Green Tech

The California Energy Commission on Tuesday received the endorsement from utilities at a public hearing on television efficiency rules, a set of standards which could have national impact.

The Commission has proposed a set of rules that set efficiency levels for televisions in two phases, the first starting at the beginning of 2011 and then becoming more stringent in 2013. The power consumption limits are based on screen size.

Officials from the California Energy Commission listed a number of technologies, including LED back lights and ambient light control sensors, which they said will allow the television industry to meet the standards.

During the hearing, representatives from California utilities voiced their support for the proposal which is expected to be voted on next month.

Among them was a representative from Sempra who read a statement saying the more stringent power consumption levels are feasible, cost effective, and critical for meeting the state's environmental goals. By implementing the standards, the state could save $8.1 billion a year in electricity bills and avoid building a 500-megawatt power plant to meet growing electricity use, he said.

TV efficiency regulations, which already cover other household appliances, are needed because electricity consumption from televisions has climbed from about three percent in the 1990s to eight percent in 2008 in the state, according to the Commission.

A number of environmental advocacy groups, including the National Resource Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, back the initiative.

But the rule proposals have been opposed by the industry group the Consumer Electronics Association. The CEA has argued that the Cmandates are unnecessary because products are already becoming more efficient and the voluntary EnergyStar program already exists.

Speaking in advance of Tuesday's public hearing, executives from Panasonic echoed that view, saying that the California Energy Commission's proposed rules are "an answer in search of a problem."

Panasonic, which is a large seller of plasma flat-screen televisions, said it has been able to improve efficiency by 30 percent every year. Meeting the EnergyStar 4.0 standard, which goes into effect next May, is more challenging but Panasonic is adopting a number of techniques in an effort to attain the EnergyStar 4.0 and 5.0 certifications, executives said.

Although the California Energy Commission is proposing to regulate efficiency for televisions only sold in its state, passage of the rules would likely have a broader effect. Others states, including Massachusetts, are also considering efficiency mandates for televisions which would be the same or similar to California.

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.

Without more efficient consumer electronics, the world will need to build hundreds of gigawatts worth of new power plants to run the exploding number of electronic gadgets, according to the International Energy Agency.

The Paris-based energy industry watchdog on Wednesday published its "Gadgets and Gigawatts" report, saying that consumer electronics already account for 15 percent of households' electricity bills and is rising rapidly.

Around the world, a growing number of people are acquiring electronics, from mobile phones to televisions, which means the total amount of electricity from electronics is poised to explode in the next two decades.

The IEA estimates that the yearly energy consumed from IT and consumer electronics is on pace to double by 2020 and triple by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt-hours. That would be the equivalent of the combined residential electricity consumption of Japan and the United States in a year.

It's clear that there is technology available to make devices more energy efficient, the IEA said. Because consumers want a long run-time, mobile devices are already more efficient than appliances that run from outlets.

"This example shows us what can be achieved. Where no such commercial drivers exist, governments must step in to ensure that we make the most of every energy efficiency opportunity," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said in a statement.

He said that governments should "urgently implement" energy-efficiency policies. The biggest opportunity for energy savings improvements from consumer electronics companies is "making hardware and software work together more effectively to ensure that energy is only used when, and to the extent needed," the IEA said.

See CNET's Green Tech Guide which rates PCs and TVs on energy efficiency.

Californians' love for electronic gear takes a heavy toll on electricity bills, sucking up 20 percent of total power consumption.

Utilities Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) on Thursday announced a program to steer consumers toward more energy-efficient electronics.

Called the Business and Consumer Alliance, the program will identify which TVs, desktop computers, and monitors are the most energy efficient based on industry standards, such as EnergyStar.

Merchandise in stores will be labeled with either a "Save" or a "Save More" label to highlight energy-efficient equipment, said a representative from PG&E, which is dedicating $7 million this year to the program.

Best Buy, Sears Holding Company, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Dell, and Lenovo are participating in the program which the utilities estimate will save 380 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity through 2011. That's enough to power more than 55,000 typical homes.

The hope is to drive demand for efficient consumer electronics at the retail level, which could prompt manufacturers to invest in energy-efficient improvements.

