Our consumer-oriented society, the growth of new technologies, and the fact that more people are working from home have dramatically increased the number of products that require power in the average home. The average home has roughly 2 TVs, a VCR, a DVD player and 3 telephones. Replacing these items with ENERGY STAR® models—which use as much as 50 percent less energy—would save more than 25 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road for one year, according to EPA.

Many idle appliances—TVs, VCRs, cable boxes, DVD and CD players, cassette decks, cordless phones, burglar alarms, microwaves—continue to consume energy when switched off. This energy keeps display clocks lit and memory chips and remote controls working. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory calculates that these energy “leaks” account for 5 percent of total domestic electricity consumption, cost more than $4 billion annually, and spew 12 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere.

Power$mart Tips : Put the Power in Your Hands

• Buy ENERGY STAR®-labeled electronics. Make sure you are using the power management or “sleep” feature on ENERGY STAR® qualified home office equipment (PC, fax, printer, scanner) so that they automatically power down when not in use to save up to $70 annually in electricity bills and improve product longevity.
• Turning off your computer and electronics during long periods of non-use cuts costs and improves longevity.

FACT
Each year, Americans spend more money to power home audio and DVD products when turned off than when actually in use.

FACT
By 2015, consumer electronics and small appliances will be responsible for almost 30 percent of all household electricity use.
Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA).