[rogerhb]

TV standby buttons will be outlawed

I find this incredible!

Also how about banning remote controls and save on battery production and disposal.

And how about banning advertising on TV, stop wasting our time telling us about shit we don't need.

[Doly]

And why not banning TV altogether? It's not like it's providing an essential service, is it?

[rogerhb]

Could bring back the old ARP wardens to look through peoples windows to see if the tell-tale LED is still on.

Put that light out!

[garyp]

Mandating that standby functions have to be implemented efficiently is one thing. I quite believe its possible to implement standby functions on a few 10s of milliwatts if the desire is there.

However I get the feeling this idea is to draw attention away from the failure to mandate better standards on business and commercial users. The drawdown from this segment is massive, and when you think of all those open plan offices built so as to require artificial illumination all day and all night - I can't help but think one of the best targets is there - not a standby button.

[paoniapbud]

Poor Brits. Too bad you can't keep wasting energy like us Yanks! At least we're doing our part to hasten THE END!

[Grifter]

I get the feeling this idea is to draw attention away from the failure to mandate better standards on business and commercial users.

Yeah so do I. More simply it may just be an act to appear that they are doing something about the comming crisis. It will look silly when we're coasting down the depletion curve and the government blames the standby button.

[SoothSayer]

Microsoft are SO stuffed!

[TommyJefferson]

If enough people desire TV's that don't waste expensive electricity, manufacturers will provide them.

That's the beauty of the free market. No gun-backed coersion via nanny-state legislation needed.

[aflurry]

If enough people desire TV's that don't waste expensive electricity, manufacturers will provide them.

That's the beauty of the free market. No gun-backed coersion via nanny-state legislation needed.

wow. that is beautiful.

the free market should come up with a mascot like the easter bunny or santa claus. like maybe a little pixie elf called the "rational consumer" that runs around in a sparkly world filled with rainbows leading to magical pots of perfect products.

that would make it even beautifuler.

[Concerned]

If enough people desire TV's that don't waste expensive electricity, manufacturers will provide them.

That's the beauty of the free market. No gun-backed coersion via nanny-state legislation needed.

wow. that is beautiful.

the free market should come up with a mascot like the easter bunny or santa claus. like maybe a little pixie elf called the "rational consumer" that runs around in a sparkly world filled with rainbows leading to magical pots of perfect products.

that would make it even beautifuler.

LOL agree.

I think the concentrated global corporate free market as we see it today (a far cry from Adam Smiths small city or town type market(s)) is best at providing people what "the company will" (through advertising) provide.

The mascot you describe is mass media advertising, the sparkly world and rainbows is the satisfaction from all the excess consumption. Yet study after study shows longer work hours for the same or declining standards of living coupled with higher levels of debt.

Back to topic. I think there is far more energy to be saved with insulation, full or partial solar heating of water and smaller houses than the dreaded standby button.

[rogerhb]

Microsoft are SO stuffed!

In addition to the 280 million euro they just had to pay the Europeans?

Of course the Europeans are sensible in setting the fine in Euros, they don't want any of those crap greenbacks.

[rogerhb]

If enough people desire TV's that don't waste expensive electricity, manufacturers will provide them.

That's the beauty of the free market. No gun-backed coersion via nanny-state legislation needed.

The "beauty of the free market" does not ensure sensible solutions, if people act like cretins so will the market.

[dbuckley]

Some TVs have a standby function so that one you bring the telly back to life the picture is present almost immediately. These telly's on standby consume a significant fraction of the running power.

Other tellys (like my ancient Sony) take nearly 20 seconds to come to life. But then again, my telly uses only a few watts on standby, and manufacturers could make them use far less than that.

[SoothSayer]

I wonder what people will think in say 40 years time when they read that we burned electricity to do ... precisely NOTHING.

"Back in the year 2000 they even had gadgets to burn electricity just to get ready to burn MORE electricity!"

[TommyJefferson]

I think there is far more energy to be saved with insulation, full or partial solar heating of water and smaller houses than the dreaded standby button.

What you think really doesn't matter when the government decides for you.

You are incapable of making decisions regarding "what is best".

Not to worry, a Decider somewhere surely has your best interests at heart. Well, that really doesn't matter either does it since you have no say in the matter?

Worry not young prole. It's all good.

[gg3]

Bingo! Soothsayer is right on target: "...we burned electricity to do precisely NOTHING."

All for the sake of not having to wait twenty seconds whilst the telly warms up. Twenty seconds!

Anyone who's got such a bad case of ADHD that they can't wait twenty seconds for something, needs to learn to meditate, or needs to be on meds.

(I'm highly intrigued by the finding from the recent research study, that psilocybin appears to increase individuals' sense of *patience*. That could turn out to be enormously valuable, potential cure for road rage and intermittent explosive disorder generally. I'm willing to bet that this result can be produced with daily doses that are about 1/30th to 1/50th of the dose that produces a mystical experience, i.e. doses that are safe to take every day with no psychedelic effects. Someone needs to look into this....)

[Doly]

I'm highly intrigued by the finding from the recent research study, that psilocybin appears to increase individuals' sense of *patience*.

If you want patience, give people cannabis. That's a well-known effect. And with a lot less unwanted psychedelic side effects.

But then, patience is generally NOT a wanted effect in our society. That's why stimulants like caffeine are generally preferred. In fact, if you want patience, the easiest way of going about it is not taking caffeine.

[Concerned]

Bingo! Soothsayer is right on target: "...we burned electricity to do precisely NOTHING."

All for the sake of not having to wait twenty seconds whilst the telly warms up. Twenty seconds!

Oh please compared to the hours upon valuable hours spent watching televsion?

Or the hours upon hours spent playing computer games.

Lets face it once your basic needs are met all your excess consumption and the energy that it requires is not exactly helping the finite fossil fuel situation.

You know the whole growth based economy and such....

[rogerhb]

Apparently you are not allowed to use TV frame code chips that detect the content-type of a TV image to stop a video from recording adverts....

All TV frames are broadcast with a few bits that say whether it's new, entertainment, adverts etc.....

[Concerned]

Apparently you are not allowed to use TV frame code chips that detect the content-type of a TV image to stop a video from recording adverts....

All TV frames are broadcast with a few bits that say whether it's new, entertainment, adverts etc.....

Otherwise known as Freedom (tm)