Your Plasma Screen May Be Costing You More Than You Know

This is not a column the Razorback-fan in me likes very much.

One of the great aspects of being the new Director of Media Relations at the Arkansas Realtors® Association is that I am learning more and more each day about the business of real estate, the responsibilities of home ownership and smart energy practices. What I’m quickly realizing is that even after owning (and remodeling) multiple homes over the last 15 years I have so much more to learn and so much more money to save!

Now to the bad news. My family’s addiction to sports is costing me more than I thought. No, not in terms of increasing ticket prices to Razorback games. No, unbeknownst to me, all those hours of sitting in the comfort of our air-conditioned home watching ESPN Game Day and calling the Hogs in front of our plasma screen could be costing us more than we knew.

You see, it’s not an Energy Star certified television.

According to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, consumer electronics like my plasma screen television, our various game stations, cell phones and my DVR account for 15 percent of household electrical use. Energy Star certified electronics use less energy while still maintaining the same quality and performance, and they are also designed to not use energy when they are turned off – a problem known as stand-by power, vampire power, phantom power or idle current. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the electricity electronics like my plasma screen television may be wasting when they are plugged in.

So what am I going to do?

Honestly, I’m not running out to buy a new plasma television. However, I will consider buying a power strip that I can use to plug all those electronics in to when I need them charged and turn off when I don’t need them charging.

I will also keep the Energy Star website handy (www.EnergyStar.gov) as it has a very helpful list of products by category that are more energy efficient. That way the next time we have to replace a dishwasher, television, washing machine, microwave, fan or water heater, we’ll look for the Energy Star label.

In the short term, it will hopefully cut down on our monthly electric costs. In the long term, there are potential tax credits available when purchasing Energy Star products (sadly, televisions are not available for tax credits). Last but not least, when it does come time to sell the castle and look for another, we will be able to highlight energy-efficient appliances as one of the amenities of our home and disclose average electric bill numbers that are more enticing to them.

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House to House is written by Amy Glover Bryant, APR and

distributed weekly by the Arkansas Realtors® Association.