An energy watchdog is alarmed about the threat to the environment from the increasing electricity needs of gadgets like MP3 players, mobile phones and flat screen TVs. In a report today, the Paris-based International Energy Agency says new electronic gadgets will be three times their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours , which is equal to today's home electricity consumption of the United States and Japan combined. The world would have to build around 200 new nuclear power plants just to power all the TVs, iPods, PCs and other home electronics expected to be plugged in by 2030,when the global electric bill to power them will rise to $200 billion a year, the agency said. "Consumer electronics is the fastest growing area and the area with the least amount of policies in place to control energy efficiency, " said Paul Waide, a senior policy analyst at the agency. Electronic gadgets already account for about 15 percent of household electric consumption, a share that is rising rapidly as the number of these gadgets multiplies. Last year, the world spent  $80 billion on electricity to power all these household electronics, the energy agency said. " Most of the increase in consumer electronics will be in developing countries, where economic growth is the fastest and ownership rates of gadgets are the lowest , " Waide said. "This will _ efforts to increase energy security and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming." the agency said. Existing technologies' could cut down gadgets' energy consumption by more than 30 percent at no cost or by more than 50 percent at a small cost, the agency estimates, meaning total greenhouse gas emissions  from households' electronic gadgets could be held stable  at around 500 million tons of CO2 per year. What is the condition in the area of consumer electronics?
There are a lot of rules to control the market. There are few policies to control energy efficiency. There are few choices for the customers. There are lots of regulations to protect consumers' rights.