Set Makers, Energy Groups Agree on Measuring TV Energy Consumption
Six TV makers with a majority share of the North American market joined in a “breakthrough agreement” with CTA, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy to develop and promote an “updated test method”…
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for measuring TV energy use, they said Wednesday. They also agreed to work toward establishing “voluntary energy commitments” for new TVs sold in the U.S. and Canada, based on lab testing of a cross section of TVs using the new method. Voluntary programs can “adapt more quickly and flexibly than traditional regulation to accommodate rapid changes in technology and consumer demands," said CTA, NRDC, ACEEE and “manufacturer signatories” Funai, Hisense, LG, Samsung, TCL and Vizio. They agreed to develop a new test method “that better enables accurate, consistent evaluation of automatic brightness control, motion detection dimming, screen-average luminance and standby power of internet-connected TVs.” The agreement is "a promising step toward modernizing the approach to TV energy efficiency,” said Doug Johnson, CTA vice president-technology policy, in a statement. "By working together, we hope to develop an updated test method that better reflects the actual amount of electricity used by new televisions and find ways to bring down their national energy consumption,” said Noah Horowitz, NRDC senior scientist. How to measure TV energy use by up-to-date standards became a hotbed of contention three years ago when EPA announced it would deny Energy Star Version 8.0 certification to TVs found not to be comparably energy efficient when tested “with content that reflects a variety of typical viewing experiences” see 1709250043).