Even when turned ‘off’, most of your electronic appliances are still on.  That’s because most appliances now contain tiny computers to remember settings, to run clocks, to sense your remote, etc.

Actually when you turn your electronics ‘off’ you’ve actually put them in a ‘standby mode’.  This standby mode accounts for about 6 percent of household electricity use.

NEC and Tohoku University have developed a semiconductor to cut that standby power usage to zero.  They say it uses a magnet, instead of electricity, to operate in standby mode.  Unfortunately it will be a few more years before it hits the market, but they hope it will cut overall electricity usage by 25%.