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Fine-tune energy use with the right television

Streamlining your home's energy use can make a big impact on monthly electric bills, especially with rising fuel costs. But the devil is in the details, and everyday energy wasters sometimes are easy to overlook. One ever-present culprit lurks in your home right now. When combined with DVD players and video game consoles, television use makes up about 10 percent of an average household's annual electricity bill, according to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Depending on the technology behind the TV you're watching, your monthly related energy costs can vary dramatically. Standard sets use a cathode ray tube, with those smaller than 40 inches drawing roughly 73 watts when on — close to what a 75- watt incandescent lightbulb uses. An average flatscreen LCD television of the same size also requires 70 watts, while a similar flat-screen plasma TV can really suck some power, consuming an average 246 watts when on.

With more families opting for flat screen TVs these days, the choice between LCD and plasma really can make an impact, to almost startling levels on a national scale.

Currently, there are more than 275 million TVs in use across the country, with the average household tuning in 4.7 hours a day. It takes more than 50 billion kWh a year to keep those sets on, according to EPA, meaning it costs Americans $5.2 billion to watch all of that TV.

Of the total electricity generated in a single year, a full 1.2 percent goes toward keeping televisions glowing. And if current buying trends continue, that number could climb to nearly 2 percent in a few years, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York City-based environmental advocacy group.

The good news is that energy-efficient TVs — LCD, plasma and otherwise — are becoming available. This November, blue Energy Star labels will appear on all TVs that use less energy when turned on. Current Energy Star TV labels indicate only how efficient a set is when switched off, in standby mode.

“Energy Star's new specifications for televisions are turning the channel on energy guzzling sets, making them go the way of rabbit-ears and black-and-white broadcasts,” quips EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

Energy Star estimates that if all of the TVs sold in the United States meet the new requirements, energy savings could grow to $1 billion a year. Related greenhouse gas emissions, meanwhile, would be reduced by the equivalent of taking about 1 million cars off the road.

If you're not in the market for a new TV, you still can cut back on the electricity your old set uses by adjusting the picture settings. The brighter the screen, the more energy it needs. Also, the small stream of electricity a TV draws while in standby mode can be eliminated by unplugging it, or by plugging it into a power strip that can be switched off.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Resources Defense Council, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association