For example, it found that up to 16% of households' energy bills are spent on devices left on standby.

 

It is estimated that domestic energy use accounts for more than a quarter of the nation's CO2 emissions.

 

The report was commissioned by the government and the Energy Saving Trust to unearth the nation's energy habits.

 

"This standby power is double what we have assumed it to be in past models and policy assumptions," explained Paula Owen, the report's lead author.

 

"Before, we have always gone with an 8% figure so it was quite a shock."

 

Within in this study, Dr Owen explained, standby had a slightly wider remit from its traditional perception of the red lights on TVs and videos.

 

"When we talk about standby in this context, we are talking about things that are on standby and things [that] are idle, rather than [doing] what they are primarily designed to do," she said.

 

The modern home contained an average of 41 devices, compared with a dozen or so in the 1970s.