One of the reason for the oil and energy shortages. The average home uses
4x the power of 20 years ago. Those nice Plasma TV's on their own consume
4x the energy of a CRT TV.

Uh no, generally it's about 2x. But also consider you're not getting a 50"
CRT so you're not making a direct comparision. This has little to do with
added energy consumption, at least not for oil. That's more attributable to
automobile use, not residential energy consumption. So don't spout junk
science.