The nuclear accident at Fukushima should have taught us that we need to drastically reduce the amount of energy we use. It's time to stop thinking "bigger is better" and start thinking "more efficient is better". It's not just an issue of electricity use, so other areas of energy use are included here.

Here's some of the most efficient products on the market.

Samsung has 32 inch TVs that use between about 51 kWh/year (killowatt hours per year) and 57 kWh/year. These top the Department of Energy's ENERGY STAR list.

The Dayton Audio DTA-1 is so efficient it can run on AA batteries, yet drive expensive audiophile speakers to very high volumes. It can also be run with the included power supply. The Lepai Tripath TA2020A+ Audio Mini Amplifier uses a similar circuit, called a Tripath class D integrated circuit, but is smaller and even more affordable. lots more Class D amps

The Raspberry Pi shows just how energy efficient a computer can be. It can run on 4 AA batteries. It opens up a whole world of possibilites for poor countries, as it only costs $25.

Here's ten of the most efficient laptops.

General Electric and Hotpoint have refrigerators that use only 300 kWh/year. Some models on the market use over 600 kW/h/year.

Electric bikes like those from Currie Tech use a fraction of the energy of a car.

Replacing an old dishwasher can save up to $40 per year on your electric bill. Here, Fisher and Paykel is tough to beat. They make models that use as little as 137 kWh/year.

Low rolling resistance tires don't use energy, but they save energy. Bridgestone has a calculator that shows how much money you can save.

BG 44K is what professional mechanics use to clean out the carbon buildup in a car's engine. But you can buy it too, and just pour it in the gas tank, and increase your car's fuel efficiency.

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