As TVs grow, so do electric bills

[jpak]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0616/p13s02-stct.html

Not long ago, Andrew Fanara was shopping with his wife for a new big-screen television. Everything was going fine, until the sales clerk discovered Mr. Fanara was an energy watchdog for the federal government. Pulling Fanara aside, the clerk confessed: His own new 61-inch TV gulped electricity the way a big SUV guzzles gasoline.

<snip>

Revelations about energy-munching appliances aren't uncommon in Fanara's job. But lately, he's hearing more about big-screen TVs - and that's worrisome. With sales expected to skyrocket - and with only outmoded testing and efficiency standards available to alert people about energy consumption - digital big-screen TVs are poised to generate big hikes in home energy use and pollution, unless manufacturers act swiftly to adopt more efficient technologies.

<snip>

"The price of these big-screen TVs is coming down, so more and more people will soon be able to afford them," says Noah Horowitz, a senior NRDC scientist. "If we do nothing, it will lock-in power consumption at higher levels. People keep a TV five to 15 years, so we really need to get started making them as efficient as they can be."

Already, televisions account for about 4 percent of annual residential electricity use in the United States - enough to power all of the homes in the state of New York for a year, according to a new NRDC study. Today there are about 266 million TVs, and that number is growing by 3.5 million per year. By 2009, when half of all new TV sales are expected to be extended- or high-definition digital sets with big screens, TV energy use will reach about 70 billion kilowatt-hours per year nationwide - about 50 percent higher than at present. Throw in a DVD and VCR player, a pair of high-definition set-top boxes, and other household TVs, and the total TV-related energy use for the home rises to about 10 percent, the NRDC estimates.

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[Redneck Socialist]

1. And we'll consume ourselves into the grave.

If aliens ever do make it to earth all they'll find is one giant trash heap. They'll raise a tentacle, scratch the top of their carapace and sigh, "Another primitive life-form destroyed itself. So sad. Well, at least we can use this place as a intergalactic recycling center."

[Warpy]

2. As usual, I'm bucking the trend

I lived with a large projection TV in the late 80s. I found that I disliked it intensely. It tended to dominate the room whenever it was on, while a smaller set can be ignored if necessary.

When I upgrade, it will be from a CRT 20 inch to an LCD 20 inch.

[Horse with no Name]

3. I agree

I hated those projection TV's.
Way too massive.
They were really kind of ugly too.:)

[Sal Minella]

5. I upgraded to "No TV at all" several years back. Energy-efficient TV!!!

[Missy M]

6. I'm with you. I hate those large TV's that dominate the room...

I need a new TV and I'm just getting a regular 27". Everyone thinks I'm crazy for not getting a large TV and now I can tell them I'm conserving energy.

[acmavm]

4. You will never get it through to the American people that bigger is NOT

necessarily better. Sometimes it can kill ya.

Take the Whopper for example...

[skids]

7. My next TV...

...will be my current laptop. And so on.

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Shopping for a new big-screen television?

Why, is there something good on?

First time in 15 years, then... :(

[gulfcoastliberal]

9. I think it's mainly Plasma TVs that are the energy hogs these days:

If you go into an electronics store and they have the plasma tvs sequestered off in their own area, you can feel quite a bit of heat radiating off them.

The other "micro display" big screens use a small but powerful light bulb that shines through an LCD or DLP chip to create the picture - I doubt they use as much juice as the plasmas with their huge power transformers.

For the record, I own a 34" Sony widescreen and it's used only to watch Countdown, Daily Show, Colbert, the occasional other program (like tennis & some HBO) and the odd DVD once in a while. Don't know about CRT power consumption - but I think they do use a good bit of juice, though not nearly as much as plasmas.

[ReaderSushi]

10. TV tuners.

Personally I recommend using a TV tuner. Takes up less space, it's cheaper, and you're using the monitor you already have.
I use a 17inch widescreen laptop and picture is not bad at all.