The study Energy Consumption of Consumer Electronics in U.S. Homes in 2013 , released today by the Consumer Electronics Association, found that consumer electronics account for a lower percentage of residential electricity usage than three years ago despite growing use.
CEs now have a 12 percent share of total residential electricity usage, down from 13.2 percent in 2010.
Of this 12 percent, televisions account for one of the largest shares at 30 percent, but the total annual energy consumption of televisions is down 23 percent from 2010. This drop is in part due to the decline in use of analog televisions and mirrors consumption declines in other priority products.
In 2013, nearly 3.8 billion CE devices were used and consumed about 169 TWh, or terawatt-hours, of electricity. An estimated 193 TWh were consumed by U.S. residential CE devices in 2010, but the total number of devices was almost a billion less, at 2.9 billion devices. This is a significant finding, as it shows drastic improvement in device efficiency.
This study and its findings are exciting to environment-focused groups such as the Alliance to Save Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“The Environmental Protection Agency applauds the electronics industry for the efficiency innovation that underlies the findings of this new study,” said Ann Bailey, director of the ENERGY STAR Products Program. “This is further evidence that American consumers don’t have to sacrifice to save energy and help protect the climate.”
The 2013 Fraunhofer USA study covers 17 priority products that make up 80 percent of CE residential energy consumption and 29 other products that comprise the remaining 20 percent.
