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A solution to the socket shortage?
By Megan Lane
BBC News Magazine
Spaghetti junction
As a survey reveals two-thirds of Britons say they don't have enough plug sockets in their homes, what's the answer: messy multi-plug extension boards, more outlets, wireless electricity even?
There's the telly. And the set-top box. The DVD player - although not the little-used video recorder, which now gathers dust in the attic - and the stereo and table lamp... that's at least five plugs clustered in one corner of a living room, and just a double socket to feed them all.
The solution? Increasingly, these days, it's a multi-plug extension board. These rat's nests of converging cables can be found around the home. Got a computer? That's a plug needed for (deep breath) the monitor, hard drive, printer, speakers, scanner and router.
This hi-tech tangle is a bug bear of domestic life, especially for those living in Britain's vast stock of Victorian and Edwardian homes, when even the radio had yet to be invented.
SOCKETS IN NEW-BUILD HOMES
Four each in kitchen and utility room
Four in living room, eight in living/family room with two near TV aerial
Six in main bedroom, four in other bedrooms
Source: NHBC
A three-bedroom house built today must have at least 38 sockets, more than twice as many as 30 years ago. This is set by the National House Building Council's technical standards - revised up last year from 21 sockets - which cover more than 80% of new homes built in the UK.
But new-builds account for just 160,000 houses a year of the UK's 25 million existing homes. In a survey for Energy Experience, an online education resource, 92% of respondents said their household used an average of three extension boards.
Furniture makers do their best to help out, with holes in the back and sides of TV tables and cabinets through which to feed cables in one tidy bundle. For those fond of vintage pieces, even these are sold with neat holes punched in the back.
But where does it stop? Is our need for plug sockets insatiable? Is it inevitable that our houses will have more plug sockets in more places to cater for our appetite for appliances and gadgets? Not necessarily. That was the solution for homes built in the 80s and 90s, but today the focus is switching to more eco-friendly options.
THEN AND NOW
Heat maps of teenager's gadgets in 70s (top) and today
70s teen has lamp, record player and model racing track
88% of today's teens have own TV, 90% use games console
93% have mobile phone, 69% an MP3 player
Almost half have their own PC
Source: BBC/Childwise figures
"There's a big push to reach zero carbon emissions - should we actually be encouraging people to plug more and more things in?" asks Dave Mitchell, of the Home Builders Federation.
He points to "smart" extension plugs that cut the power to all the devices running off them as soon as one is switched off. "When you turn off your computer, for instance, it cuts the power to the associated devices such as the printer, saving the power lost when these are on standby."
And landmark housing developments are starting to include energy-saving features that Mr Mitchell says will come as standard within five years.
"On your way out the front door, you'll hit a switch that will turn off everything it's programmed to switch off, leaving essentials like the fridge on. I also expect to see skirting boards that you can plug in wherever you want."
But hi-tech solutions can be quickly superseded. Homeowners who ripped their walls apart to thread in ethernet wiring a few years ago, may now be wishing they'd waited for wireless.
And centuries-old physics is said to hold the promise of wireless power. Last November researchers in the United States outlined a system that used the resonance of electromagnetic waves to deliver power to gadgets without wires.
Although the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology has not built and tested the system, computer models and mathematics suggest it will work. Resonance is a phenomenon that causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied to it.
"You're not talking next year with that sort of thing in the home," says Mr Mitchell. "That's almost science fiction."
By Megan Lane
BBC News Magazine
Spaghetti junctionAs a survey reveals two-thirds of Britons say they don't have enough plug sockets in their homes, what's the answer: messy multi-plug extension boards, more outlets, wireless electricity even?
There's the telly. And the set-top box. The DVD player - although not the little-used video recorder, which now gathers dust in the attic - and the stereo and table lamp... that's at least five plugs clustered in one corner of a living room, and just a double socket to feed them all.
The solution? Increasingly, these days, it's a multi-plug extension board. These rat's nests of converging cables can be found around the home. Got a computer? That's a plug needed for (deep breath) the monitor, hard drive, printer, speakers, scanner and router.
This hi-tech tangle is a bug bear of domestic life, especially for those living in Britain's vast stock of Victorian and Edwardian homes, when even the radio had yet to be invented.
SOCKETS IN NEW-BUILD HOMES Four each in kitchen and utility room
Four in living room, eight in living/family room with two near TV aerial
Six in main bedroom, four in other bedrooms
Source: NHBC
A three-bedroom house built today must have at least 38 sockets, more than twice as many as 30 years ago. This is set by the National House Building Council's technical standards - revised up last year from 21 sockets - which cover more than 80% of new homes built in the UK.
But new-builds account for just 160,000 houses a year of the UK's 25 million existing homes. In a survey for Energy Experience, an online education resource, 92% of respondents said their household used an average of three extension boards.
Furniture makers do their best to help out, with holes in the back and sides of TV tables and cabinets through which to feed cables in one tidy bundle. For those fond of vintage pieces, even these are sold with neat holes punched in the back.
But where does it stop? Is our need for plug sockets insatiable? Is it inevitable that our houses will have more plug sockets in more places to cater for our appetite for appliances and gadgets? Not necessarily. That was the solution for homes built in the 80s and 90s, but today the focus is switching to more eco-friendly options.
THEN AND NOW Heat maps of teenager's gadgets in 70s (top) and today
70s teen has lamp, record player and model racing track
88% of today's teens have own TV, 90% use games console
93% have mobile phone, 69% an MP3 player
Almost half have their own PC
Source: BBC/Childwise figures
"There's a big push to reach zero carbon emissions - should we actually be encouraging people to plug more and more things in?" asks Dave Mitchell, of the Home Builders Federation.
He points to "smart" extension plugs that cut the power to all the devices running off them as soon as one is switched off. "When you turn off your computer, for instance, it cuts the power to the associated devices such as the printer, saving the power lost when these are on standby."
And landmark housing developments are starting to include energy-saving features that Mr Mitchell says will come as standard within five years.
"On your way out the front door, you'll hit a switch that will turn off everything it's programmed to switch off, leaving essentials like the fridge on. I also expect to see skirting boards that you can plug in wherever you want."
But hi-tech solutions can be quickly superseded. Homeowners who ripped their walls apart to thread in ethernet wiring a few years ago, may now be wishing they'd waited for wireless.
And centuries-old physics is said to hold the promise of wireless power. Last November researchers in the United States outlined a system that used the resonance of electromagnetic waves to deliver power to gadgets without wires.
Although the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology has not built and tested the system, computer models and mathematics suggest it will work. Resonance is a phenomenon that causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied to it.
"You're not talking next year with that sort of thing in the home," says Mr Mitchell. "That's almost science fiction."
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