A global energy overseer urged governments around the world today to implement strong public policies to make electronic devices more energy efficient in order to avoid hefty amounts of energy consumption by 2022 and on.

Policies must be implemented urgently in electronic devices such as televisions, laptops and mobile phones as more people acquire the products, which already account for 15 percent of a household's electricity consumption, the International Energy Agency said in a statement Wednesday.

This will jeopardize efforts to increase energy security and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases,' the agency noted.

The IEA said electricity consumption from residential information and communications technologies and consumer electronics devices could be cut more than 50 percent with the use of technology and certain processes. One step would be to make hardware and software work together to ensure energy is only used when, and to the extent needed.

Energy consumed by information and communications technologies as well as consumer electronics is forecasted to double by 2022 and increase to 1,700 terawatt hours by 2030, the IEA found Gadgets and Gigawatts a study introduced today by they agency's Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka in

This is equivalent to the present entire residential electricity consumption of Japan and the U.S. combined.

Energy efficiency measures could result in savings of $130 billion in 2030 on consumer energy bills, and avoid 260 Gigawatts in additional power generation capacity, the IEA projected.

To deliver these savings, strong public policies are needed, the watchdog concluded.

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