California votes in HD TV power pruning law
Standby not good enough?
Legislators in California have voted to exterminate overly energy-hungry TVs, creating a law that insists the state’s tellies meet strict energy consumption standards.
Set to come into force in 2011, the law will require TVs with screen sizes of 58in or less to consume 33 per cent less electricity than existing models do. For example, a 42in TV must, by 2011, consume no more than 183W.
The law will also require these screen to cut their energy consumption by 49 per cent by the year 2013, compared to today’s levels.
The California Energy Commission (CEC), which approved the standard, claimed the move will have saved sufficient energy by 2021 to power 864,000 single-family homes.
The standard – the first of its kind for a US state – will save $8.1bn (£4.8bn/€5.4bn) in energy costs in California by 2021, the CEC added, while energy firm Pacific Gas & Electric estimated that the move will reduce CO2 emissions by 3m metric tons over one decade.
TVs larger than 58in have apparently been left out as a concession to home cinema retailers and installers – no doubt a thriving business across many wealthy parts of California. ®
COMMENTS
What we really need..
Is a remote control that can pull plugs out of sockets.. problem sorted.
I do love the round TV idea though, because he's right.
AC: Nope, you've FAILED this time I'm afraid!
Yes, control buttons on remote controls are in a matrix which must be scanned. HOWEVER, while the device is waiting for ANY button to be pressed, NO scanning is needed - you simply apply a DC signal to all the lines on one side of the matrix, and look for a signal on all the lines on the other side. Once you've detected that a button has been pressed, you THEN start up the clock and scan, to find out which button(s) are involved.
Now, how would YOU rate YOUR knowledge of electronics after that? Hmm - slightly above zero I think, but a classic case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.
You'd better make sure you're correct before using the "FAIL" icon or... you'd better remain anonymous for fear of being made to look a right plonker!
@Michael C
"3) remove speakers from the TV. (who uses the built in speakers in 40" LCD's anyway?)"
I do and on a 42" at that. I also check the quality of such in the shop and crappy internal speakers are a deal breaker. I'll fire up the surround system for films and anything important, but for just watching ordinary telly (most of which is stero only anyway) it's too intrusive into family life and unnecessary.
Likewise, the thought of Cartoon Network going in the background in several hundred watts of crystal clear 5.1 makes me shudder.
Finally, given my habit of watching things late at night, the neighbours would have put both barrels of a 12-gauge through my KEF subwoofer by now.......
@ handle
The control buttons do not power the remote on and off. Remotes use switch matrices, which must be scanned, and are scanned, several times per second, for years, on a single pair of AAA cells. This takes a certain amount of power.
Odd to comment on this since your knowledge of electronics must be about zero for you to think that.
@Nigel11: standby vs off
"The TV's remote-control does standby for several years on a couple of AAA cells!"
No, the TV's remote control does OFF for several years on a couple of AAA cells. It needs to consume no power at all to be able to detect you pressing a button - closing a switch. It's the equivalent of turning a TV off with its proper mains switch (if is has one).
Christian Berger: I don't know where your mythical 1W TV came from - there's no such thing, and I've never heard of an LCD TV taking only 10W either. And remember that screen area is proportional to the square of the diagonal measurement (for the same aspect ratio), so a 32" TV will have four times the screen area (requiring four times the power to light it up) than a 16" one.
