Television sets and other domestic appliances will be fitted with special devices to switch off standby power as part of a radical plan to cut wasteful use of electricity, a special Conservative report will recommend this week.In an attempt to burnish his green credentials - weeks after being accused of lurching to the right - David Cameron will offer strong support for the report that would herald a major redesign of many of today's electrical goods.
The most eye-catching proposal would lead a future Conservative government to set a date by which time all electrical goods would have to be able to switch themselves off. 'All new electrical items will require a functionality that switches them off after a specified period rather than remaining on standby,' the Quality of Life report says.
A senior Tory said that people have to accept change - standby power alone accounts for 2.25 per cent of Britain's electricity production. 'You cannot have standby forever,' the Tory said. 'Of course people should be able to put their television to standby for a few hours. But this would end the days of people putting their television on standby and then heading off on holiday.'
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