Yes, news of the latest political scandal may be enough to send you to sleep, even in broad daylight, but a British software company has come up with a solution to make your power-hungry home entertainment equipment sleep even more deeply, thus saving you money and reducing energy consumption.
Developed by Bristol-based Ocean Blue Software as part of its Sunrise digital TV software, the Eco-TV module is designed to reduce the standby consumption of TVs, set-top boxes and Freeview recorders by as much as 70%, by monitoring device usage and switching off those functions not required.
The average Freeview tuner consumes 12W in standby, and some as much as 20W. The Sunrise Eco-TV module would push such units into 'deep hibernation', reducing the consumption to just 30% of that.
Ken Helps, MD of Ocean Blue, says that 'The proliferation of electronic devices in the home is pushing up power consumption but few householders realise quite how much. Pressing a button on the remote to switch the TV or Freeview box into standby is very convenient but very wasteful. Consumers want the convenience and it is up to the manufacturers to find ways to make their devices more efficient. This software is a major step in that direction.'
It's estimated that a typical household has up to 12 items left on standby, costing about £40 a year in wasted energy. Ocean Blue is working with hardware manufacturers to implement Sunrise Eco-TV into future generations of chipsets and products.
Technorati Tags: energy efficiency, Freeview