Cyber Monday: How to Reduce the Energy Consumption of All That Stuff You Just Bought.

So, if you're one of the 122.9 million Americans who went out shopping for Black Friday, you're probably pretty excited about your new toys. But have you thought about the extra energy that those new electronics, appliances, tools and toys will be using? 

Thankfully, electronics and appliances are getting more energy efficient by the year, thanks to standards like Energy Star. But even if your home will be outfitted with a second or third TV this year, not to worry. Here we have three easy ways to reduce the energy consumption of your electronics, in order of simple cost-effectiveness. 

Unplug everything whenever you're not using it. 

Most of today's electronics continue to draw power when they're turned off. Surprising, maybe, but true. This phenomenon is called "vampire power" and it costs homeowners a lot of money. The cheapest way to do away with vampire energy consumption is to simply unplug electronics when you're not using them. The problem? It can be hard to remember to do that sometimes. The solution? Read on.

Plug everything into power strips, turn them off when you're not using your stuff. 

If you have a bunch of electronics in one place -- say, your TV, DVD player, video game consoles -- you can save yourself some trouble by plugging them into a power strip and turning it off when you're not using those devices. This is pretty simple in principle, but we all forget to turn the power strip off from time to time. An easier way?

Use smart power strips. 

There are a number of smart power strips out there on the market, and they work in a variety of ways, but the premise is the same: a smart power strip makes it super easy to cut power from the devices you're not using. One of our favorites is the BITS Smart Power Strip. Here's how it works: you plug one primary device (say, the TV, or the computer) into a control outlet. You plug any peripheral devices (printers, DVD players, etc) into controlled outlets. Whenever you turn off the TV, the rest of them have the power to them cut off automatically, eliminating vampire draw. There are also "always on" outlets for any devices -- a DVR, for example -- that you don't want to have the power cut on. Easy peasy. 

For more holiday gift-giving goodness, be sure to check out our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts of Efficiency.