California utilities Pacific Gas and Electric Company (NYSE: PCG) and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Thursday announced a program to encourage businesses and consumers to purchase more energy-efficiency electronics.
In addition to the two utilities, this Business and Consumer Electronics program includes Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Sears Holding Company (Nasdaq: SHLD), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Sam’s Club and Lenovo (LHL.DE).
The program will identify which TVs, desktop computers, and monitors in the retail stores are the most energy efficient based on industry standards, such as EnergyStar.
These will be labeled with either "save" or "save more," according to a CNET report.
PG&E has pledged $7 million to the program and said it is the first time U.S. utilities, retailers and manufacturers are joining together to help businesses and consumers become more informed about energy-efficient products.
The utilities estimate the program can save up to 380 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) through 2011, enough to power more than 55,000 typical homes.
Electronics currently account for almost 20% of the total electric consumption by residential users, according to PG&E.
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