Alarm bells ring over electronic gadget usage

CHARGE your iPod, kill a polar bear?

The choice might not be quite that stark, but an energy watchdog is alarmed about the threat to the environment from the soaring electricity needs of gadgets like MP3 players, mobile phones and flat-screen TVs.

In a report yesterday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates new electronic gadgets will triple energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours, the equivalent of today’s home electricity consumption of the US and Japan combined.