The typical standby power per appliance is low (typically from less than 1 to 25 W), but, when multiplied by the billions of appliances in houses and in commercial buildings, standby losses represent a significant fraction of total world electricity use.
[2] The IEA estimated in 2007 that standby produced 1% of the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
[3] To put the figure into context, total air travel contributes less than 3% of global CO2 emissions.
"[7] By 2005, South Korea and Australia had introduced the one watt benchmark in all new electrical devices, and according to the IEA other countries, notably Japan and China, had undertaken "strong measures" to reduce standby power use.
The regulations mandate that from 6 January 2010 "off mode" and standby power shall not exceed 1 W, "standby-plus" power (providing information or status display in addition to possible reactivation function) shall not exceed 2 W (these figures are halved on 6 January 2013).