This Thursday, October 6, the government announced its energy sobriety plan to deal with the energy crisis and the risk of power cuts this winter. This contains a digital component with different proposals, some of which directly target Internet boxes.
There are no small savings. To deal with the energy crisis, the government is trying to reduce household electricity consumption by all possible means. This will partly involve the ongoing modernization of equipment. In its energy sobriety plan, the government indicates that fiber lines consume three times less than lines DSLDSLand that in dense areas the 5G network consumes 10 times less than 4G and 50 times less than 3G, to transmit the same amount of data.
However, among the proposals, the government wants operators to reduce the consumption of Internet boxes by adding the possibility of putting them on standby at night, and even during the day in the event of absence. The new measure is part of the digital component of the sobriety plan and attacks both the box itself and TV decoders.
Functions already offered by certain equipment
For the Internet box, which manages the ADSL or fiber connection as well as the network WirelessWireless, the government would like operators to set up a monitoring system in the event of non-use. Thus, users could choose to turn off certain services, such as Wi-Fi. This mode could work on a time slot defined by the user, for example at night, or the device could automatically go to sleep if it there is no activity. The new Livebox 6 already offers a standby mode which saves 93% of electricity consumption. However, all services are cut, including the telephone. To keep the landline, you have to use light standby, and the savings drop to just 30%.
According to a study by Green IT cited in the text, a box consumes an average of 158 kWh of electricity, and up to 300 kWh depending on the model. Nationally, this represents 6.5 TWh (terawatt hours). Decoders are also targeted, and the government would like them to be automatically turned off with the television rather than after a certain inactivity. Note that this function already exists by activating the HDMI function CECCEC on compatible equipment, an option offered on all recent boxes…
A watch that could be a problem for certain connected objects
According to Frédéric Bordage of Green IT, “ by turning off Internet boxes and TV decoders over an extended range during the day and part of the night, savings could be around 50% “. That is 3.25 TWh. On the Green IT site, in addition to proposing that truly effective monitoring be made compulsory for boxes and decoders, it also offers other avenues, such as the compulsory pooling of boxes in collective housing.
It remains to be seen whether putting the boxes on standby is a measure that is really applicable. Some equipment, such as security systems, do not communicate continuously with the box but require an always available connection in order to launch the alarm. Not to mention the many home automation objects that require a connection to be controlled by the hubhub central, including some that are used to reduce electricity consumption (thermostatthermostat smart, connected switches, etc.).
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