4
How efficient is that TV?
Part of the EnergyGuide labels for TVs.
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: All across America tonight millions of people -- at almost the same time and with almost the same set of motions -- are going to do something that's really bad for the planet. We're going to pick up the clicker, we're going to plop down on the living room couch and we're going to turn on our big-screen TVs to watch the World Series. Those things draw power just as bad and the big ones maybe worse than refrigerators and washing machines -- appliances that are required to have stickers on them telling you exactly how much energy they use. So, now, the Federal Trade Commission says maybe it's time for TVs -- the big ones -- to have energy labels too.
From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, Eve Troeh reports.
Eve Troeh: The average 34-inch TVs of a few years ago are like chihuahuas compared to today's 60-inch Great Danes. And like a Great Dane, those big TVs eat more. They gobble electricity.
David Katzmaier: From 10 to 25 percent of a household's energy use is dependent on the television and surrounding peripherals, like the cable box and game consoles and stuff like that.
David Katzmaier reviews TVs for CNET. He says most consumers buy a TV for the picture quality; energy's not even a factor. A quick survey on the streets of New York shows he's right.
Woman 1: Energy? Um... no.
Man 1: Zero, zero energy usage.
Man 2: No, I never really thought too much about the energy. I kind of assume everything's energy efficient, but I don't really look I guess.
Starting in May, it'll be hard to switch off information about how much energy your TV uses. Every new set will sport a big yellow tag with the cost to power it for a year. Websites that sell TVs will also have to provide that information.
David Katzmaier at CNET says that probably won't stop anyone bent on buying a gargantuan plasma screen, the biggest energy suckers. But annual energy costs could influence people choosing between TVs that are about the same size and quality.
Katzmaier: Even if it is only a difference of say $20 to $30 a year, that might be actually be enough to get you to decide to get the more efficient one.
When you consider that Americans now have an average of three TVs per household, and that they're on about eight hours a day, the new FTC tags do have potential to change the picture.
I'm Eve Troeh for Marketplace.
The standby (idle) power of your TV is the most critical aspect of any large flat screen TV. The avg American household watches 4 hours of TV, so the TV is not being used for 20 hours a day, but it consumes power. It has been shown that over the course of 1 year, the power consumed by the TV, when it is inactive is more than when the TV is being watched (active power). When you power off the TV with your remote, some electrical circuits remain operational to store information like your TV input channel, channel history, screen settings etc. This circuitry consumes power.
If you want to see a big change in your electricity bill, unplug the power to your TV when you are not watching it. Of course, you have to keep the DVR powered on to record your TV shows.
In short, to have a big impact on your carbon footprint, unplug your TV when you are not watching it.
Set Top Boxes that cable companies force you to "rent" are so evil. A few years back TV's were made with cable card slots so that way you wouldn't need an STB, but the cable companies never mentioned that fact. Now that they rarely got used TV makers don't put them in any more. I wish we could make "renting" hardware from content provider companies illegal.
I'd love to turn off the power to my entertainment center using the power strip, but a bunch of the devices have serious problems if they turn off - particularly the Wii. When it gets unplugged or loses power, it needs to be re-set before it can be used by being left unplugged for a period of time, sometimes up to three days. This makes it really unpractical to unplug it, and given that I only have one outlet, so everything runs off one power strip, it's difficult to umplug other devices and not the wii.
If you want to keep something private, you don't let anyone know except the principles involved; banking is between you and your banker. The best way to let the world know what you are doing is to put it on the internet. By this reasoning, banking and the internet are mutually exclusive. Secure websites are oxymorons.
