“Energy savings were not exactly a hot topic among customers last year,” said Kim Dong-han at South Korean electronics retailer Hi-Mart. “But this year, nine out of ten people ask point blank whether a product will help them save money.”

With oil at around US$145 a barrel and electricity costs jumping, consumers are becoming preoccupied with keeping down their power bills. Electronics makers that develop energy efficient product lines and market them effectively to customers may get an edge in a gloomy global economy, firms say.

“Going green is not only eco-friendly but crucial for business,” said Kim Jik-soo, a spokesman at LG Electronics Inc. “This goes beyond just products, extending throughout the development and manufacturing process.”

From washing machines that use steam instead of hot water, to fridges that use low energy compressors, to low power computer screens, electronics firms are furiously developing energy efficient products and heavily promoting lines already on the market that use less electricity than competitors’ brands.

“My electricity bill more than doubles in the summer as we turn on the air conditioner,” said Park Yu-jin, 32, a housewife in Seoul with two kids.

“I also have to do lots of laundry for the kids. The bill now easily tops 170,000 won (US$162) a month.”

Homemakers such as Park are increasingly buying front load washing machines, which use gravity to move water instead of agitators as in top loaders.

And now, newfangled washers from LG Electronics Inc and Whirlpool Corp offer an option to use steam instead of hot water, cutting water and power use by more than 70 percent compared with some top-load models.

“We will gradually shift to front loaders and the steam technology will become more mainstream,” said LG spokesman Kim.

LG expects four out of ten frontload washers it sells in North America to use steam technology by the end of this year, compared with two out of ten currently.

Their biggest appliance plant in South Korea makes mostly front loaders, while recently built plants such as one in Russia have stopped manufacturing top loaders altogether.

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