California may pull plug on big TVs that guzzle energy

LA Times ^ | September 18, 2009 | Marc Lifsher

[RayChuang88]

Mind you, by the time 2011 rolls around, just about every new-production flat panel out there will use a new generation of even lower-powered florescent backlighting or use LED backlighting, both of which will use WAY less power than today's flat panel TV's. The big flat panel manufacturers like LG, Samsung, Sony and VIZIO have all said they are aiming for flat panel TV's to meet the EPA Energy Star Version 5 certification for flat panel TV's.

And by 2012, OLED flat panels will start to become widely available, and these promise enormous power savings because they no longer even need backlighting, reducing power consumption very low levels (imagine a 55" OLED flat panel with plasma-like black contrast and power consumption lower than that of a larger compact florescent lightbulb!).

[AngelesCrestHighway]

The liberal wing nuts will only be happy when all we have is:

[CounterCounterCulture]

How about we ban televisions and movie theaters?
We’ll save energy and put Hollywood out of business.

/ sarcasm (kinda)

[gilor]

Did anybody consider that LCDs use roughly 60% less power than CRTs?

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

“levels (imagine a 55” OLED flat panel with plasma-like black contrast....”

OLED screens aren't “plasma-like” — they're an order of magnitude better. Sony's 11 inch OLED makes the real world look drab, and low-contrast. Unfortunately, the price has to come waaaaay down. A big-screen version probably won't be in my price range until 2025.

[RayChuang88]

Actually, both LG and Samsung are doing extensive research to get the price of OLED panels down--remember, LG and Samsung are big producers of computer monitors, where the power savings of OLED panels for computer monitors could really drive corporate sales once they start producing them on a practical scale.

[Tolsti2]

I honestly wouldn’t expect OLED to be affordable over 50” for another 10 years, if then. LCD’s with local dimming LED backing are low power, and produce stunningly good pictures. That’ll be the tech to stick with for a decade or more.

[TurtleUp]

The first-in-the-nation TV efficiency standards would require electronics retailers to sell only energy-sipping models starting in 2011. Even tougher efficiency criteria would follow in 2013.

Go ahead. That's what pickup trucks and electronics stores just across teh state line are for. TVs already account for 10% of residential energy use in California

Wow! My little TV, which isn't on all that much, accounts for well under 1% on my electric usage. Californians really don't have lives if can use that much electricity watching a fake version of the world go by.

[dalereed]

“The sun always shines here..hang out your laundry.”

This ain’t Mexico, get lost!!!!

[dalereed]

“just like people did in the 1930’s to watch FDR do his Fireside Chats.”

Grow up junior, there were no TVs when FDR was President!

I HEARD some of them but my parents turned off the RADIO whenever that bastard came on.

[Redcloak]

Will Stateline, NV, be getting some new electronics retailers moving in?

[Desron13]

If there are any Freepers still living in Kalifornia you guys really need to get out right now while the getting is good.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

“Grow up junior, there were no TVs when FDR was President!”

I suspect that he was just making a joke at Joe Biden’s expense.

[Grut]

Anyway, the NTSC (essentially modern) standard was formalized in 1941 and commercial TV broadcasting began in NYC and Syracuse later that year.

[N. Theknow]

Grow up junior, there were no TVs when FDR was President!

Next time, just for you, I'll use the /sarcasm tag!

See Joe Biden gaffes for clarification of the previous remark.

[Defiant]

Damn revenoors.

[wizr]

You aren’t going to believe this, but there was a small book written back in the 70’s called “Ecotopia”. As I remember, in that book, California, Oregon and Washington seceded from the United States.

People only had bicycles to ride and left them at their destination, so that someone else could use it. I don’t remember much else, including it’s wonderful? ending.

I think I tossed it, along with my cookies.

[Old Professer]

“The rules, which took more than a year to develop, are designed to shave $8.1 billion off Californians’ electricity bills over a 10-year-period. That works out to $30 per set per year, according to commission officials.”

8 cents per day!

[dragnet2]

Many of the 40-inch-and-larger sets, which use liquid crystal or plasma technology, consume vast amounts of electricity. The average plasma screen uses more than three times as much energy as a bulky, old-fashioned cathode-ray-tube TV.

Plasma TVs suck, they give off way too much heat, and are the gas hogs of televisions.

It's like running large flood lights in your living room instead of 75 watt bulbs.

Plasma might be nice to heat up the room in cold weather states, but not for me.

[dragnet2]

If there are any Freepers still living in Kalifornia you guys really need to get out right now while the getting is good.

Ohhh, sure... TVs are regulated so I should head to the Kansas plains or some fire ant hill in humid Texas... I'll start packing right away.

:o