When people think about fighting climate change, they may picture solar panels on rooftops or wind turbines on hillsides. What’s less obvious is the quiet revolution happening inside our homes — through the very devices that connect us to TV and the internet.
Three new reports from the United States and Canada tell a clear story: The everyday set-top boxes and network gear we rely on are getting considerably more efficient, cutting energy usage while keeping pace with our growing digital appetites.
Efficiency Alongside Innovation
The 2024 U.S. Small Network Equipment (SNE) Report shows how internet gateways, routers and modems — the invisible workhorses of the broadband era — are becoming far more efficient. In 2024, nearly 99% of new devices met the latest Tier 3 energy levels, far surpassing the 90% commitment under the industry’s voluntary agreement.
That achievement is striking given what these devices now do. Today’s SNE is expected to support blazing-fast internet speeds, stronger Wi-Fi signals and the growing number of connected gadgets in our homes. Naturally, those features demand more power. Yet the data shows that manufacturers and providers are finding ways to deliver these capabilities without a proportional surge in energy use.
Perhaps the most telling metric is efficiency relative to broadband speed: Since 2015, the average energy use per unit of internet speed delivered has dropped by 89%. In other words, the boxes in our living rooms and home offices are working harder than ever, but they’re doing it more efficiently.
Weighted Average Ready State Power of New SNE Purchases Relative to Broadband Speeds
Set-Top Box Energy Consumption Continues to Improve
If SNE is the silent partner of the digital home, set-top boxes are the more visible face of our entertainment. The 2024 U.S. Set-Top Box (STB) Report paints an equally successful picture. Back in 2012, digital video recorders (DVRs) were notorious power hogs. But as of 2024, the landscape looks radically different.
- National energy use from set-top boxes has dropped 73%, falling from 32 terawatt-hours in 2012 to just 8.6 TWh in 2024.
- That reduction is the equivalent of shutting down eight traditional 500-megawatt power plants for a year.
- It also equates to a $3.85 billion reduction in electricity costs and avoidance of 15.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2024 compared to 2012.
Nationwide Annual Energy Used by Set-Top Boxes in the U.S.
The reasons are twofold. First, service providers are deploying fewer set-top boxes overall, as more households switch to streaming services that don’t require them. But second — and just as importantly — the devices themselves are far more efficient. Today’s most common model, the IP-based non-DVR, uses only 26.6 kWh/year, a 78% drop compared to typical set-top boxes from a decade earlier.
Even DVRs now consume less than half the power they did when the agreement began. And for many households, cloud DVR services eliminate the need for a DVR altogether.
The Trends Continue in Canada Too
In Canada, the Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement (CEEVA) shows steady progress in improving the efficiency of set-top boxes and small network equipment.
According to the most recent 2024 independent annual report, 100% of new set-top boxes and 100% of small network equipment purchased met efficiency targets, surpassing the required 90%. This success reflects ongoing collaboration between service providers and manufacturers to deliver devices that use less energy while supporting modern broadband and TV services.
The data shows meaningful progress:
- Since 2017, the energy consumption of new set-top boxes in Canada has dropped 74%:
Weighted Average Energy Consumption of Purchased Set-Top Boxes
- Since 2020, the efficiency of small network equipment in Canada has improved 64% relative to broadband speed.
Weighted Average Energy Usage of New SNE, Relative to Broadband Download Speed
These impressive declines lower household energy use while maintaining the quality of service customers expect.
Continuing the Commitments
The signatories of these voluntary agreements are committed to continued success. Just recently, both the U.S. STB and SNE VAs extended their terms through 2028 with reports in 2029. More importantly, the SNE VA expanded the VA scope to include fixed wireless access (FWA) devices, increasing the residential market coverage by 13 million more subscribers, and added T-Mobile as a signatory.
The U.S. STB Voluntary Agreement brings together the largest pay-TV providers, manufacturers and energy efficiency advocate ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy). Similarly, the SNE Voluntary Agreement includes the leading residential internet providers, major equipment manufacturers and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) as the efficiency advocate. In Canada, CEEVA signatories include the country’s largest internet and pay-TV service providers and key manufacturers in close collaboration with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).
CableLabs provides the technical leadership behind the voluntary agreements, working in close partnership with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and NCTA – The Internet & Television Association to deliver these measurable results.
Signatories
| U.S. STB VA | U.S. SNE VA | CEEVA |
| ACEEE, Altice USA, AT&T, AT&T/DIRECTV, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DISH Network, Frontier, Verizon, Sagemcom, Vantiva | Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Altice USA, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Verizon, Actiontec Electronics, ASUS, eero, Google, Linksys USA, Netgear, Plume, Sagemcom Broadband, TP-Link, Ubee Interactive, Vantiva | Bell Canada, Cogeco, Rogers, TELUS, Vidéotron, Echostar Technologies, Vantiva |
Why It Matters
Energy efficiency in household electronics doesn’t make headlines the way solar farms do. But the cumulative effect is enormous. Collectively, these voluntary industry agreements have prevented billions of dollars in electricity usage and eliminated hundreds of millions of metric tons of CO2 emissions. They’ve also shown that efficiency and innovation can go hand-in-hand: faster broadband, sharper video, and smarter networks don’t have to mean higher utility bills.
As we spend more time streaming, gaming, and connecting, it’s worth remembering that the invisible progress inside our routers and set-top boxes is part of the bigger climate solution. These improvements underscore how voluntary agreements can drive efficiency gains without compromising performance.
You can read more about energy efficiency on our blog and learn more about the voluntary agreements for the U.S. and Canada.