The California Energy Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved the first energy efficiency standards for televisions in the state over opposition from the Consumer Electronics Association.
The rules mandate that televisions sold in California starting in 2011 consume 33 percent less electricity than current models and 49 percent less by 2013. The regulations affect TVs that are 58 inches wide and less.
Video: In this episode of The Green Show, CNET's David
Katzmaier explains the factors that affect TV power use. (He's
introduced at about 1:38 minutes in.)
Although it's a state-level regulation, it is potentially significant outside California as other states are considering adopting similar rules. Unlike voluntary programs, such as the Environmental Protection Agency's EnergyStar program, the rules mandate certain levels of efficiency. For example, a 42-inch TV that consumes 183 watts or less by 2011 needs to consume 115 watts or less by 2013, the Commission explained in its statement.
The effort to regulate television efficiency, which was backed by California utilities and environmental groups, will save money for consumers on electricity and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, say backers. After 10 years, the energy savings will be $8.1 billion, or enough to power 864,000 single-family homes, according to the California Energy Commission.
The Consumer Electronics Association has fiercely opposed the mandate, which has been under development since early 2007. The industry group submitted a statement arguing that efficiency gains should be done through voluntary efforts by manufacturers and more consumer education. (Click for PDF of submission to the CEC.)
At the same time, some television manufacturers and the LCD TV Association supported the measure.
As consumers upgrade to flat-screen TVs, there's a concern that there will be a significant increase in aggregate power usage, in part because people are buying TVs with bigger screens. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that implementing the efficiency rules will cut the state's electricity use by almost 1 percent and mean that a 500-megawatt power plant will not need to be built to meet rising demand for power. (Click for Q&A from NRDC).
The California Energy Commission has energy efficiency mandates for a number of household appliances, such as refrigerators. The state's energy efficiency policies have kept the per capita energy consumption steady since the 1970s, according to the Commission.
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.
Researchers at Purdue University have had a breakthrough that may completely change how engineers design cooling systems in everything from computers to electric and hybrid cars.
Using special computer chips from Delphi Electronics, Suresh Garimella, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, and doctoral student Tannaz Harirchia, have developed and tested new mathematical formulas concerning the properties of boiling liquids in "microchannels."
Purdue University doctoral student Tannaz Harirchia holding up the computer chip she and professor Suresh Garimella (right) used to develop new formulas concerning 'microchannels.'
(Credit: Purdue University)It's no secret that engineers, particularly chipmakers and computer manufacturers, have been striving for years to design cooling systems with highly efficient heat-transfer rates.
Microchannels are tiny channels through which fluid is directed in some types of high-power electronic cooling systems. Purdue University researchers have been working on the idea of microchannel heat sinks, as well as liquid-filled chips, for some time. IBM has also been developing a liquid-based chip-cooling concept.
Garimella and Harirchia have now determined that "allowing a liquid to boil in cooling systems dramatically increases how much heat can be removed, compared to simply heating a liquid to below its boiling point," according to their report.
"Boiling occurs differently in tiny channels than it does in ordinary size tubing used in conventional cooling systems," Garimella said in a statement.
Details of the breakthrough will be presented on October 8 in Belgium at Therminic 2009, an annual conference on thermal research and technology for microelectronics.
Having come up with a new way to assess fluid boiling in microchannels, Garimella and Harirchia now plan to concentrate on developing heat-transfer models engineers can use when designing cooling systems for high-power electronics.
Conducted in conjunction with Delphi Electronics, the research was funded by Indiana's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, and Purdue-based National Science Foundation Cooling Technologies Research Center, a consortium of corporate, academic, and government laboratories.
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.
The nPower PEG (at right) can harness kinetic energy to power most portable electronic devices.
(Credit: nPower/Tremont Electric)The nPower PEG (Personal Energy Generator) from a company called Tremont Electric harnesses personal kinetic energy as a person walks, transferring it into electricity to the portable electronic device plugged into it.
Using this method, the PEG can charge the average portable device up to 80 percent in about an hour.
Aaron LeMiex, the inventor and founder of Tremont Electric, came up with the idea for the device while hiking 1,500 miles of the Appalachian Trail more than 10 years ago.
The PEG is 9 inches by 1.5 inches, weighs about 9 ounces, and is made of recycled materials. The PEG isn't a battery, so users can not store their kinetic energy to be used for charging later. Instead, it's more of a kinetic energy real-time converter that must be plugged in to the device as it's moving for the kinetic energy to be transferred as electricity immediately to the device.
The PEG, which has a standard USB 2.0 output, is compatible with 90 percent of portable electronic devices including MP3 players, GPS units, and digital cameras, according to Tremont Electric. (The compatibility list includes BlackBerry, iPhone, iPod, LG Chocolate, Magellan GPS, Nintendo DS Lite, Palm Treo, and most cell phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sony.)
There's no need to wear the device, as with some other kinetic energy harvesting devices. Simply carrying the PEG in a backpack, purse, or briefcase while walking provides the opportunity to harvest enough kinetic energy for the electricity. ... Read more
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.
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."
... Read moreConsumers 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.
