Flat-screen televisions are a major upgrade from existing cathode-ray tube TVs, making new high-definition sets one of the hottest-selling items in consumer electronics. But that dazzling picture and bigger screen come with a price: higher energy use.
To individual consumers, a bigger flat-screen TV might mean a noticeable bump in monthly electric bills. But at a national level, the onrush of these new energy-hungry TVs is a growing concern.
On Friday, the California Energy Commission finalized a proposal to regulate energy consumption in TVs sold in California sold after 2011.
The move is significant because California's stringent efficiency standards in appliances have impacted codes across the country in the past. California's efficiency measures in big appliances, such as refrigerators, have been credited with keeping the per capita electricity consumption in the state steady since the 1970s.
But not everyone is happy with the California measure, which is expected to pass in November. Industry association the Consumer Electronics Association opposes the proposal, arguing that any efficiency improvements should come from consumer demand rather than regulation.
To unwind some of the issues around energy efficiency and TVs, we offer this FAQ, which draws on the analysis of CNET Reviews' senior editor David Katzmaier, who has been measuring power consumption in TVs for the past three years. You can see the latest data at CNET's Energy Efficiency Guide and power ratings of 150 HDTVs.
If I buy a new flat-screen TV, will I be slapped with a huge energy bill?
Not necessarily. The primary reason flat-screen TVs consume more power is because they are bigger. The California Energy Commission estimates that per square inch, LCDs consume a bit more than CRTs, but most people are also upgrading in size, which means significantly more electricity use. That's one reason why TV product ratings from the likes of CNET and Consumer Reports now include yearly energy consumption estimates.
(Credit:
CNET)
Correction 3-27-09: This article originally characterized California's proposed standard as "new legislation," when in fact it is a proposed regulation.
The state of California is considering adopting a regulation that will prevent sales of TVs that don't meet a relatively stringent energy efficiency requirement. Most TVs CNET has tested fail to meet the requirement today, although the standard as currently proposed won't go into effect until 2011.
According to its FAQ, the California Energy Commission plans to vote on the proposal this summer. The most recent draft of the proposal (PDF) puts forth the specific power-efficiency requirements, based on watts-per-square-inch of screen, in a tiered approach. Tier 1 would go into effect in 2011, while the stricter Tier 2 would hit in 2013. There's also an alternate, more lenient version of Tier 1 included in the proposal. Televisions that fail the requirement would be ineligible for sale in the state.
Digging into the proposal, we found that it's significantly more-aggressive than the current voluntary Energy Star 3.0 program, for which nearly every new HDTV qualifies. Among LCD TVs we tested in 2008, 19 out of 38, or exactly half, fail the requirement for 2011, while all but two fail for 2013. Among plasmas all but 3 out of 23 fail. Check out the chart below for specifics.
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After taking a hard look at the $599 Mac Mini, our OS-neutral assessment of the refresh is that its onboard features and performance benchmarks don't stack up to other budget PCs on the market, where you can spend $100 less and pick up a PC like the Acer Aspire X1700-U3700A, which provides a faster CPU clock speed, three times more RAM, and more than five times the storage space, not to mention a variety of superior internal expansion opportunities.
Apple's push toward environmental efficiencies deserves a shout-out here. Both of the new Mac Minis adhere to Energy Star's stringent 5.0 requirements and achieve the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)'s highest "gold rating," where previous Minis only reached silver. We used our own Watts Up consumption tool, compared the Mini to a competing desktop, and found that Apple only uses 15.4 watts of power compared to the other system's 70.9 watts at idle.
Interested in our final rating and reading more?
Check out our full review of the low-end Apple Mac Mini.
Related coverage:
• Apple overhauls iMacs, 24-inch models more affordable
• Apple finally refreshes Mac Mini with updated specs
Updated 8:25 a.m. PST with analyst note.
As expected, Apple announced desktop updates on Tuesday with a focus on energy efficiency.
There are new Mac Pro high-end desktops powered by Intel's Nehalem-based Xeon processors, new and more graphics-intensive Mac Mini machines, and updated iMacs that offer the lowest price yet on these consumer desktops.
Here are the new ports on the updated Mac Mini.
(Credit: Apple)All the new machines meet the requirements for Energy Star 5.0 certification, which kicks in this summer.
The new Mac Pro is priced at $2,499 for the quad-core version and at $3,299 for the eight-core version, with the Nehalem-based Xeon processors running at up to 2.93 GHz. The interior of the machine has been cleaned up to make physical expansions easier.
The new iMac all-in-one desktop offers a 24-inch screen and is priced at $1,499, the cost of Apple's previous 20-inch iMac. The 20-inch model now costs $1,199.
The 20-inch version comes with a 2.66 GHz processor, a 320GB hard drive, and 2GB of RAM expandable to 8GB. The 24-inch model offers processor speed options of 2.66 GHz, 2.93 GHz (for $1,799), or 3.02 GHz (for $2,199). The 24-incher comes with a 640GB hard drive and 4GB of RAM expandable to 8GB.
As for the new Mac Mini, the big upgrade: the Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics chip, which Apple says will improve graphics performance as much as fivefold. The machine (sans a monitor) costs $599 for a lower-end edition (1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive) or $799 for the higher-end (2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive).
