Sir, You report that having banned vacuum cleaners with motors above 1,600 watts, the EU energy commissioner is now considering similar limits for other electrical devices “to try to slow climate change” (“Hairdryers may be next on hit list in EU power game”, Aug 29)
Such bans are absurd for two reasons. First, lower wattage does not guarantee reduced electricity consumption. For example, boiling a kettle of water with half the wattage will take twice as long, and the total electricity consumed will be the same. And a less powerful cleaner might be used for longer as it takes longer to pick up a given quantity of dust
Second, electrical devices do not, of course, emit CO2. It is the power stations that generate the electricity that do, but only the gas and coal-fired ones. Renewable and nuclear produce negligible amounts. The variation among EU countries in the proportion of their electricity generated by renewables, not counting nuclear, ranges from over 70 per cent for Austria to about 12 per cent for the UK. This makes a nonsense of having a directive treating all countries the same
David Terry
Droitwich, Worcs