The Consumer Federation of America continues to hope set-top boxes...

The Consumer Federation of America continues to hope set-top boxes will use power more efficiently, whether through Department of Energy rules or an accord among industry and energy efficiency advocates, a CFA official told us Monday. The DOE said last week it will issue a rulemaking notice on set-top energy efficiency, now that talks have ended for expanding a voluntary commitment by makers of consumer electronics and multichannel video programming distributors led by cable operators (CD Nov 5 p9) OR (CED Nov 5 p1). “It’s unfortunate” the talks, where the Natural Resources Defense Council but not the CFA was among the advocates at the table, broke down, said CFA Energy Projects Director Mel Hall-Crawford. “But we certainly support negotiated agreements and standards,” she said. “We are hopeful that we will see progress made, one way or the other” on set-tops, she added. “We certainly want to see these devices made more efficient."