PG&E anticipates that the program will have more money dedicated to it in the coming years and cover more categories of products.

Right now, the biggest energy consumers are flat-screen TVs and small-office equipment. But set-top boxes and electronics chargers are quickly becoming bigger factors in residential electricity use, the PG&E representative said.

Energy consumption from consumer electronics is expected to grow at close to 11 percent annually from 2005 to 2010.

NEW YORK--There's a long way to go to make consumer electronics an environmentally sustainable industry and sometimes the best path isn't always clear.

Panelists and attendees at the Greener Gadgets conference here last week discussed the many ways that manufacturers could claim a greener product--a recycling program, less hazardous materials, and, increasingly, the embedded carbon footprint.

But to manufacturers--and the consumers themselves--what constitutes "green" is still a work in progress.

"I think that people are more focused on doing the right thing but there is very little for them to hang that on," said Ken Rother, the president and chief operating officer of environmental consumer Web site Treehugger.

Rother said that many Treehugger readers appear particularly concerned with carbon emissions so they would welcome standard ways to report how much energy use is embedded in a product.

But it's difficult to measure that carbon footprint in electronics cost effectively because the consumer electronics industry has a complex supply chain with multiple tiers of suppliers, said Aaron Dallek, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Planet Metrics, which makes software to help businesses measure their carbon emissions.

"The big question is how do companies approach this because...the ability to measure products' (carbon footprint) is not very good," Dallek said. However, it is clear is that designing products with fewer parts and materials reduces the embedded energy content, he said.

Click on the image to see a photo gallery of the 2008 Greener Gadgets conference.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

Representatives from different companies said that many decisions made in the name of environmental sustainability, such as reducing materials and packaging, reduce carbon emissions and save money.

For example, excessive plastic packaging for a small USB key simply adds cost to the manufacturer in terms of material and the embedded energy, said Ron Gonen, the CEO of RecycleBank, which runs municipal programs to reward consumers with coupons to recycle more.

Dell's decision to use LED screens in all its laptops by next year has a number of benefits, said Michael Murphy, senior manager of environmental affairs at Dell. Because they are 43 percent more energy efficient than current screens, batteries can last twice as long. It also eliminates the use of mercury.

The thinner screens also mean less packaging and less weight--which makes it "cheaper for everyone" in Dell's supply chain, he said.

Conflicted about regulations
Greener product designs aren't only driven by cost savings, though. IT and consumer electronics companies are facing a growing number of environmental regulations, notably European recycling and hazardous material mandates called WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive).

For Intel, meeting the RoHS directive meant taking lead out of most of its chips. The company exceeded the minimum standard because it saw that it could get a "marketing advantage" that way, said Stephen Harper, director of environment and energy policy at Intel, who spoke on a panel.

"We need a combination of minimum standards and we also have to allow for competition that will drive competition beyond the minimum standards," Harper said.

At the same time, Harper and Dell's Murphy complained some regulations are ineffective. The EPEAT standard, which mandates that government agencies purchase energy-efficient computer gear, is only followed by 11 percent of agencies in their procurement practices, Harper said.

Also, regulators need to harmonize regulations across regions and do a cradle-to-grave lifecycle analysis of environmental benefits when setting rules. For example, removing all lead from electronics could lead manufacturers to use equally hazardous alternatives, Harper said.

E-waste and recycling
The conference also highlighted the issue of electronics recycling as a way for manufacturers to be more environmentally responsible. But even though more than half of consumer electronics companies now offer recycling and take-back programs now, an estimated 98 percent of electronics are still not recycled.

Recycle Bank's Gonen said that society needs to attach a monetary price to waste, either through a fine or by rewarding consumers to recycle. Counting on consumers to "do the right thing" to protect the environment will keep recycling rates low, he argued.

"When you don't recycle your e-waste, there is a major environmental cost and a major economic cost," he said. "That is the way to motivate people. But first you need to give them the infrastructure, the information on how to do it."

Retailers, too, have a big role in recycling and in making the electronics industry more environmentally sustainable in general, said Parker Brugge, the vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability at the Consumer Electronics Association.

