Home energy guzzlers

SIR – Current British vacuum cleaners are not “energy-guzzling” (report, September 1) compared with the new lower-powered ones now allowed by the EU.

The opposite is true. With kettles, lower power means taking longer to boil the water and so a greater waste of heat by radiation and convection. With vacuum cleaners, lower power means you will have to go over the same area several times to remove the dirt, and even so they may not have enough suction to clean properly.

Thus the effect of lowering the power rating is to guzzle more energy to do the same job, thereby adding to global warming. Well done EU! Dr Brian Wareing

Penyffordd, Flintshire