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What better gift to give a TV junkie this holiday season than a brand new, high-definition plasma television set! How about one that saves money on utility bills?
Having recently raised its requirements on ENERGY STAR TVs , the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is ushering in a new generation of TVs equally as spiffy but 30% more efficient than comparable models. Now ENERGY STAR TVs will use less energy in both the on and off modes - a big change, considering that 'sleeping' TVs use as much energy as powered-up units, not to mention the fact that most TVs remain off for the majority of the day, despite a national obsession with Oprah.
And if you think your one little 36-inch TV doesn't make a difference, consider these statistics from the U.S. EPA. There are about 275 million TVs currently in use in the U.S., consuming over 50 billion kWh of energy each year — or 4% of all households' electricity use. This is enough electricity to power all the homes in the state of New York for an entire year.
Now, by opting for television sets that meet new ENERGY STAR specifications - and that includes everything from standard TVs to HD-ready TVs, to the largest flat-screen plasma TVs - Americans can ultimately save $1 billion each year on electricity bills and potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking about one million cars off the road annually.
That's a significant amount of energy savings - enough to make the latest, flatest, highest-definition TV that much more of a perfect gift.
Visit the EPA website to learn more about ENERGY STAR's new generation of TVs. For more information about how you can reduce your energy bills and pollution, visit mygreenelectronics.com and ase.org.
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