Green

New Energy Star for TVs Calls for Better Efficiency, Smaller Sizes

On September 3, 2009 the Energy Star for TVs standards was released forcing manufacturers to up efficiency and keep sizes at high priority if they want the coveted label. In May 2010, the Version 4 sticker insists on a 40 percent increase in efficiency over TVs sold, while the Version 5 sticker due to come out in May 2012 requires a 65 percent increase. These new ratings reflect energy consumed when the TV is in ‘ON mode’ as well as in ‘OFF mode’ but downloading programming information.

The new ratings are detrimental to the sale of large TVs as it requires any TV over 50 inches to meet the same ‘ON mode’ requirements as a 50 inch TV, which is 108kW. The cover letter released with the Energy Star for TVs standards on technical specifications makes it clear that large TVs are not environmentally friendly.

A company source stated, “The issue in this case is what TV sizes can the federal government credibly designate as preferable from an energy and environmental perspective. This has become an important issue as the sizes of TVs and energy use continues to grow.”
The new Energy Star labels make it more difficult to qualify for it, aiming to up efficiency on all TV models. In the United States, televisions account for four percent of all household’s use of electricity. EPA statistics show that the there are 275 million TVs in use in the US which consume 50 billion kWh per year – which is enough to power all houses in New York for a year.