California cuts back on television energy consumption

Big-screen, flat-panel LCD and plasma televisions have gotten increasingly popular over the last few years. As widely used as they are, many people would be surprised to learn that these types of televisions can use more energy than a refrigerator!

For this reason, the California Energy Commission voted unanimously to apply energy efficiency standards on televisions, making California the first state to create such guidelines. The New York Times reports that the new standards will cut back the energy consumptions of televisions by 33% by 2011 and 49% by 2013, and will be applied to sets up to 58 inches.

TVs, DVD players, and cable boxes use about 10% of the average family's electricity use in California, which is roughly 2% of the state's total electricity use. The new energy cuts have been estimated to save the state over $8 billion in energy costs over ten years.