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energystar posts

CEA rails on California's proposed TV energy standards, rings doomsday bell

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 10th 2009 at 10:54PM

Oh, brother -- you had to see this coming, didn't you? Soon after details of the California Energy Commission's proposed TV efficiency standards leaked out, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has fired back a shocking press release in order to sound the alarm and get people in opposition. According to its "research," setting arbitrary limits on television electricity usage will end up costing California $50 million annually in state tax revenue and will destroy some 4,600 jobs in the TV sales, distribution and installation business. In the CEA's eyes, this proposal "eliminates consumer choice and will remove 25 percent of televisions from the market." Naturally, all of these assertions pay no attention whatsoever to the environment, and while we won't bother with inserting any politics here, we'd advise hitting the read link just to see what blatant bias looks like in its purest form.

Is there demand for eco TVs?

by Richard Lawler, posted Mar 3rd 2009 at 7:54AM


The Wall Street Journal took the time to run down some of the latest trend in televisions, labeling sets "eco" or green for their energy efficiency. Every manufacturer at CES seemed to have a line of energy efficient HDTVs, and meeting or beating Energy Star requirements has suddenly moved to the front of marketing materials. Of course, sipping a little less juice incurs a price premium up front, adding $50 or so on Vizio's Eco line over comparable displays. Compared to last year when only 20% of flat panels had green features, manufacturers seem to be betting big on a shift to more efficient entertainment, but we're not sure how high that will be on customer's lists compared to price, features and picture quality.

AT&T gets proud: 100% of U-verse TV STBs meet or beat Energy Star requirements

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 25th 2009 at 12:16AM


It's hard to know how many other pay-TV providers could say this very same thing but are simply choosing not to brag, but AT&T's holding nothing back in its latest release. The operator has proudly come forward and proclaimed that 100 percent of its U-verse TV receivers meet or exceed Energy Star efficiency requirements, and all new Motorola and Cisco set-top-boxes will boast the accompanying Energy Star label. Not trying to stroke your ego or anything, AT&T, but way to be green.

LCD vs Plasma in 2009

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Jan 16th 2009 at 11:00AM Featured Story

Although the debate between LCD and plasma has raged on for years, the real battle only started two years ago when manufacturers started producing LCDs big enough to go head to head with plasmas. Now that it has been raging for two years, we've seen some interesting trends develop. LCDs have been very successful at pushing plasma out of its most popular size, 42-inches, and some manufacturers have stopped producing that size all together. Also a result of the success of LCDs, the number of plasma manufactures has decreased over the past two years. Pioneer is the most notable to announce its plan to stop producing its own plasmas starting with the next model and will instead buy glass from Panasonic, but Hitachi and Phillips have also announced similar plans -- and Fujitsu got out of the display business all together. Some might use these events combined with the latest green movement to conclude that plasma is dead, but not so fast.

Continue reading LCD vs Plasma in 2009

Plasmas from Hitachi, Pioneer, LG, Panasonic break onto the Energy Star list

by Steven Kim, posted Dec 17th 2008 at 1:33AM

KURO Energy Star
Not to be outdone by their LCD brethren, plasma displays from Hitachi, LG, Panasonic and Pioneer have earned the right to wear Energy Star badges (or sashes). All told, 43 models from the manufacturers successfully navigated the 208-Watt "on mode" and less than 1-Watt "standby mode" limbo stick, and although the Plasma Display Coalition isn't crowing about smashing the requirements like JVC did with its LCDs, it's still a testament to advances to plasma efficiency. For us plasma-philes here at Engadget HD, knowing our obsessive pursuit of image quality isn't destroying the planet is a bit like having our cake and eating it, too.

JVC brags about smashing Energy Star 3.0 requirements

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 12th 2008 at 9:09AM


With just about every new set out besting those newfangled Energy Star 3.0 requirements, we're not so sure why JVC would choose to brag about it. Unless, of course, it has really trumped practically every other set out there in terms of efficiency. As fate would have it, that's exactly what the outfit is claiming, noting that in the 32-inch class, JVC is "tied for the most efficient TV," while in the 40- to 42-inch and 46- to 47-inch classes, it "swept the first four places, in every case significantly more efficient than the Energy Star requirement." All in all, JVC's sets managed to outperformed the baselines by anywhere from 29- to 60-percent, instantly skyrocketing them onto the must-buy list of tree huggers the world over. Check the full release after the break.

Continue reading JVC brags about smashing Energy Star 3.0 requirements

Vizio goes Energy Star 3.0 compliant, launches 32-inch EcoHD LCD TV

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 6th 2008 at 11:03AM

Following in the eco-friendly footsteps of Insignia, Vizio has announced that 100% of its HDTVs that are shipping now to US / Canadian retailers "meet or exceed Energy Star 3.0 requirements." The flat-panel maker claims that at least nine of its models actually exceed the specifications by as much as 25%, and every last one of its 22- / 19-inch sets use far less energy than a conventional 60-watt light bulb. In related news, the company is also taking this opportunity to officially launch its 32-inch EcoHD LCD HDTV, which slurps down 44% less energy than a typical 32-inch LCD TV. The set will pack a 12,500:1 dynamic contrast ratio, SRS TruSurround XT audio, multiple HDMI inputs and a stylish white piano colored bezel. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, you can latch on later this month for $499.99.

