How will British standby laws affect consoles? [update 1]

#43 my post was not concerning stand-by laws (or non-laws as the case is) rather the attitudes shown towards energy consumption by some of those posting here. Furthermore your opinion you claim that you are not responsible for your governments poor energy planning - true - however you ARE responsible for your energy consumption and just because you pay for it doesn't mean you should be reckless with it. Ideally people should not use the stand-by function because it is so wasteful and a great many people don't, however, a great number of devices draw power while not REALLY doing anything and without the owner even being aware of this. This is a problem and one that the government is trying to address.

You claim the safety concerns of nuclear power are exaggerated, this is true - if a terrorist attacked a modern power plant by ramming an aeroplane into it or some such it would actually do far less harm than anyone thinks such are the safety mechanisms in place. However Nuclear Waste is radioactive and does have a ridiculously long decay time. Also the waste must be transported around the country from the powerplants to it's disposal site, another highly dangerous and expensive notion, yet this is not my greatest bone of contention.

Nuclear powerplants become obselete, nuclear renewel costs a ridiculous amount of money. Continuous renewel is an economically insane idea yet one the government seems intent on following. Why pour such an enormous amount of resources into a venture when renewable sources are largely untapped and ripe to be harnassed.

The renewel of nuclear powerplants, like that of the trident system, should not occur.

"however you ARE responsible for your energy consumption and just because you pay for it doesn't mean you should be reckless with it." (Kiekiexo)

I almost get what you’re saying, except you assume that I am using it recklessly. I use it how I see fit. I don’t consider that a waste.

I do understand what you’re saying though. I use the energy before I actually pay for it. So the energy I’m using is actually being pulled from the same pool as everyone else’s, and I pay for it after the fact.

"Ideally people should not use the stand-by function because it is so wasteful and a great many people don't, however, a great number of devices draw power while not REALLY doing anything and without the owner even being aware of this. This is a problem and one that the government is trying to address." (Kiekiexo)

I think standby is a feature that should be used when necessary. Some devices, like DVR, need it to function correctly.

As for stuff that drains power when off, I agree that’s a problem, but I don’t see a need for the government to be involved. What needs to be done is more advertising of efficient devices. For example, if a Sony TV uses a certain amount of energy even when I think it is off, that TV will be increasing my electric bill. If a Samsung TV doesn’t waste energy that way, it should advertise that. This will save me money, waste less energy, influence Sony to improve their efficiency, and it won’t get the government involved at all.

But this is a moot point anyways. Most wasted electricity comes from offices and schools where a large number of printers, computers, and fax machines are left on for most of the day.

"However Nuclear Waste is radioactive and does have a ridiculously long decay time. Also the waste must be transported around the country from the powerplants to it's disposal site, another highly dangerous and expensive notion, yet this is not my greatest bone of contention." (Kiekiexo)

I’ll quote ecologist Patrick Moore here:

"Within 40 years, used fuel has less than one-thousandth of the radioactivity it had when it was removed from the reactor. And it is incorrect to call it waste, because 95 percent of the potential energy is still contained in the used fuel after the first cycle."(Patrick Moore)

"Nuclear powerplants become obselete, nuclear renewel costs a ridiculous amount of money. Continuous renewel is an economically insane idea yet one the government seems intent on following." (Kiekiexo)

Like I said, I’m not an expert. I don’t know exactly you mean by renewal. I think people much smarter than I need to decide all this. However, nuclear power is better than fossil fuels, and if that’s the only realistic alternative, then I’m all for it.

"Why pour such an enormous amount of resources into a venture when renewable sources are largely untapped and ripe to be harnassed."(Kiekiexo)

A lot of what I believe is based on that one article I linked to and other things Patrick Moore has said and done. So again, I’ll quote him to respond to you.

"Here's why: Wind and solar power have their place, but because they are intermittent and unpredictable they simply can't replace big baseload plants such as coal, nuclear and hydroelectric. Natural gas, a fossil fuel, is too expensive already, and its price is too volatile to risk building big baseload plants. Given that hydroelectric resources are built pretty much to capacity, nuclear is, by elimination, the only viable substitute for coal. It's that simple." (Patrick Moore)

Here’s that link again.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401209.html

Seriously, that’s most of what I know. I’m not an expert, just a fan.

I wanna listen to "Karma Police" on my DS.

A straw poll reveals that many are of the opinion that:

1) The legislation only pushes for more energy-efficient standby modes
2) The legislation is, like almost all UK legislation, some time off and thus won't affect current consoles
3) The WiiConnect function leaves the console doing something so could get away with not being classed as a standby mode. Clever, eh?

The thinking of "I can do whatever I want with the energy/resource because I paid for it" is extremely dangerous and is the reason behind global warming. Our planet is deteriorating everyday and if we keep generation CO2 every person will suffer and the poorest people like those living in Aferica will suffer the most. Our habit has to be changed. As energy use is necessary, why can't we use it a little bit more efficiently without a hugh inconvenience (i.e., Power off means not using power at all, using energy saving lightbulb, or driving car with a smaller enginee). If we don't change our behavior, one day we will be forced to changed and the degree or change will be much bigger (i.e., no personal car use, no running water except street pipe)...

@Rare Hare : The electronic device I use my remote to control is in standby mode, and as such, consumes energy... thus contributes to the global warning.

I don't think the Wii will be effected as it can be argued that the Wii isn't really in standby its actually doing something, whether downloading new content or keeping your Animal Crossing world online. This is certainly the line I think Nintendo should take with it.