The California Energy Commission (CEC) has proposed rules that would restrict the power consumption of TV sets sold in California.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor

The proposed restrictions would vary by screen size according to a simple equation (Staff Report for Draft Efficiency Standards for Televisions; www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-400-2008-028/CEC-400-2008-028-SD.PDF). One of the two alternative equations proposed by the CEC staff would limit 42-inch TVs to 183 watts by 2011 and 115 watts by 2013. (The equations are generally similar to those in the Department of Energy’s Energy Star Ver. 3.0, but not identical to them.) The CEC’s intent is to save consumers money and reduce the strain on the state’s electricity grid; it will vote this summer on whether to adopt the new rules.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) opposes the initiative. This week, the CEA intends to release a study commissioned earlier this year from Resolution Economics LLC in Los Angeles that counters the CEC’s reasoning. Doug Johnson, the CEA’s senior director of technology policy and international affairs, says consumers won’t save money under the proposed rules and will end up paying more for TVs if the rules go into effect. His organization’s study says TV makers currently charge more for TVs that meet the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star standard.

The CEA presumably speaks for US CE retailers, but does it speak for the people who make flat panel displays and flat panel TVs? Not according to Bruce Berkoff, Chairman of the LCD TV Association (www.lcdtvassociation.org).

"Display engineers have an amazing ability to do what they are asked to do. Setting goals enables the improvements, and we believe the CEC’s goals are reasonable and doable and will benefit consumers by lowering their energy bills, as well as our entire country’s energy usage," Berkoff told Insight Media.

"Leading PDP makers have already shown technologies that could meet these goals. Of course, LCD TV makers will continue to get better energy efficiencies over time as well, via things like LED backlights and RGBW pixels, and efforts such as the LCD TV Association’s GREEN TV logo program. So we are in favor of engagement between government and industry, which leads to better products for consumers and our environment," said Berkoff. (The association’s GREEN TV logo program certifies a TV set contains an automatic brightness control that meets specific specifications.)

It should be noted that the Plasma Display Coalition, unlike the LCD TV Association, does not support the CEC’s draft efficiency standards.

Will CEC-compliant TV sets necessarily cost more than non-compliant sets, as the CEA states (and the CEC denies)? At Best Buy, all of that company’s private-label Insignia LCD TVs manufactured after November 2008 meet or exceed the Energy Star Version 3.0 standards. If Best Buy can afford to have all of the LCD TVs in its Insignia line - which is a value line - comply with Energy Star 3.0, maybe cost will not be much of an issue.