Northern Ireland’s Love Affair With Gadgets Threatens Green Targets

Householders here could save £18m by switching to Energy Saving Trust Recommended appliances. Our love of electrical appliances and gadgets in Northern Ireland could contribute to the UK missing its carbon emission reduction targets for domestic appliance electricity use by as much as seven million tonnes. That is the stark finding of a new report published by the Energy Saving Trust (EST), the independent body set up to help householders reduce their energy bills and combat climate change. However, a few simple steps could help avoid this and result in savings for householders. Patrick Thompson, EST’s Northern Ireland Operations Manager, commented: “The report reveals that if every household in Northern Ireland replaced just their old fridge freezer, washing machine and dishwasher with the most efficient Energy Saving Trust Recommended models, we could collectively save £18m on bills and prevent 56,000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. “This is enough to fill the Odyssey Arena 340 times over.” The Energy Saving Trust Recommended scheme is a UK-wide labelling programme which tests appliances on strict criteria and rewards the most energy efficient models. The report also finds that despite householders’ best efforts to switch to energy-efficient products we are actually consuming more energy than five years ago. Report author, Dr Paula Owen, said: “Although the findings of our study do make for stark reading, our message is that our domestic choices and behaviour in our homes can make a bigger impact than people think. Northern Ireland’s love affair with domestic gadgets and gizmos has to change – just because you have bought an efficient appliance, doesn’t mean you can use it carelessly and never switch it off.” The report, entitled ‘Elephant in the Living Room’, is the successor to the EST’s 2006 study, ‘Rise of the Machines’. It finds there has been good progress since 2006 in improving standards and legislation such as banning patio heaters and incandescent lightbulbs, but the results also indicated worrying trends in consumer energy usage. If householders do not act, then the UK will miss its 2020 target of a 34 per cent reduction in domestic appliance electricity carbon emissions from 1990 levels by up to seven million tonnes.
ABOUT THE ENERGY SAVING TRUST
The Energy Saving Trust is Northern Ireland’s leading organisation set up to address the damaging effects of climate change by helping everybody to cut carbon dioxide emissions – the main greenhouse gas causing climate change – from their homes. It promotes the efficient use of energy and a more low carbon lifestyle. The Energy Saving Trust, through its Northern Ireland ‘One-Stop-Shop’ advice service – provided in association with Bryson Energy – provides free and impartial advice to consumers on saving energy, domestic renewables and greener transport, and is beginning to include water saving and waste reduction advice in its remit. The Energy Saving Trust also provides the housing industry with technical guidance to enable them to achieve higher levels of energy efficiency in both new and existing homes, and works with retailers and manufacturers to make sure that energy efficient products are available for people to choose, as well as advising government on policies that are needed to cut greenhouse gases. For more information visit www.energysavingtrust.org. uk or freephone 0800 512 012 to speak to the Energy Saving Trust advice centre.