In the same vein as the California Vampire Slayer Act, the British government is set to force manufacturers to dump the "Standby" status on their TV, video, and DVD products. That means your PS2 is either On or Off, not half-on, sucking power and waiting for you to play a little Gran Turismo.

The UK's "Energy Review" says that standby causes 8% of all power use in homes. That's quite a lot when you consider all the other things people are doing—watching TV, using their computers, and turning on their really inefficient incandescent light bulbs.

Lighting, set-top boxes, televisions, chargers, fridges, freezers, washing machines and computers were highlighted as wasteful products that must be redesigned to save power.

Bye bye standby! – Jason Chen

[Times Online via Tree Hugger]

Send an email to Jason Chen, the author of this post, at jchen@gizmodo.com.