California Takes Aim Power-Hungry TVs: What's Next?
Televisions are notorious for draining huge amounts of energy, which is why California is cracking down with energy efficiency regulations. But your HDTV isn't the only home tech product that's slurping up power. Here are 5 other gadgets that you should turn off when not in use:
Thu, November 19, 2009
PC World — Televisions are notorious for draining huge amounts of energy, which is why California is cracking down with energy efficiency regulations. But your HDTV isn't the only home tech product that's slurping up power. Here are 5 other gadgets that you should turn off when not in use:
Playstation 3 (Original)
The original Playstation 3 drew 150 watts when in active use, compared to 119 watts for the Xbox 360 and 16 Watts for Nintendo's Wii, according a Natural Resources Defense Council study from 2008. However, the new PS3 slim draws 34 percent less power by Sony's estimates, so both high definition consoles are still energy hogs.
Alienware Area51 X58 Desktop PC
In PC World's recent energy tests of popular HDTVs, PCs, and monitors, Alienware's Area51 X58 used 95 percent more power than the average desktop we tested. Gaming computers are rarely energy sippers, and Alienware's monster, which uses Intel's 3.2GHz Core i7 Extreme 965 processor, is no exception.
HP LP2275w Monitor
Those energy tests also turned up HP's LP2275w as an energy vampire, draining 45 percent more power than the other LCD monitors in our samples. Sure, HP's no-frills monitor looks great, but try telling that to Greenpeace.
Dell XPS M1730 Gaming Laptop
One last example from PC World's energy tests: The Dell XPS M1730. It has all the indicia of an energy hog, including an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a bright 17-inch LCD screen, and an Ageia PhysX Engine for with a graphics boost that doesn't degrade performance. The downside is that Dell's gaming laptop sucks a staggering 112 percent more energy than the other laptops in our test.
Your Cable's Set-Top Box
The categories mentioned above are obvious energy drains, but the one vampire you probably didn't suspect is your cable box. Figures supplied to Electronic House by Bruce Nordman of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory show that cable boxes come directly behind TVs, desktops and monitors in annual consumer electronics energy use. That's because they're on all the time, draining 30 to 40 watts per day according to the NRDC.
