Some of our
friends love to give us a hard time because we don’t even have basic cable. We don’t
miss TV—at all—but to our friends, many of whom have the biggest cable packages
going, complete with HD DVRs, it’s still provides good cause for a laugh when
they’re at our house. Well, after what I just read, the joke is on them.
Frugal living is all about weighing priorities and for us the decision not to pay for cable every month was an easy one. Now that I know that a study done by the Natural Resource Defence Council found that cable boxes and HD DVRs are often the biggest energy consumers in a household, our decision seems to be even more of a no-brainer. Can you believe it? Those little boxes that people use to record shows so that they can watch them at a later time, can use more energy than today’s refrigerators and even some AC units!!
If you’re serious about frugal living and want to do what you can to save power then forgoing these little energy hogs might be a wise decision. I’m sure the DVR and cable box manufacturers will eventually get on the ‘everyone’s trying to save power these days’ train and come out with a more frugal living and eco-friendly model.
For now, it might be best to wait it out or at least unplug the thing when you’re not using it. It’s time to choose: Get to see that last episode of Glee or save power in a BIG way?
*Image from Flickr, courtesy of Noah Sussman
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