Energy-Saving Tips: Your Family Room

Winters on the eastern seaboard can be rough, as any central New Jersey home owner will tell you. Everyone spends more time indoors, and the family room more than lives up to its name! We turned to our friends at HouseLogic for information about how to save energy in the family gathering place where fun—a video game console, TV, DVR, DVD, and stereo system—comes at a cost reflected monthly in your energy bill. Good news! You can save up to $130 a year in energy costs by recharging, reducing, and replacing energy-sapping electronics. Let's look at ways to have family fun, and save money, too.

Select Energy Star-rated electronics. The three biggest energy hogs in the family room are the plasma television, DVR/TiVo box, and digital cable box, says the nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, which promotes energy efficiency to consumers and government policymakers.

A typical plasma TV (less than 40 inches) consumes 441 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. That translates into about $50 (based on 11.3 cents per kilowatt hour). Next up are TiVo devices at $41 annually, followed by digital cable boxes at $27. Both devices are always on because they constantly receive and download data. 

Opting for an LCD (liquid crystal display) TV, which costs $8 per year to operate, saves you about $42/year.

Reduce standby power. The energy that’s wasted when electronic devices are plugged in, but not in use—represents about $100 per year in the average household’s electricity costs, says Energy Star. Assuming the family room represents about 15% of your electricity bill, you could save about $15 per year with smart standby practices.

Unplug rarely-used electronics (like that karaoke machine), and cluster other appliances, even adapters for cell phones and digital cameras, onto power strips ($3 to $12 for a six-outlet strip). Power strips allow you to turn off all attached electronics with one switch. 

Unfortunately, some family room electronics, such as set-top boxes and downloading devices like TiVo, can’t be turned off, because that would disrupt the digital data-gathering you’ve programmed them to do. But with a smart power strip ($20 to $40), you can turn off your TV while leaving the DVR plugged in.

Become computer efficient. Your computer eats energy, too. To reduce consumption: Turn off monitors when not in use; put your computer in sleep mode when you sleep; use LCD flat screen monitors, rather than CRT monitors, and switch from a desktop to a battery-powered laptop, which uses less energy.

Invest in rechargeable batteries. They won’t reduce your electric bill, but you’ll save on batteries for your video game system and other entertainment remotes. You’ll help the environment, too. For every rechargeable battery you buy, you prevent at least 500 single-use batteries from entering the waste stream, according to PJ Stafford, founder of Green Irene, an eco-consulting company that provides energy and environmental makeovers to home owners.

Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries cost $3 to $3.50 each, versus 75 cents to $1 for disposables; a charger costs $25 to $30. That investment, in lieu of 500 batteries over four years, adds up to $310 to $445 in savings.

The Marchany Team KNOWS central New Jersey. We're right where you are, whether you're in South Brunswick or Monroe (Middlesex County). If you're looking for a terrific new home in Mercer County, we're prepared to search for your place in the sun in Princeton Junction, East Windsor, West Windsor, and Robbinsville. And if you're ready to put your Franklin Park or Hillsborough (Somerset County) home on the market, we're prepared to find the buyers who are looking for your home. Call The Marchany Team today at (732) 997-0019, and don't forget to “Like” us on Facebook! We are dedicated to helping you in every way possible.