The Mac Mini is the "world's most energy efficient desktop computer," Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook claimed in a statement. Cook is currently at the helm of the company while CEO Steve Jobs is out for six months for health reasons.
Analyst Maynard Um at UBS offered this assessment of Tuesday's news:
Not surprisingly, Apple unveiled a much anticipated refresh to its desktop line, though the timing was earlier than we expected. Updated iMac & Mac mini are available immediately with the new Mac Pro available next week. Though the new Macs may provide some boost to end of qtr Mac units (enthusiasts and reseller channel), investors may have been hoping for greater price cuts at the low end.
Rumors of new Apple desktop computers were first reported at AppleInsider.
The Panasonic Z1 plasma measures just 1 inch thick, leaving little room for wired connections.
(Credit: Panasonic)The epic battle between plasma and LCD manifests itself in numerous ways--Hz oneupsmanship, contrast ratio and viewing angle specs, lifespan claims--but until now, panel depth was a frontier comfortably dominated by LCD, with ultrathin models like the Hitachi UT37X902. Now Samsung and Panasonic aim to claim that frontier themselves, the latter with the ...
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
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The one-pane-of-glass design marks Panasonic's TC-P50V10 and TC-P54V10.
(Credit: Panasonic)The ability to properly deal with native 1080p/24 content is a big deal to some videophiles, because it guarantees that a display can capture the correct cadence of film. Panasonic tried and failed to implement 24p with its plasmas last year, but, according to the company, it has improved its processing for this year with the V10 ...
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
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The G10 series is Panasonic's least expensive set to offer THX Display Certification.
(Credit: Panasonic)Last year, our Editors' Choice plasma, the Panasonic TH-50PZ800U, earned a good portion of its praise by virtue of excellent color accuracy, which we lay at the feet of THX Display Certification. For 2009, Panasonic has included THX in two series of plasma TVs, of which the most-affordable will be the G10s.
The company's G10 series of plasmas comes in four screen sizes. The 42-inch TC-P42G10 ($1399 street), the 46-inch TC-P46G10 ($1699), and the 50-inch TC-P50G10 ($1999) will ship in March, while the 54-inch TC-54G10 ($2,399), a new screen size for the company, will ship in May.
THX Display Certification consists of a series of hurdles the TVs must clear to earn the all-important THX logo. While we're generally pretty skeptical of a certification program that refuses to divulge the height of those hurdles--aside from vaguely mentioning that they include certain minimum specifications for contrast ratio, color gamut based on the HDTV standard, uniformity, viewing angle, gamma, and still picture resolution--in our tests of the PZ800 and other THX plasmas from LG delivered improved color accuracy, at least.
Update March 13: According to the Panasonic manual unearthed by the folks at AVS Forum, and later confirmed by Panasonic, the G10 models will have 24p compatibility; previously, Panasonic indicated that the feature would be reserved for the step-up V10 and Z1 lines. According to Panasonic, the G10 and G15 lines will refresh at 48Hz, which leads us to suspect that they'll suffer from the same sort of flicker seen on the 24p modes of last year's PZ800U and PZ850U models. The V10 and Z1 lines, however, will refresh at 96Hz, which shouldn't introduce flicker. We'll know for sure when we get the displays reviewed.
New for 2009, VireaCast gets Amazon Video on Demand.
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic's answer to other TV makers' Internet connectivity is called VieraCast, and new for 2009 the company is adding the capability to view content from Amazon Video on Demand. We'd like to see Netflix streaming added too, a la LG, but that's not in the cards so far. Check out our hands-on look at VieraCast for details.
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Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
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Panasonic's S1 series uses half the juice.
(Credit: Panasonic)Update 3-11-2009: We've posted reviews of three products in this series, albeit with smaller screen sizes: the 42-inch TC-P42S1, the 46-inch TC-P46S1 and the 50-inch TC-P50S1. Judging from their identical specifications, we expect the picture quality of the larger 54-, 58- and 65-inch models to be similar to those of the smaller ones. See the reviews for further ...
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
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The eco-friendly KDL-VE5 series packs plenty of power-saving punch.
(Credit: Sony)As Americans become more conscious of TV power consumption, manufacturers are taking full advantage by offering more eco-friendly HDTVs. The KDL-VE5 series is Sony's power-sipping entrant for CES 2009, and includes the ability to turn off automatically when viewers leave the vicinity.
The three-size series includes the 52-inch KDL-52VE5, the 46-inch KDL-46VE5, and the 40-inch KDL-40VE5. As usual, ...
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
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Q: I heard that TV calibration could reduce energy consumption and therefore reduce costs to operate. Do you have any evidence of that? --Scott, via e-mail
A: Yes it does and yes I do, but first it's worth mentioning that you don't necessarily need to pay hundreds of dollars for a professional calibration to get the savings.
What saves energy and operating costs, as well as increases product lifespan, is reducing light output. That's typically controlled by the contrast or "picture" control and, in an LCD TV, the backlight control. Since calibration usually involves reducing light output from the very bright default picture settings, it will generally result in cost savings. The picture is still plenty bright after calibration, especially for the kind of darkened home theater environment more conducive to watching movies, it's just not as blindingly bright as the default modes often used to compete with other TVs on the showroom floor.
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