Tech Brand Talk

Gizmo junkies love the new year, because it’s time for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES)  in Las Vegas.  And I’ve hunted down a few cool products announced at CES that have energy savings impacts.

The holidays are here and for many of us, that means new gadgets will appear at home and almost certainly on your next electricity bill. Make your holiday season an energy-efficient one with these 12 tips.

It was one year ago this month that I wrote a blog about the extreme amounts of energy consumed by the now commonplace, always-on, set top box. I’m glad to say there’s good news to report.

In the last 30 years computers have become a standard appliance in a lot of households, maybe not as integrated as the HAL 9000 of science fiction movie fame, but still pretty important.

When you factor in the peripherals, such as printers and scanners, you might be surprised how much energy computers actually use.  Don’t fret though: with a few simple changes, you can reduce the amount of energy your computing needs require.

In this post, we’ll concentrate on techniques you can use to get your clothes dry while lowering the energy it takes to do it.

Last month, we focused on getting your clothes clean the most energy efficient way. So it only makes sense to follow with with a look at how to dry your clothes.

After the refrigerator, an electric clothes dryer typically uses the most electricity of any appliance in the home.

The challenge is that there’s no ENERGY STAR category for dryers, so you’ll need to consult the EnerGuide label to get a sense of how efficient a unit is.

There’s a lot that can be done to improve energy and water efficiency when washing clothes, from how you wash your clothes, to selecting the right appliance when it’s time to buy a replacement.

There are simple steps to follow with your current washer that will help a lot with energy use reduction. But if you really want to kick it up a notch, there are some great new technologies available that focus on reducing how much energy it takes to make your whites whiter.

That’s why stoves are rarely talked about when discussing energy efficiency. But don’t fret; we have some tips, plus a new technology, that could help keep you cooking while using less energy.

You can’t turn down your oven and expect your cake to bake properly.  And, other than putting a lid on your pot, there’s nothing you can do to save energy while boiling water on the range.

Refrigerators aren’t given too much thought, except when they stop working. But the fact is that older units are some of the largest consumers of electrical energy within a home.

So if you’re looking for a new refrigerator, why not put some thought into getting one that is energy efficient too. Upgrading to an efficient fridge could save you $40 or more each year.

It happens quite often. You switch the TV on and, after a few minutes of watching, something draws you to another room of the house for what you expect to be a quick moment.

And it turns out to be a long time.

The TV is still there, showing its content to an empty room. Wouldn’t it be great if it turned off when no one was there?

Well there is at least one product on the market that does this for you.

First there were smart phones, then smart meters, and now here come smart appliances and smart electronics.  Does this mean that smart appliances and electronics will be better?  Not necessarily.