The big turn-off

The EU member states bring into force laws that comply with the energy-using products (EuP) directive. Laws based on the directive mean designers will soon have to account for how much power their products will draw. It is a wide-ranging directive that covers not just how much energy is used while pieces of electronics are in use, but how much energy is needed to make them. However, one of the biggest effects the directive is likely to have is to focus attention on the energy wasted by products sitting in standby mode, when they are doing little more than waiting for a ping from a remote control or for something to be charged