It’s Diet Time … for Big Screen TVs
March 4, 2008 – You may have noticed your electricity bill taking a bigger bite out of your paycheck. It’s not the kids leaving more lights on around the house; recent studies show that our newest must-have “electronic appliance”—a big screen TV—uses as much energy as another must-have home appliance, namely the refrigerator! ENERGY STAR wants to put big screen TVs on a power diet with their latest TV efficiency specification, so you won’t have to start looking for a second job to pay the utility bill.
Focusing on Active and Standby Modes - Not on Technology
The last ENERGY STAR TV efficiency spec (version 2.2) became effective almost 6 years ago, when less energy hungry CRT TVs were in the majority. It focused only on standby energy consumption. The new spec, version 3 (which ENERGY STAR has been working on for over 2 years), contains both on-mode and standby power consumption limits and is extraordinary in the sense that it is technology neutral. So, it doesn’t matter if the TV display is CRT, plasma, LCD, projection, or whatever new technology may amaze us at future CES shows, it has to meet this level of energy efficiency if it wants to sport the ENERGY STAR logo. The maximum standby power consumption stays at 1 W while the new on-mode power levels are calculated using the following table:
| Tier 1: Effective November 1, 2008 | ||
Non-High Definition TVs (i.e., ≤ 480 Native Vertical Resolution | ||
| All Screen Areas | PMax = 0.120*A + 25 | PMax = 0.1860*A + 25 |
| High Definition and Full High Definition TVs (i.e., > 480 Native Vertical Resolution | ||
| A < 680 inch2 (< 4,387 cm2) | PMax = 0.200*A + 32 | PMax = 0.03100*A + 32 |
| 680 inch2 ≤ A < 1045 inch2 (4,387 cm2 ≤ A < 6,742 cm2 ) | PMax = 0.240*A + 27 | PMax = 0.3720*A + 27 |
| A ≥1045 inch2 (≥6,742 cm2 ) | PMax = 0.156*A + 151 | PMax = 0.2418*A + 151 |
Note: A is the viewable screen area of the TV – display width x display height.Based on the above, an ENERGY STAR 42-inch TV can consume no more than 208 W when you’re watching CSI or The Simpsons, a far cry from some sets in the test data that required over 300 W!
The test method is based on a new version of the international standard, IEC 62087 (Ed 2), currently in committee review but expected to pass without significant changes.
Version 3 specs become effective November 1, 2008, and it couldn’t happen at a better time. As the federally mandated cut-off date for analog TV broadcasting quickly approaches (February 2009), it’s expected that later this year, many consumers will replace their older analog tuner TVs with newer digital ones. When they do, they’ll be enjoying bigger pictures while using less energy than the previous year’s models.
For more info on the spec, switch the channel over to the ENERGY STAR website.
MrGreen
