With all of our electronic devices becoming better and more powererful, they are, well, using more energy now.  This is according to a study of Cell phones, TVs undo efficiency gains.

In many rich countries electricity use by appliances which had previously accounted for most usage, white goods such as refrigerators and clothes washers, was now falling. But growth in use of electronic devices such as iPods, video games, televisions, personal computers, modems, mobile phones and printers more than offset those falls.

For example, U.S. electricity consumption by television sets has more than trebled in the past 10 years, and personal computers (PCs) showed sharp rises. Power use for heating and refrigeration fell.

It is one thing to buy an energy efficient appliance, but if you replace it with another device that is using more energy – it becomes a wash.