Inventor Saul Griffith calculates his carbon footprint to make the case for a green design revolution in consumer electronics.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

"There is a growing, very small percentage of consumers interested in eco-friendly products. What will really drive change is when retailers demand it," he said.

The keynote speaker, inventor Saul Griffith, argued that designers need to start to make "greener electronic object d'art" or heirloom products that can last decades as a Rolex watch or Mont Blanc pen does.

Dell's Murphy argued that Dell already designs its products for long life and modular upgrades and that company already runs a large refurbishing business. But other speakers conceded that designing products that last decades would represent a completely different way of designing and selling products in high tech.

But even without heirloom products, the industry can still do quite a bit more to be greener, taking advantage of new technologies in the process, said Carl Smith, president and CEO of Rechargeable Battery Recycling.

"Green is not a yes or no question--it's an attribute," Smith said. "It's a balance between technology advancement and meeting our environmental goals."

NEW YORK--The solution to climate change boils down to industrial design, contends entrepreneur and inventor Saul Griffith.

Griffith gave the keynote speech at the Greener Gadgets conference here on Friday where he ran through a flurry of numbers on energy and climate change to argue that the consumer electronics and IT industry needs to make drastic changes to curb its significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" and several patents, Griffith's "day job" is president and chief scientist of Makani Power, a company backed by Google.org to generate electricity from kites flying at high altitudes. He also co-founded other ventures, including Optiopia, Squid Labs, Potenco, Instructables.com, and HowToons.

Scientists are increasingly able to measure the carbon contribution of different activities and products. Having run the numbers on how much renewable energy can contribute to reducing carbon emissions, Griffith has concluded that the scale of industrial transformation is enormous.

"This is a lot like retooling for World War II when the U.S. made 300,000 aircraft from 1939 to 1945," he said, adding that refrigerator and auto factories were converted during the war effort. "The reality is that we can do it. We made 10 terawatts of power generation over the last 40 years. We need to do it again, a little quicker, but we have to do it radically different--not with pipelines and fossil fuels this time."

Consumers are increasingly demanding better environmental attributes in their digital gadgets, but the consumer electronics industry can go a lot further to make gadgets "green."

Environmental watchdog Greenpeace held a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday to announce results of its second annual survey called "Green Electronics: the Search Continues."

(Credit: Greenpeace)

The good news is that manufacturers are using fewer hazardous chemicals, such as PVC plastic, and are running more electronic take-back programs. Another positive trend is the use of LED screens for notebooks, which are relatively energy efficient and use less mercury than other technologies.

But many manufacturers are slow in adopting EnergyStar energy-efficiency standards or using recycled materials. Consumer electronics companies should also take more responsibility for recycling, according to Greenpeace. (Click here for a PDF of the study.)

The assessment, which follows Greenpeace's ratings of individual vendors issued in November, comes at perhaps the most environmentally themed CES so far.

The show organizer, the Consumer Electronics Association, earlier this week issued results of a survey that found that consumers are increasingly looking for green attributes, as are manufacturers looking to differentiate products.

"Green is becoming a purchasing factor," Steve Koening, director of industry analysts at the CEA, told the BBC.

More than half of consumers are willing to pay a little more for products designed with the environment in mind, while 22 percent said that they are willing to pay 15 percent more.

Also telling were consumers' responses to what is considered "green." Over half of those surveyed said they didn't know what the environmental attributes of high-tech products were and 38 percent said they were confused by the "green" label.

That's not surprising given the explosion in green claims in the past few years. And when you consider the diversity of what's considered green tech at CES alone--from power strips that eliminate vampire loads to cell phones made from recycled material--it hints at the many aspects of "going green."

The CES show also hosted a Greener Gadgets Tech Zone and had a "Technology and Environment" session track with panels on electronics recycling and energy use.

Before the conference began, the organizers used a carbon emissions-management software application in an effort to lower the environmental impact of the event.

Greenpeace said that electronics manufacturers are making progress on reducing toxic materials and waste, but not making bold enough moves to cut energy usage.

The environmental watchdog on Monday published its 10th Guide to Greener Electronics, which it releases every three months. This edition adds five new criteria for energy, including whether manufacturers report usage, whether they purchase renewable power, and how efficient their products are.

