Help the Environment by Changing the Way You Watch TV

Environment Massachusetts is in the midst of a campaign to Repower Massachusetts with clean, renewable energy and reduce energy waste wherever and whenever possible. We all know using too much energy hurts the environment and costs a lot of money, but some of the most significant sources of wasted energy are probably much less well known. A great deal of the energy we waste comes from appliances we use everyday that use more energy than needed.

One of the most significant perpetrators of energy waste can be found in virtually every home in Massachusetts: the television. Televisions alone consume more than 5% of residential energy used in the commonwealth. That translates directly to additional CO2 pumped into the atmosphere, which contributes to both air pollution and global warming.

Global warming advocate Ben Wright has been doing a lot of work lately to pass a bill here in Massachusetts that would help reverse these effects. On Wednesday, he testified before the Joint Committee for Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy in support of House Bill 3124. H 3124 would set energy efficiency standards for a number of household appliances, including televisions, portable light fixtures, water coolers, hot food holding cabinets, hot tubs, compact audio equipment, and DVD players and recorders. Setting these standards is a common sense solution that would reduce CO2 emissions enough to save enough electricity to power 60,000 homes, or take 40,000 cars off the road annually.

This bill, which is already getting national attention, positions Massachusetts to join other states in leading the country toward federal adoption of a standard for all televisions, which is very similar to what we did in 2005. Almost all the appliances covered by the appliance efficiency bill we passed that year now have federal standards We know federal standards work; energy use from refrigerators has declined 45% since the national adoption of a standard for refrigerators.

Of course the best option for preventing energy waste through appliances would be to just turn them off, but that can prove to be difficult in today's constantly moving world. That doesn't mean you have to be left behind on the road to total efficiency; most appliances already have energy-friendly options. For example, there are at least 250 television models at all sizes and price points that meet the standards recommended in the bill.

Help us become an energy efficiency leader in the United States! Contact your state representative and ask them to support the appliance efficiency standards set by H 3124! (Don't know who your rep is? Look it up here.) Let us know what they said in the comments!