A voluntary agreement has been reached between environmental advocates, government regulators and the television industry to make TV set-top boxes more energy efficient. The new deal will save an estimated $1 billion in energy costs and produce enough electricity to power 700,000 homes across the United States, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which helped broker the pledge. Television sets are generally seen as energy sucks because they are constantly running, even when turned off.

The groups are aiming to make 90 million boxes in people's homes up to 45 percent more energy efficient by the year 2017. It is important that the deal remain completely voluntary, says the Consumer Electronics Association, because those types of deals tend to yield faster results than any legal mandates. This way consumers will get the improved product faster than they otherwise would. This deal is also a major turning point because of the big companies who are attached to it.

"It's extremely significant when household names like Comcast, Motorola, DirecTV and AT&T all acknowledge that their TV set-top boxes are using billions of dollars worth of electricity each year," Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at the National Resources Defense Council's San Francisco office, told the Los Angeles Times.

Regulations for the television industry have already been in the works at the federal and state level in California, with both the US Energy Department and California Energy Commission creating their own proposed ways to improve energy efficiency. These groups said they would monitor the new agreement before they decide whether mandatory standards need to be set in place.

There are plenty of ways for you to increase your home energy efficiency, without intervention from the federal government or television industry. Have an energy audit today from Alban Inspections, or contact us for more information.