California Decision Could Limit HDTV Choices Nationwide

[darczap]

On Nov. 18 the California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would require retailers by 2011 to limit sales of TV sets to those that consume about a third less power than they do today.


Since the public hearing on Oct. 3, industry groups have turned up the volume in opposition to the new guidelines. If passed, the best value in home theater HDTVs will disappear from California shelves and, some analysts figure, will ultimately cut consumer choices across the country.


The Consumer Electronics Association says the current CEC proposal would ban the sale in California of 100 percent of plasma sets larger than 60 inches and 25 percent of all today's large screen HDTVs.


For home theater enthusiasts, plasma offers the best value per square inch in screen sizes over 50 inches. A similarly sized, energy efficient LED TV, costs twice as much as a plasma television. Today, a 50-inch Samsung plasma HDTV can be had online for under $1,200, and the largest LED HDTV by Samsung at that same price is only 32 inches.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...icesnationwide

I think it's screwed up that plasma's have become more energy efficient, but they are not getting credit for being more improved.

[cheez avenger]

Retarded.


If this goes through, Amazon will be king of the HDTV market in California.

So long as Amazon never establishes a shipping facility here.

[vinnie97]

I think we have a thread on this already, unless there has been a new development.

that's liberalism run amuck...just sayin'..."the state knows best, peons, we will interfere with every conceivable facet of your life."

[darczap]

I think we have a thread on this already, unless there has been a new development.

that's liberalism run amuck...just sayin'..."the state knows best, peons, we will interfere with every conceivable facet of your life."

My bad. There is a discussion here too. Plasma Defense Coalition Calls For End To Misinformation

Update:
The CEC is voting on 11/18 to require retailers by 2011 to limit sales of TV sets to those that consume about a third less power than they do today.

[Lone_Gunmen]

Is this because of that carbon tax/carbon footprint nonsense?

[TheAnalogKid]

Awesome.

Note to every other state of the union: Whatever California does, make sure to do the opposite. We can all see how well their government has served them.

[MondayC]

that's liberalism run amuck...just sayin'..."the state knows best, peons, we will interfere with every conceivable facet of your life."

I am a liberal and this TV policy stands for everything I don't agree in. It's yet another example of "solving" a tiny roadblock instead of going after the big problems*. If anything, add a small tax onto plasmas to fund alternative energy.

[Actionable Mango]

Making California-specific models is too expensive. The cheapest way for manufacturers to meet these standards is a California-specific firmware that dims the backlighting by 30%. No new technology needed.

Most of the Californians will have dim TVs. Somewhat-informed customers will travel out of state or order on the Internet. Well-informed customers will figure out how to get into the service menus and restore the correct brightness. Local retailers will lose out.

As I recall there is an exemption for certain size TVs and larger. I cannot remember the size exactly. So I guess only the poor and middle class will get dim TVs. Rich people with their wall-sized TVs won't be bothered of course.

[8411usmc]

I am a liberal and this TV policy stands for everything I don't agree in. It's yet another example of "solving" a tiny roadblock instead of going after the big problems*. If anything, add a small tax onto plasmas to fund alternative energy.

Thats the answer, Tax it!

Then we can tax power strips, receivers, projectors, large speakers, amps...ect ect.


Tax is anything but the answer. If people are willing to buy products that consume more energy and they pay their higher electric bill whats the problem If everyone payed the same electric bill everymonth than taxing would be fair.

Tax for alternative energy funding.....please. While were at it how about a violent tv show tax to fund domestic abuse prevention.


Taxing. LOL

[darczap]

Thats the answer, Tax it!

Then we can tax power strips, receivers, projectors, large speakers, amps...ect ect.


Tax is anything but the answer. If people are willing to buy products that consume more energy and they pay their higher electric bill whats the problem If everyone payed the same electric bill everymonth than taxing would be fair.

Tax for alternative energy funding.....please. While were at it how about a violent tv show tax to fund domestic abuse prevention.


Taxing. LOL

Take gasoline for example. If everyone could afford to drive a Hummer H2, and pay the gas for it, what's the big deal right? The problem here is that the over consumption of electricity, or any utility for the matter, drives up the price of the utility. If you live in a state that caps elelctricity use as it is, this adds to the problem.

I would rather pay a nominal tax, then face extinction of plasma's all together. I'm not saying that's the end all answer to this problem either. The simple answer would be just to have the CEC acknowledge efficiency improvements in plasmas, and to have the manufacturers continue to seek improvements in the technology, and do it soon.

[8411usmc]

Take gasoline for example. If everyone could afford to drive a Hummer H2, and pay the gas for it, what's the big deal right? The problem here is that the over consumption of electricity, or any utility for the matter, drives up the price of the utility. If you live in a state that caps elelctricity use as it is, this adds to the problem.

I would rather pay a nominal tax, then face extinction of plasma's all together. I'm not saying that's the end all answer to this problem either. The simple answer would be just to have the CEC acknowledge efficiency improvements in plasmas, and to have the manufacturers continue to seek improvements in the technology, and do it soon.

They already have a gas guzzler tax. The only problem is that it doesnt create more of anything.....except revenue for the Govt to come up with more taxes.