Out of the pack, Nokia is on top, with Nintendo and Microsoft bringing up the rear.

Nokia get props for its comprehensive take-back program, which is now in 124 countries. In 2005, it phased out the use of PVC plastics and has set a target of cutting out brominated flame retardants and antimony trioxide by the end of next year.

Microsoft ended up in the second-to-last position for the second year largely because it has not yet phased out the use of toxic chemicals and doesn't have a voluntary take-back program. Nintendo gets rapped across the knuckles for not committing to a timeline for cutting out hazardous materials .

Meanwhile, Apple--once a last-place finisher--gets kudos from Greenpeace for its recently launched MacBook, which Apple touts as the "industry's greenest notebook." But Apple, too, still uses toxics in many products and it can do more on recycling and greenhouse gas emissions, says Greenpeace.

The lousy scores notwithstanding, Greenpeace says that, as a group, electronics manufacturers are improving when it comes to electronic waste and hazardous chemicals. But it added energy usage to its yardstick because global warming is an urgent problem.

"We need more than green talk from companies before we can call them leaders," said Greenpeace International campaigner Casey Harrell, in a statement. "We need to see action--rapid deployment of clean energy, innovative efficiency solutions and bold advocacy for fast action on global warming."

Perhaps not surprising, the The Consumer Electronics Association reacted a bit defensively to the latest report.

Parker Brugge, vice president of environmental affairs for the Consumer Electronics Association, told The New York Times Green Inc. blog that there has been a good deal of progress within the industry on environmental matters.

At the same time, he acknowledged that there is still more that can be done. "I'm not suggesting the products the industry makes are completely sustainable," he said.

People no doubt complain that Greenpeace is nitpicking or being too harsh in rating electronics manufacturers. But that's what an environmental watchdog group does: set a high bar and encourage corporations to meet it.

If done well, these sorts of scorecards also help consumers sort out the various factors that should back up the many green marketing campaigns.

Unclear product labeling prevents many consumers from buying affordable, energy-efficient electronics, and companies making "greener" goods aren't getting proper credit, according to a report released Monday.

High-definition televisions, desktop computers, laptops, and printers are among the electronics that online-survey respondents seek the most for green qualities. Green cred is less of an issue, in their eyes, for GPS devices, digital cameras, and other small, low-power devices.

More than half of those polled said their lack of awareness interferes with buying gadgets that consume modest amounts of energy, use recycled packaging and low-toxic materials, and offer recycling options. Forty-five percent named price as the biggest turn-off to purchasing such products.

Market researchers Strategic Oxygen and Cohn & Wolfe conducted the GreenFactor survey of 10,000 people in a dozen nations. They are encouraging electronics vendors to communicate on product labels and Web sites how energy-efficient products can save shoppers money over time. Such a strategy can also help prevent accusations of corporate greenwashing.

Fifty-seven percent of those polled said they won't pay more for greener gadgets. Only 15 percent will accept a price premium. However, an age gap appeared as more than half of respondents aged 25 to 34, versus only 23 percent of those 65 or older, said they will pay more for eco-friendly tech.

Consumers may be giving more green credit to some brands than they deserve, according to a report.

(Credit: GreenFactor)

The few third-party labels that appear on store shelves include Energy Star, for electronics that hog less electricity than most. It's run by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.

The nonprofit-run EPEAT label is gaining in popularity to mark computers and monitors with efficient energy use and more sustainable designs, but it's used largely in government purchasing and by online merchants.

Green labels from manufacturers include Canon's Generation Green and HP's Eco Highlights, for printers.

Still, the companies making the most green progress aren't getting recognition from consumers, according to the GreenFactor report. Americans surveyed identified Dell and Apple, followed by HP and Microsoft, as the brands with the greenest credentials. NEC, Hitachi, and Nintendo ranked near the bottom among 27 companies.

Those perceptions didn't match up with the ratings of 18 green electronics brands by Greenpeace. Samsung and Nokia, for example, ranked poorly in the GreenFactor survey but were rated among the top five brands by the environmental watchdog group.

The GreenFactor results varied by region. For instance, people polled in Japan said they considered local names Panasonic, Sharp, and Sony the greenest.