Which? magazine recently put the eco-claims of a number of products to the test, discovering some supposedly ‘energy saving’ products actually have the reverse effect. With the eco-product market continuing to grow, its becoming more important that organisations like Which? police eco-claims and stamp out greenwash.
Guilty products included:
- The Ecotek Energy Wizard – A voltage optimisation device claiming to cut your electrcity bill by 10%, actually increased energy consumption equivalent to a plasma TV or stereo.
- Disposable battery chargers – chargers that claim to also recharge disposable batteries up to 10 times. The result was huge variation across the disposable batteries tested with most dropping to 10% of their original capacity.
- TreeGreen Energy Egg – Switches appliances on and off as a motion detector detects someone entering or leaving a room. A Which? tester suggested “at £40 it’s a pretty steep price to pay for laziness” and whilst it might save energy through switching unused appliance off, it probably wastes more by always switching unwanted appliances on each time someone enters a room.
The article goes on to support some product’s eco-claims, including:
- The Ecobutton – A flashing button that reminds you to press it when you take a break from your computer, switching everyting into energy-efficiency mode. Users particularly liked the feedback it gives on money and carbon emissions saved.
As we know, a large part of a product’s carbon footprint comes from its production and end-of-life disposal. However ‘eco’ a product is in use, if its usage over its lifetime doesn’t negate that impact, it will have a negative impact on the environment. This might be easy for a light bulb to achieve, but harder for battery recharger if you rarely use batteries. There must be many white elephant energy monitors and eco gadgets lying unused in drawers for which this is the case.