All Insignia LCD TVs to meet or exceed Energy Star 3.0 spec

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 5th 2008 at 3:14PM


While Best Buy completely failed to issue a press release trumpeting the inability of its latest Profile 2.0 Blu-ray deck to pass Energy Star specifications, it didn't hesitate to pump one out extolling the power-sipping virtues of its Insignia LCD televisions. In case you weren't aware, the Energy Star 3.0 specification went into effect at the beginning of this month, and any Insignia LCD TV manufactured after November 1, 2008 will meet those requirements; in fact, six of the models will exceed the requirements by 15% of more. Um, cookie?

Updated Energy Star spec goes into effect November 1

by Richard Lawler, posted Oct 11th 2008 at 8:30PM

The new Energy Star 3.0 TV specification -- this time including a test for how much electricity televisions use while turned on, not just while off -- goes into effect next month. According to CNET's tests, the difference in power saved by more efficient (but not necessarily ideal PQ) default settings could be as much as a $100 a year, although that will vary based on the TV and the settings. Of course the new rules mean only 25 to 30-percent of TVs are expected to be able to meet the standard, but when you see it on a box, it will actually mean something. Punch the read link for the final draft, we're just going to turn some unnecessary lights off.

[Via Crave]

Auto-brightness to be the first step in LCD TV green status

by Steven Kim, posted May 6th 2008 at 1:11AM

LCD TV Assoc GreenTV program
Summer is coming, and that means the plasma TV that bathed you in warmth all winter will soon become between you, your air conditioner and comfort. Yes, we love the images that are pumped out by the emissive cells of a plasma display, but as a general rule, LCDs spin the electric meter more slowly. This benefit is not lost on The LCD TV Association, which has launched its GreenTV logo program to tout the fact. The baseline requirement for an LCD TV to wear the badge is ambient light sensors that adjust the backlight brightness, a feature good for at least a 30-percent reduction in electricity consumption. The association has more plans as well, so expect to see environmentally-conscious features like recyclable parts, fewer heavy metals, and LED backlights get billing as well. With the EPA's Energy Star ratings coming to TVs this year, being "green" could be a real differentiator in the market -- and we all know that more badges on the box mean more sales, right?

EPA updates ENERGY STAR specification for digital TVs, CEA applauds

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 9th 2008 at 8:03PM

We've no idea if Panasonic's sudden urge to decrease the power consumption of its plasmas has anything to do with this, but nevertheless, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced an updated ENERGY STAR specification for digital televisions that will hopefully "lead to further reductions in the amount of energy consumed by DTVs." The new standard will reportedly grant the coveted ENERGY STAR label only to "the top 25- to 30-percent most energy efficient TV models," and furthermore, it will (for the first time) "take into account active mode or 'On' mode power consumption in addition to standby mode energy use." Needless to say, the CEA found a moment to applaud the new spec, and as far as we can tell, it's being instituted immediately.

[Via Widescreen Review]

Aussies to crack down on power hungry HDTVs

by Ben Drawbaugh, posted Oct 11th 2007 at 8:19AM

Energy StarSome HDTVs use more power than others, but they all have the ENERGY STAR sticker right? Unfortunately this sticker doesn't tell you much, and our friends down under intend to change that. They want to make sure consumers know how much power that HDTV they're buying will use. This makes perfect sense to us, we already have such ratings on many of our appliances, but what doesn't make sense is that they are also considering banning HDTVs that use what they consider too much power. The real problem is that they want to do this by 2011 and some of our favorite TVs will have a hard time shaving off the watts in time. As much as we love HD, we think this is a pretty good idea; educate the consumers, while at the same time pressure the manufacturers to develop more efficient products. Just so long as we can still buy our 60-inch plasmas TVs if we want to.

NuVo unveils Essentia E6G whole home audio system

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 4th 2007 at 11:53PM


NuVo Technologies is sure proud of its new Essentia E6G whole home audio system, but rather than waxing rhapsodic about its lengthy list of features, it chose to boast about its newfound Energy Star rating. Aside from the being an apparent power sipper, the E6G also touts Philips Class D digital audio amplification (40-watts per zone), an RS-232 bidirectional control interface, 1U rack height, a newfangled control pad, OLED display and support for six sources and an equal number of zones. Of course, we sure hope you save a few dollars on that energy bill if you plan on picking this up, 'cause you'll be shelling out $2,299 up front before ever plugging it in.




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