RIP rabbit ears
Home » Magazine » Good, issue 1 » The goods » RIP rabbit earsFlat-screen TVs are nearing middle-class must-have status, but there's a nasty side-effect: the gogglebox is no longer just a blip on the electricity bill
When I was growing up, my parents used to say television was bad for me. They meant Three’s Company. But there’s a new reason why TV is evil, and it’s got nothing to do with John Ritter. If you buy a flat panel TV, it could be bad for your power bill, and the planet, chewing through as much as three times more electricity than your chunky old CRT (cathode ray tube) set.
I used to rot my brain to bad American sitcoms on my family’s trusty Philips’ K9. It arrived in the early 70s, and outlived any of our cars, and even our cats—and it certainly didn’t worry the national grid.
CRTs use modest amounts of electricity and, because of technological limitations, topped out at 36-inch screen size models—basic by today’s standards. (By industry convention, screen size is still measured diagonally, in imperial.) Most families settled for a sub-30-inch model due to the CRT’s sheer bulk, so TVs were considered a finite drain on the nation’s hydro lakes.
But recently, anyone concerned about keeping up with the Joneses has been trading in their CRT for a flat-panel TV.
For the environment, that’s bad news. For starters, flat-panel TVs are inherently more power-hungry than CRTs. Worse, while CRT technology remained the same for 25 or 30 years, flat-panel TVs are in a full-on entertainment arms race.
Bigger, bigger, more, more
As manufacturing technology gets better and economies of scale kick in, plasma TV makers are bringing out ever-larger sets. Consumers who bought 40- or 42-inch plasma TVs a few years ago are now eyeing up 46- and 52-inch models. Manufacturers are trying to nudge more moneyed buyers toward 60- or 65-inch models.
Panasonic even commercially released a 103-inch plasma TV. I’ve viewed it in real life, and its screen is as large as a queen-size bed. Panasonic told me a gentleman in Hamilton bought two—for the same home.
For LCD screens, plasma’s rival flat-screen technology, it’s been the same story. Where once 26-inch and 32-inch models were the mainstream, today’s LCD buyer is tempted by new 40- and 42-inch models.
A Samsung marketing manager told me his company is selling around 4,000 flat-screen TVs a month in New Zealand. A Philips rep told me his company has a similar run-rate. Throw in the other A-list names—Panasonic, Sony, Pioneer and Sharp—and you’ve got some seriously fast adoption.
Many will buy their second, and no doubt bigger, flat-screen TV this year, spurred by the HD (high-definition digital) broadcasts offered by Freeview, and coming soon from Sky TV.
The picture might look good, but your power bill won’t. Your new flat-screen TV could cost you up to $200 more a year to run, compared to $50 or less for a CRT. By comparison, a new family fridge costs around $100 a year, says Energy Star New Zealand project manager Nicola Boughtwood. Results vary by model (see chart below), with big plasmas being the worst offenders.
A greener picture
A third TV technology is starting to emerge, and it’s much more power efficient than plasma or LCD.
Organic light-emitting diode (or OLED—say “oh-led”) screens were first developed for digital cameras—a gadget where power-efficiency is paramount—and have been a fixture on high-end models for a couple of years. In March, Sony released the first OLED TV. It’s only a hand-held model, and only available in Japan, but watch for this technology to hit the mainstream television market within the next two or three years.
Beyond that, some forecasters say our TV future will involve no actual TVs—at least as we know them. HP and others are working on laser projectors, which are able to display a big picture on any blank bit of wall. They’re also extremely power-efficient compared to the home theatre projectors of today (huge, huge power hogs), and much tinier too. Then, it’ll just be a matter of hiding the television when your kids want to watch Californication.
Going big? Choose better
If you haven’t already bought a big screen TV, you will. Most manufacturers have already shown CRTs the door. Here’s how you can minimise the damage:
1. Choose LCD over plasma. LCD is more power-efficient, and most pundits are also picking that LCD will win the technology war against plasma. LCDs have slowly closed the gap in areas like size, price and picture quality, where plasma used to have a clear lead. Sony has now switched all its manufacturing to LCD, while other TV makers have scaled back their plasma production.
2. Look for a TV with an Energy Star logo covering standby mode. Standby typically accounts for around 10% of a TV’s power consumption. Currently, an Energy Star logo on a flat-panel TV denotes that it uses 1 watt of power or less during standby (compared to 10–20 watts on some sets).
3. Look for an Energy Star logo covering active mode as well. From November, Energy Star ratings (wrangled by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) will be upgraded to cover a TV while it’s playing. Energy Star-rated models will use up to 30% less power.
4. Remember, bigger is not always better, especially for the average Kiwi living room. A 32-inch screen is most comfortably viewed at a distance of 2.5 to 3 metres. A 42-inch model will look overwhelming unless you can position your couch at least 3.5m away. A smaller TV could well suit your space better, as well as guzzling less power.
5. Recycle your rabbit ears. CRTs are dead nasty on the inside, full of lead, mercury, arsenic and more, so don’t put your old TV out on the street. Contact RCN & Associates, the only facility in the country that can separate lead from CRT glass. (NB. The advice given in the print magazine to get rid of your CRT television on eDay was incorrect. The eDay event is only for unwanted IT equipment: CRT computer monitors are accepted, but not CRT televisions.)
6. Watch less telly! And when you open a book or head for the great outdoors, turn your TV off at the set rather than putting it into stand-by mode.
