Nov. 20--Even when gift and clothing sales took a hit last fall, people continued to shop for televisions.

"They were saying, 'We'll stay home and get an extra television set to entertain ourselves as opposed to going someplace,' " surmised Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco Wholesale, which saw a boost in TV sales last fall while other product categories tanked.

The numbers could be even higher this year, with households replacing older sets after this year's conversion from analog to digital signals.

Energy-efficiency advocates are preparing for the onslaught.

They're aware that most consumers have no idea how much power their TVs use and rarely ask about it while shopping.

Doug Niemi, of Renton, is a perfect example.

On Thursday, he picked out a 50-inch Panasonic plasma television at Video Only in Tukwila -- his third new television in six months -- with nary a thought of how efficient it might be.

"The wife pays the bills," he said, "and she's not angry about that. She'd be angry if we didn't have the television to watch."

Niemi figures he and his wife, who works the night shift, watch about 20 hours of TV a day.

Even shoppers who want to know how much power their flat-screens guzzle often have trouble finding out. Model numbers change quickly, and there are no clearinghouses of data on energy consumption for televisions like there are for cars, for example.

Also unlike cars, it's the new models that are causing a fuss.

Although old cathode-ray tubes were not super efficient by the square inch, they tended to be smaller than new TVs and therefore consume less overall.

"The best thing to do would be to keep your old CRT and not upgrade to digital, but that's going to be a tough thing for any consumer to do," said Stephanie Fleming, senior manager for the residential sector for the nonprofit Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, which is funded by utilities, Energy Trust of Oregon and the Bonneville Power Administration.

A host of solutions -- from government mandates to point-of-sale fliers -- are cropping up.

This week, the California Energy Commission approved regulations requiring better efficiency for new televisions up to 58 inches beginning next year, and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein called for the federal government to adopt similar standards.

In the Northwest, a new program puts "Save More" stickers on the most efficient televisions sold by big chains like Costco, Best Buy and Sears. More than 300 stores are participating.