According to new research discussed in The Independent, (full article reprinted here) office workers who leave two million computers on every night are speeding up climate change.

According to the PC Energy Report, power stations generating the electricity emit 200,000 tonnes of carbon a year - equivalent to the exhaust fumes of 120,000 4x4 cars. Switching off would save as much pollution as from all the cars in a city the size of Liverpool. Evidence about the PC smog comes amid growing warnings that people in Britain should be more energy efficient. One million tonnes of carbon is pumped into the atmosphere each year by televisions, DVDs and other appliances left on standby in British living rooms, the Government revealed last year. Some products use almost as much power when in “sleep” mode as they do when in use.

And in response, according the the Financial Times, these issues are all to be targeted in a new legislative drive aimed at slicing billions a year from the European Union’s energy bill, in a move that could impose Europe’s green agenda on the world.

Stringent new European Commission energy efficiency targets for items such as electrical appliances and cars could set new global standards, since all imports into the European market would have to comply.

Via the David Suzuki Foundation