Consumer Electronics

Building market advantages for power-saving products.

While consumer electronics are getting smaller, faster and more versatile by the minute, they haven’t been getting much more efficient when it comes to energy use. Consumer electronics are the fastest-growing source of electricity use in the home, and now represent 15 percent to 20 percent of household electricity use.

The simple truth is that the dynamics of the consumer electronics market do not always reward manufacturers for building power-efficient products -- after all, it’s the consumer who pays the electric bill, not the manufacturer. Despite this challenge, NRDC has found creative ways to collaborate with manufacturers and the government to give energy-saving consumer electronics a boost in the marketplace.

For example, NRDC created efficiency specifications for desktop computer power supplies that are now being embraced throughout the industry. The specifications, which NRDC helped develop with Intel, have since been adopted by the Energy Star program, allowing products that make the grade to attract prospective buyers by displaying the Energy Star logo.

NRDC also led an international effort to improve the energy efficiency of external power supplies -- the little black boxes that come with a wide range of consumer electronics such as cell phones, laptops, routers and MP3 players. And NRDC is actively working on reducing the energy use of big-screen TVs and the peripherals connected to them, such as TiVo boxes and game consoles. There’s big potential here for energy savings, as the combined energy use associated with these devices in many homes is roughly equal to the energy used by two to three new refrigerators.

By partnering with industry and government to create specifications for energy efficiency, NRDC is creating a win-win-win situation for consumers, manufacturers and the environment. Consumers own products that use less electricity. Manufacturers gain visibility for products that meet efficiency standards. And the environment is spared the added load of vast quantities of greenhouse gases.