to brown goods

Demand for electricity in the home is becoming an economic and public relations issue worldwide. Carbon usage and its impact on the environment are of course already amongst the most important global issues for consumers around the world. Now with international oil and gas prices surging, the cost of energy is adding direct economic consequences to these concerns. Suddenly, the proliferation of electronic devices around the home, including both household items and personal items on charge, is raising consumer questions over how much energy they are using.

The issue of power consumption and its environmental impact has to date been partially addressed in the household electrical appliance sector (white goods such as refrigerators, heaters, washing machines etc) rather than electronic devices.

Energy efficiency drives targeting the consumer electronics sector

Energy efficiency is a rising consumer concern in the home electronics market for several reasons.

Firstly, the sheer prevalence of electronics around the home, as digital technology has ushered a diverse range of new devices into the mass market;

The number of devices is also rising due to duplication around the home (TVs in the lounge, kitchen and bedrooms, laptops for individual household members etc. as opposed to one household TV or desktop PC);

There are also more homes, due to the rise of single person households, adding to the demand for devices;

Newer products with added functions use far more power than their simpler predecessors. A major example is the worldwide boom in large flat screen TVs, which use much more power than traditional TVs – many of which survive in another room in the house anyway. Or digital radios, which are far more power-hungry than former analogue radios and are also often left plugged in on standby;

The more advanced usage of consumer electronics is further adding to the power drain. For example, coupling up various units such as a laptop, widescreen TV and audio unit for maximum effect, or listening to digital radio via a digital TV set – replacing the old, relatively low power portable analogue radio.

As well as environmental and energy costs, the battery life of portable products (laptops, mobile phones, music players) etc is also a key selling point in its own right. Consumers find short-lived batteries one of the most frustrating aspects of these products.

Back in 2005, for example, when researching consumer views on new features for the next generation of mobiles, a survey conducted by TNS Technology found that two-thirds of mobile phone owners surveyed in 15 countries stated that it was vital for their phones to have 2 days' active battery life. In comparison, just half wanted a high resolution camera. However, it is the camera function on new phones that has been promoted more than battery life, (which perhaps will always remind consumers of one of the downsides to a mobile phone; running out of “juice” just when you need it).

Yet the industry is very aware of battery life and consumer concerns in this area. For example, Apple's new iPhone originally estimated the battery life as 5 hours' talk time when the phone was introduced early in 2007. But this increased to 8 hours' talk time as the launch drew near in the middle of the year. Audio playback time, meanwhile, was increased from 16 hours to 24 hours. As Apple's development of the phone continued, battery life was clearly seen as a key consumer concern.

Mobile phone companies are busy researching alternative battery sources. Portable solar powered mobile phone chargers are already on the market, and it is interesting to note that Motorola is reported to have filed a patent for a solar powered battery that uses the phone's own screen as a solar panel.

However, another energy issue for the mobile phone sector is related more to consumer behaviour than technology. This is the degree to which consumers leave mobile chargers plugged in and using power unnecessarily. It is hard to see how this will be addressed.

In the home electronics arena, the current priority is the standby button. A number of authorities have pointed to the wasteful power consumption of products left on standby, especially in stereo systems, televisions/set-top boxes/DVD players, games consoles and computer monitors. Manufacturers are looking into removing the standby option on new products, or for products to switch themselves completely off at some point, while some lobbyists have even talked of disabling the standby button on existing products.

Europe's largest electronics retailer, Dixons Store Group (DSG, owner of Currys, Dixons and PC World) announced in June 2007 that it was to ask manufacturers to phase out standby options due to a growing consumer demand for energy-efficient products. Dixons quoted the impact that energy efficiency labelling had had on the white goods market, resulting in a significant shift in consumer buying behaviour as a result. The group believes that the same shift is now emerging in brown (electronics) goods, and that consumers are increasingly selecting electronics goods on the basis of energy efficiency.

Similar trends are apparent in the personal computer market. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2008, HP (Hewlett Packard) announced a plan to reduce energy consumption in its notebook and desktop PCs by 25% by 2010. The new PCs will use more efficient power supplies and lower energy chips and processors.

Outlook

The International Energy Agency has a long-standing goal to reduce standby power usage in all appliances to less than 1 Watt by 2010. It has been estimated that electronics goods' standby losses equate to 5%-10% of home electrical consumption in Europe, and about 5% in the USA. Standby power consumption is therefore at the forefront of energy-saving trends in the home electronics market. Consumers are now picking up on energy issues in the electronics goods sector, and many observers believe that the trend will now drive fundamental new technology and marketing initiatives – in much the same way that consumer behaviour has changed the white goods sector.

Such trends will also benefit from cost considerations. Real time electricity meters are being installed in homes around the world, telling consumers how much electricity is costing as it runs. (These typically have a wireless transmitter near the fuse box and a display unit somewhere easy to see.) Such visible consumption, especially if energy costs continue to rise, will be a further wake-up call to consumers.

On the other hand, the technical detail in the electronics sector is likely to be more complicated. For example, in a networked home, which may in itself deliver energy-saving benefits by controlling heating and lighting etc, digital devices may need to be kept running to maintain control of the in-home environment or to receive online information.

Furthermore, consumer education may be a slower process. A survey by the UK's Energy Saving Trust in 2006, for example, found that one in seven UK consumers thought that putting a device on standby was more energy efficient than turning it on and off.