Standby Buster
Standby Buster is a remote controlled electrical socket that lets you switch appliances off completely so that they use no electricity. Leaving them on standby unnecessarily uses electricity costing you money and contributing to Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. Standby Buster requires no installation, simply plug into an existing socket to convert it to remote control. Standby Buster is the only consumer electronics mains switch to be recommended by the Energy Saving Trust. Standby saving is highlighted by the Energy Saving Trust as the key energy saving tip.
Save £40 a year
Leaving a typical home entertainment system - TV, DVD, digital TV receiver and hi-fi - on standby when not in use can cost £40 a year according to a 2006 report from the consumer magazine, Which?, and be responsible for 245kg of carbon dioxide emissions. Using a Standby Buster to quickly and conveniently switch this equipment off when not in use could save you £40 a year and eliminate the carbon dioxide emission. A Standby Buster starter pack costs just £14.99 - that means payback in less than a year.
What the experts are saying about Standby Buster
Karen Lawrence Head of Advice at the Energy Saving Trust, comments; “People are often surprised to find that about half of the UK’s carbon emissions come from energy that we use in our homes and day to day lives. We spend around seven per cent of our electricity bills on standby power at the moment and this is only set to rise – by 2020 about 45 per cent of our home electricity bills will be spent on running electronic products. So, we recommend that appliances are switched off at the power button or wall socket and, for those of us who need a bit of help, the Energy Saving Recommended scheme now accredits gadgets to help take the hassle out of saying goodbye to standby.”
Mike Childs, Head of Campaigns for Friends of the Earth, says; “We hope that lots of people will use Standby Buster to help minimise their energy consumption in the home. The threat posed by climate change is massive and the Government needs to strengthen its planned Climate Change Law to ensure we reduce carbon dioxide emissions each year. This will also send a clear message to businesses to encourage the development of innovative products like Standby Buster.”
"Best Standby Controller" by Bonnie Estridge in the Daily Express round up of "best energy saving gizmos". Daily Express 20 Oct 2007.
Donnachadh McCarthy of the Independent. "So when I trialled my second gizmo, the Standby Buster, I was thrilled to find that it actually works. It has a plug-in section that goes into your wall socket. You plug your gadget into this section. You then press a button on a handset and it remotely tells the gadget in the wall to turn off. It will even work through walls, or from upstairs. It can be programmed to turn whole sections of the house off separately too, so long as each TV, hi-fi or computer has its own Standby Buster."
"In addition to solving the hassle of going round the house to turn the stand-by items off, the Standby Buster eliminates the need to kneel down and struggle to reach those hard-to-get-at plugs. In the interests of shamelessly promoting anything that helps to fight the climate crisis – and makes our lives easier – I shall also tell you that they're available from www.standbybuster.com, starting at £14.99."
"When you consider that more than 12 gadgets are on stand-by or charging at any one time in the average home, and that 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted due to stand-by wastage every year in the UK, you begin to see the eco-potential for such a wizard gizmo. If we all eliminated our stand-by wastage, we would be able to close two power stations. Norman Baker MP has estimated that the energy wasted by stand-by in the UK is the equivalent to the emissions of 1.4 million long-haul flights."
"So, for once, I am happy to say go out and get the latest electronic gadget – this one truly has an eco-halo glowing above it."
Donnachadh McCarthy is author of 'Saving the Planet Without Costing the Earth' and works as a home and business eco-auditor. www.3acorns.co.uk
