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Last changed: 18/05/2010
Many electrical appliances continue to use energy even when they are not actually working. Stand-by is the best known, but not the only, form of energy waste. More and more electrical appliances no longer have a switch to disconnect the appliance from the mains power supply. Electricity consumed through stand-by/off-mode losses costs at least four billion euros a year in Germany alone.
The no-energy campaign, which the Federal Environment Agency is supporting, is working to prevent these stand-by losses. You can find out more about the topic on the no-energy campaign website, which has a page in English.
Schools can also borrow an energy-saving kit in German to use as a teaching resource for lessons on stand-by losses. It includes information brochures, teaching materials and energy cost monitors that can be used to detect the electricity consumption of appliances that appear to have been switched off but are actually in off mode.
For the 2005 CeBIT consumer electronics trade show, the magazine PC-Welt and the Federal Environment Agency compiled important information on stand-by/off-mode losses from computers, as part of the no-energy campaign. The brochure published by the Federal Environment Agency “Stromklau – nein, danke” (Steal electricity? I don’t think so) PDF / 4.47 MB, in German includes a guide to energy saving in the home in German and Turkish and also has a chapter entitled “Look out, there’s an electricity thief about!”
Since 2010 onwards, computers, washing machines, television sets and other office and household appliances placed on the market in the EU must meet a number of requirements: They must meet requirements for power consumption (watt) in certain standby and off modes and offer a power-saving function, and manufacturers must provide details on standby and off-mode conditions in their technical documentation. Click here for more information.
“Neues zum Thema Leerlaufverluste” (What’s new on the subject of stand-by losses) is a German-language series of factsheets published by the Federal Environment Agency from 1998 to 2004. They reported on developments in the field of stand-by/off-mode losses in electrical appliances and included reports from the world of politics, publications/studies, public relations campaigns, research and technology. In view of the general flood of information, the reports are mostly brief to enable readers to gain a quick overview of new developments. More in-depth information and references to other sources can be found in the annexes to the factsheets.