All the electrical things we use in our homes – apart from major appliances and lighting – can be gathered together under the title of "gadgets" or "plug loads". This includes everything from tiny cell phone chargers to massive wall-mounted plasma televisions, so it's understandably difficult to be precise about energy conservation.

This is doubly troubling because the number and variety of gadgets grows every year, as does the amount of power they swallow as a whole. Even as far back as 1999, computers accounted for around 3% of the USA's entire energy usage – with all the tablets, ereaders, smart phones, wide-screen HD televisions and other computerised devices now in circulation, you can imagine how that figure has grown.

It's not surprising, therefore, that the biggest drain on power in residential homes is from entertainment equipment. An average home expends about 10% of its overall power use on plug loads and a massive 90% of that goes into entertainment gadgets (including computers). There's obviously a huge opportunity to save a lot of energy and money by reducing the number of small appliances in your home.

Here's a quick look at several of the most common gadgets and how much power they use when switched on:

Buying Tips

• The worst energy culprits are televisions (of any size), set-top boxes (for satellite and cable), computers, monitors and game consoles. Be doubly careful when buying any of these!
• Work out what plug loads you can live without. Do you really need a laptop, a desktop and a tablet?
• If you can't live without a gadget, look for the Energy Star label: these products are, on average, 30-35% more efficient than those without the label.
• Remember to check whether a cordless gadget's charger has an Energy Star label.
• Some cordless gadgets, such as electric shavers, consume a relatively large amount of power when sitting on their base, not in use. Look out for special versions of the Energy Star label which take the base unit into account.
• Remember that many gadgets will revert to "standby" mode if not switched off at the socket. Prioritise those which have a no-power (automatic switch-off) or extremely low-power standby mode.

Usage Tips

• Only use a gadget of appropriate size for the job. Bigger is not always better.
• Only use a gadget for as long as necessary, then switch it off and unplug it.
• Make sure any power-saving options are properly configured, especially on gadgets that need constant power to avoid reconfiguration or loss of data.
• Check older gadgets: if they are greedy, replace them with newer versions or, if that's impractical, make sure they're unplugged when not in use.
• Always unplug power adapters after use: they will consume power if they're plugged in regardless of whether they're charging or supplying a gadget.
• If you can't remember to unplug your power adapters, plug them all into the same power strip: this will give you a way to switch them off completely by flipping a single switch. Just remember to unplug the ones you don't need before you switch the