NDS announces initiatives to help digital TV subscribers reduce energy consumption

August 30, 2007 – NDS has announced initiatives to help digital TV subscribers reduce their energy consumption and accordingly reduce global carbon emissions.

The cornerstone of the company’s environmental strategy is its research and development efforts to reduce the power consumption of set-top boxes and digital video recorders.  NDS has developed an Auto Standby function to automatically switch inactive devices into standby mode overnight, and estimates that if global shipments of set-top boxes meet the forecast 500mn over the next five years then this could potentially save the equivalent carbon emissions of five ‘super’ power stations.

“Currently, an HD DVR can use as much power as a domestic refrigerator and we want to address this,” said James Field, Director of Technology and New Initiatives for NDS.  “With this new Auto Standby feature, we can help our customers’ customers – namely consumers of digital TV – to reduce their carbon footprint, with the additional benefit of lowering their electricity bills.”

NDS is also working with its key stakeholders to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 10% over the next five years, with the aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2010.  The company is also investing in video conferencing equipment across its 25 offices worldwide to reduce the need for travel, conducting IT energy audits to optimise its use of technology, and is also sponsoring trams at the IBC 2007 show in Amsterdam in order to encourage public transportation.