6th June, 2008
Will new energy standards kill the plasma TV?
Brent Butterworth
A proposal by Pacific Gas and Electric for updated Title 20 energy-consumption standards may force dramatic changes on the entire TV market.
The proposal was made to the California Energy Commission in a paper titled Codes and Standards Enhancement Initiative for PY2008: Title 20 Standards Development, Analysis of Standards Options for Televisions. (Clearly, PG&E’s marketing department had no hand in this one.) The version of the proposal that The Integrator was able to obtain is dated April 2 of this year. It highlights a problem that may surprise even TV engineers: Average power consumption of TV sets is going way, way up.
From 2005 to 2008, total power consumed by TVs in the United States rose by an average of 7.6 percent, a rate of growth exceeded only by commercial office equipment. Meanwhile, the total power consumption of appliances usually regarded as power hogs—air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers—has actually fallen. According to PG&E, the increase in TV power consumption is a result of four factors: larger screen sizes, new display technologies, new TV capabilities such as high definition, and more per-capita hours of TV watching per day.
Apparently, PG&E doesn’t want to expand its power grid just for the sake of The Hills and Hannah Montana, so it has proposed power-consumption rules for new TVs are even stricter than those stipulated by version 3.0 of the Energy Star standards. PG&E’s proposal is that energy consumption (measured in watts) of high-definition TVs be limited to 0.20 times the screen area in square inches, plus 32. According to test results included in the proposal, few current flat-panel TVs can meet the proposed Title 20 spec. No plasma TV even comes close to the spec. LCD flat-panels fare dramatically better: A few sets meet spec and many others come close. PG&E’s measurements indicate that the most power-hungry LCD flat-panels roughly equal the energy consumption of the most efficient plasmas.
If the CEC enacts PG&E’s proposal or something similar, it could have a major effect on the fate of today’s TV technologies. As the saying suggests, “As goes California, so goes the rest of the country.” It’s likely that, as has happened in the past, other states will adopt California’s standards. Even if they don’t, it’s unlikely that manufacturers will want to build an energy-efficient TV for 11% of the U.S. population and a comparatively gluttonous TV for the other 89%. Of course, it is possible that plasma’s few remaining stalwarts could continue selling plasma TVs in other states and limit their California sales to LCD models, but we doubt that would happen.
PG&E takes pains to point out that its proposal is not intended to favor any technology over any other. It cites recent press releases from Panasonic and Samsung that claim power consumption rates as little as half those of current plasma models. The proposal includes a more lenient standard for TVs that include automatic brightness adjustment as a factory default, which could help some plasmas squeak by. PG&E also contends that the proposed standard brings significant economic benefits—i.e., it would reduce power cost by an average of $84 over the 10-year average life of a TV, and it could actually reduce the cost of TV manufacturing because decreases in raw materials costs usually accompany increases in TV efficiency.
The good news for plasma TV makers is that there’s still time to wring more efficiency out of their designs. A CEC spokesperson told The Integrator that the Commission is currently at work on new Title 20 standards for battery chargers and lighting, and hasn’t yet examined the topic of TVs. And PG&E’s proposal is just that—a proposal. Before it enacts any new standard, the CEC will open up all proposals to public comment. As the spokesperson told us, “It’s a long, involved process.” Still, with even stricter standards now under consideration in Australia, it seems certain that LCD will be the easiest path to energy-efficient home entertainment systems.
Posted at 12:01 pm |
On June 8, 2008 at 7:18 pm Trevor said:
June 8, 2008 at 7:18 pm
How will this impact the Future of Large LCD/PLASMA Say 80″ and Beyond.
On June 8, 2008 at 7:19 pm Trevor said:
June 8, 2008 at 7:19 pm
How about a Hybrid TV that runs on Electricity and Say a wood Burning oven since Gasoline is to expensive these days.