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Real Estate News from your Chicago Real Estate Agent - Ramona Sivulich

Squeezing More Savings Out Of Energy-Efficient Home Electronics

Today's home electronics are much more energy efficient than they were years ago, but because households are stuffed with so many gadgets used more often, energy conservation recommendations for home electronics won't go away.Landmark research has found that the number of consumer electronics products per household has doubled since 1997 with televisions and personal computers leading the way. Along with televisions, desktop computers and their monitors, video recorders and cable and satellite set top boxes lead the way in terms of frequency of use, according to the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA).Even with greater efficiency, ever larger big-screen televisions as well as computers and video game boxes with greater processing power, require more juice than the same items with smaller screens and less processing power.A study examined the energy use of 16 product categories, everything from answering machines to video cassette recorders and included home theater systems, cordless telephones, compact stereo systems and notebook computers, along with analog televisions, computers and DVD players and recorders.CEA found that consumer electronics consume 11 percent of residential electricity and three product categories account for approximately two-thirds of consumer electronics residential energy consumption -- analog televisions, desktop personal computers, and set-top boxes for cable and satellite services.



Excerpts reprinted with permission of Realty Times.


Energy Tips.
Look for the Energy Star® label. It can help you identify products that use less energy.

Unplug mobile phone or PDA chargers when batteries are fully charged or when the chargers are not in use.

When available, use personal and laptop computers' power management features to control energy consumption.

When you're finished watching a movie or playing a video game, don't forget to turn off your DVD player or video game console as well as the television or monitor.

Plug electronics, such as TVs, DVD players and audio systems, into power strips, and turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use especially for long periods of time.

Investigate home-networking and automation products and services that let you control heating, lighting and cooling from a central location in the home.

When in the market for home office products, consider multifunction units combining, say printing, copying, scanning and faxing, instead of a single device for each function.

Use technology to save money. For example, save fuel by shopping and banking from home on your computer.