According to the Department of Energy, appliances on standby cost American home owners $4 billion every year and the biggest piece of the pie is taken by TV's on standby. A Plasma TV costs $165 worth power a year for its standby power consumption alone. Toshiba has the answer with the Regza 32BE3 a 32 inch TV which comes with a high power capacitor thus consuming 0 watts when on standby. The remote also has a Eco button which changes the brightness and contrast based on ambient lighting saving more power. The only downside the TV sports a resolution of 1,366 × 768, perhaps a full HD version is on the way. As it is from Japan you can also connect a USB drive and using the EPG record your favorite programs on the drive.

[Continued after the jump]

Power saving does not come cheap as Toshiba will be selling the Regza 32BE3 in Japan from December for 90,000 Yen ($ 1200), the high price can be partly blamed on the rising Yen too.

[Toshiba Japan]