Over the past several years, advances in appliances and electronics have changed the way we use energy in our homes. Appliances and electronics account for about 20% of household energy bills in a typical U.S. home. The following tips will reduce the energy used by your electronics.

• Plug electronics into a power strip and turn the strip off when your devices are not in use
• Avoid energy suckers, even when they’re turned off, your home electronics in “standby” mode use energy to power features like clock displays
• Look for ENERGY STAR-qualified TVs which can be up to 30% more energy efficient than non ENERGY STAR-qualified TVs
• Consider a laptop when looking for a home computer, they use less energy than their desktop counterparts
• Set your computer to sleep or hibernate mode instead of using a screen saver while not in use
• Unplug your battery chargers once the batteries are fully charged