Flat-screen TVs to face energy-efficiency rules in California: Starting in 2011 …

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-tv3-2009jan03,0,1059107.story

Flat-screen TVs to face energy-efficiency rules in California

Starting in 2011, state regulators want retailers to sell only the most energy-efficient models of power hungry LCD and plasma sets. The industry opposes the new rules and warns of higher prices.

By Marc Lifsher

January 3, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento — That 52-inch, flat-screen television on the family room wall may have a terrific picture, but there's a big drawback: It's an energy hog.

State regulators are getting ready to curb the growing power gluttony of TV sets by drafting the nation's first rules requiring retailers to sell only the most energy-efficient models, starting in 2011.

The consumer electronics industry opposes the regulations, expected to pass in mid-2009, and claims that they could remove some TVs from store shelves and slightly boost sticker prices.

But the California Energy Commission is looking for ways to relieve the strain on the power grid. Officials say the standards, once fully in place, would reduce the state's annual energy needs by an amount equivalent to the power consumed by 86,400 homes.

…

[eppur_se_muova]

1. The single most effective restriction would be size ...

but who's going to try to enforce that?

[DainBramaged]

2. When worked for Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Sanyo in the 80's and 90's

(yes, I worked for the Japanese for a decade) during the development of flat-screen TV's, we were constantly told that besides being only about 4 inches thick (right) they would be wonderfully energy efficient (wrong).

Back in the day during an engineering training session at Mitsubishi about projection TV's, they told us the reason their TV's looked so much better than everyone else's was because they over-drove the picture tubes, which gave them an average life span of about 3 years if the TV was used for 4 hours a day. Their biggest profit center was the sales and installation of new tubes after the one year warranty expired.


Now we see that these TVs to obtain the brightness and picture quality promised have to be energy hogs. This too must change.

The basics of TV power

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-3.html?tag=rb_content;rb_mtx

The chart: 139 HDTVs' power consumption compared

[Howzit]

3. I predict a simple tax added to power hungry TVs rather than a ban.

When did California ever discourage consumption of anything that could be taxed?

[kristopher]

4. I'd bet a standard

It works better to achieve their goal. Take your most efficient models and use that as a baseline minimum standard that all products must meet within X years. When you get to the point where a lot of versions of the product exceed that minimum, you choose the highest performer and reset the baseline. This process continues until no more improvement manifests itself.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home.index