Besides not everyone can afford the gas and price of a h2 hummer....nor a plasma tv. You know that they are planning on taxing soda and junk food right? Theres no snickers bars extinction emminent. Its all B.S. Fossil fuels arent going anywhere in our life time.

Having any sort of government regulations in tv's isnt going to end good for the consumer or the supplier. Just take a look at automobile prices in the last 10 years......so we can have standard 30 airbags cars that weigh 4000lbs that have to get 30mpg. The govt seems to think that anything can be done when you throw money at it. Last I checked Cancer and AIDS was a bigger problem than plasma tvs. How about a tax on syringes and condoms to research AIDS?

Give the government 1 foot of rope and they will take the whole spool and strangle you and your neighbors to death with it. Its just a fact and has always been that way.

[cheez avenger]

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_13815108

SACRAMENTO — Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators Wednesday adopted a first-in-the-nation mandate to reduce electricity demand.

On a unanimous vote, the California Energy Commission required all new televisions up to 58 inches to be more energy efficient, beginning in 2011. The requirement will be tougher in 2013, with only a quarter of all TVs currently on the market meeting that standard.

The commission estimates that TVs account for about 10 percent of a home's electricity use. The concern is that the energy draw will rise by as much as 8 percent a year as consumers buy larger televisions, add more to their homes and watch them longer.

Commissioners say energy efficiency standards are the cheapest and easiest way to save electricity.

"We have every confidence this industry will be able to meet the rule and then some," Energy Commissioner Julia Levin said. "It will save consumers money, it will help protect public health, and it will spark innovation."

TVs larger than 58 inches, which account for no more than 3 percent of the market, would not be covered by the rule, a concession to independent retailers that sell high-end home-theater TVs. The commission is expected to regulate them in the future.

Environmental groups supported the tougher standards and hoped they will prompt manufacturers to make new energy-efficient models for the rest of the nation.
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They said the rules would cut California's power bill by $1 billion a year, avoiding the need to build a 500-megawatt power plant.

Some manufacturers said implementing a power standard will limit consumer choice and harm California retailers because consumers could simply buy TVs out of state or order them online. Industry representatives also have said the standards would force manufacturers to make televisions with poorer picture quality and fewer features than those sold elsewhere in the U.S.

The televisions sold in California may simply be the models that already meet the requirements. In many cases, those also happen to be the more expensive ones.

"It could drive up costs," said Dave Arland, who represents the plasma television industry. "The ones that are super energy efficient are the ones that are more pricey."

Energy Commission Chairwoman Karen Douglas downplayed any negative consequences for California consumers, saying she expects the industry to continually increase energy efficiency for a wider variety of models.

"These standards are making TVs better," she said.

The average plasma TV uses more than three times as much energy as an old cathode-ray tube set. Liquid-crystal display, or LCD, TVs guzzle less — about 43 percent more energy than tube sets, according to a study by Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the state's largest utility. LCDs now account for about 90 percent of the 4 million TVs sold in California each year.

Under the rules adopted Wednesday, all new 42-inch television sets must use less than 183 watts by 2011 and less than 116 watts by 2013. That's considerably more efficient than flat-screen TVs placed on the market in recent years.

A 42-inch Hitachi plasma TV sold in 2007 uses 313 watts — slightly more than the power consumed by five 60-watt light bulbs — while a 42-inch Sharp Liquid-crystal display, or LCD, TV draws 232 watts, according to Energy Commission research.

Some televisions already meet the early standards imposed under the rule approved Wednesday. About three-quarters of the TVs — more than 1,050 models — sold today comply with the 2011 California standards, and more than 300 comply with the 2013 standard, according to the Energy Commission.

California has previously led the nation in setting efficiency requirements for dishwashers, washing machines and other household appliances as a way to address the state's growing electricity demand.

Utilities and environmental groups say the TV standards should head off steep increases in home electricity use and rising electric bills.

Each energy-efficient TV would save a household roughly $30 a year in lowered electricity costs. If all 35 million TVs watched in the state were replaced with more efficient sets, Californians would save $8.1 billion over 10 years, according to the Energy Commission report.

Televisions account for about 2 percent of California's overall electricity use. Requiring them to be more energy efficient would save enough electricity to power 864,000 single-family homes a year in California by 2023. That's enough for Anaheim, Burbank, Glendale and Palo Alto combined.

The electricity savings could help California meet the goals of its 2006 global warming law, which calls for the state to cut greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the commission's action as another signal of California's leadership on environmental matters. He noted that the state's per-capita electricity consumption has remained flat over the last three decades while energy consumption nationwide has increased.

"I applaud the commission for its hard work to enact these and other cost-effective energy efficiency standards that are not only great for the environment, but also good for consumers," the governor said in a statement.

[Blacklac]

I hope TV makers don't do this just so people in California can't buy TV and actually see how dumb their lawmakers are.

[vinnie97]

heh, I can see it now...the whole of CA trading in their perfectly working sets for those with better energy efficiency. To say nothing of the WASTE that would create.

[darczap]

Damn Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger probably has 6 plasmas himself.