Rarely do all companies in an industry speak in unison, but such was the case at the January Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. It seemed almost every one of the show’s 2,700 exhibitors touted its sensitivity to environmental concerns. Journalists joked that many of the press events were practically interchangeable.

Indeed, the need for eco-friendly electronics—especially TVs—is pressing. According to Pacific Gas & Electric, larger screen sizes and advanced technologies have elevated total power consumption of TVs by an annual average of 7.6 percent between 2005 and 2008. Meanwhile, energy consumption of such notoriously power-hungry appliances as air conditioners and refrigerators has fallen.

If Sony’s Bravia flat-panel TVs are any indication, the trend will reverse quickly. The new VE5 series, available this spring in 40-, 46-, and 52-inch sizes, uses a backlight that Sony says reduces power consumption by almost 40 percent. The backlight dims automatically when room lighting is low, further improving efficiency. Sony’s Presence Sensor shuts off the TV if motion is not detected in the room within a user-specified time. Like many other TVs introduced at CES, the VE5 models exceed the stringent 3.0 standards for Energy Star certification imposed last November.

The electronics industry is also working to eliminate the toxic materials used in most gadgets. For example, lead solder has recently been phased out, and now manufacturers are examining other materials. Motorola constructs its Moto W233 Renew cell phone out of plastic recycled from water bottles, and its packaging is made from recycled materials. The company further offsets the environmental impact of manufacturing and operating the phone through investments in renewable energy and reforestation. ATP Electronics bills its EarthDrive as the first recyclable USB flash drive made from recycled components. And at CES, Fuji debuted EnviroMax, a line of batteries the company says use no environmentally harmful materials and thus do not need to be recycled as most batteries do.

Another way to reduce the number of plastic water bottles that ends up in landfills is to install a filtration system, which delivers clean, great-tasting water right out of the tap. These can be as simple as Everpure’s H-300, a small unit that fits under a countertop and works for only one faucet. Larger systems supply purified water to an entire home. These include the Body Glove (yes, the wetsuit company) water filtration system from Water, Inc., which uses recyclable cartridges, and the PureOFlow reverse-osmosis system, which, according to the manufacturer, increases a water heater’s efficiency by 30 percent.

The green movement has even reached the speaker business. DeVore Fidelity introduced a speaker made from solid bamboo instead of formaldehyde-laden fiberboard at CES. The Gibbon 3XL has paper-and-silk diaphragms instead of plastic or aluminum, and its relatively high sensitivity allows it to be used with low-powered amplifiers. Not to be overlooked is the bamboo’s subtle grain, which proves green products can be as gentle on the eyes as they are on the environment.