Appliances (AMDEA) launched the Time to Change initiative which aims to encourage the public to replace the 15.4 million outdated domestic appliances that are still in use in households across the UK.
Replacing these old fridges, freezers and washing machines with today’s high efficiency models could save 3.6 TWh of electricity a year; sufficient energy to light a large town for a year. The campaign is a part of a pan-European initiative co-ordinated by the European federation of electrical manufacturers, CECED.
At the same time the campaign website, www.t2c.org.uk, was unveiled. It features the savings calculator which demonstrates how replacing ageing products with new energy efficient models can result in personal savings and make a contribution to the environment.
Electrical retailers will play a key role in the Time to Change initiative. Peter Mann, retra president, told IER: “Retra’s role is to get this information to the shop floor. We will be keeping our members informed through retra’s website which contains the facts and figures that retailers can show to the customers coming to their stores.”
Douglas Herbison, chief executive of AMDEA, added: “The information which appears on the campaign website are the independent statistics from the Market Transformation programme which is associated with Defra. These figures are, in fact, slightly conservative. Using them the retailer should be able to demonstrate to their customers the huge advantages of trading in their existing appliances.”
He also commented on another aspect of the initiative: “Amdea’s survey shows that two thirds of people believe that there should be some inducements from the Government for the environmentally friendly behaviour. We believe that it is in the Government’s interest to do this. The examples from countries such as Italy or Spain, of tax incentives and cash-back schemes, demonstrate the effectiveness of such an approach.”
