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TV DVR units consume $3 billion in energy -- mostly while turned off, study says

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DVR set-top boxes and the state of Maryland have another thing in common besides “The Wire”: Both eat up 27 terawatt-hours of electricity a year.

The 160 million digital video recorders, cable and other pay-TV boxes sitting in 80% of U.S. homes cost consumers about $3 billion in electricity costs, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Two-thirds of that cost comes from inactive boxes that aren’t recording or playing back shows.

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The technology, which requires more power than an average new flat-screen television, sucks up the same amount of energy each year as is produced by nine coal-burning power plants. Read more at The Times’ Greenspace blog.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

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