In Australia, we can hardly sit through a news broadcast or read a newspaper without hearing about the rising cost of Electricity, Carbon Taxes, Carbon footprints and the like. We are now living in a time where one of the more important factors we should be considering when purchasing an exciting new Digital TV is the amount of energy it uses. All Digital Televisions are now required to display an energy efficiency rating label - but what do these really tell us and how can we use them to our advantage?
Energy Star Rating Labels
The Energy Star Efficiency rating label displays two very important peices of information. The first, and most noticeable, is the "star" rating. The simple notion is the more stars - the more efficient the TV is. But when we say "more efficient" we are referring about the TV in question compared to other TVs of the same size and technology. For example, a Panasonic 50" Plasma with a 4.5 star energy label will use less energy than a 50" LG Plasma with a 3 star energy rating. However, a 42" Panasonic which has a 3.5 star energy rating does not use more energy than it's bigger 4.5 star 50" brother. Its clear and obvious that the smaller TV will use less power, so the star rating is only used as a visual guide to compare power usage for TVs of equal size and technology. So what if we want to know how much power the TV actually consumes?
This is where the kWh number on the lower portion of the label comes into play. The number in the red square is how much energy the TV will consume when used for 10 hours per day - in recommended home viewing picture mode. The majority of Televisions on display in retail stores have thier settings on "dynamic" or "shop mode" which hikes up the contrast, backlight and brightness levels to make the image stand out in the crowd, so to say. So to achieve a fair and comparible standard when working out an energy scale for which to compare, the Televisions are tested and ranked when in standard home mode. This figure also includes energy used when the TV is on standby during the other 14 hours of the day.
Ok, so I can see this TV uses less power than the next - but how much am I saving?
The kWh rating on the label can be also be used to determine the cost of running the TV. However, we need information which cannot be given to each and every one of us on a label. How many hours per day do we intend to use the TV? How much is the current cost of electricity where we live?
A family who only watches a 65" Plasma 2 - 3 hours daily may well indeed use less energy and consequently spend less money than a family who have a 46" LED TV on for 14 hours a day. What this fairly obvious information means is that while the energy labels are a very useful tool and a great way to have panel manufacturers keep striving to improve efficiency, the actual results will vary from household to household. So we have developed a great simple little calculator to help you compare the actual running costs of up to four Digital TV screens, depending on how many hours you use per day, and the actual cost of electricity in your area.
Simply enter in the kWh figure from the energy label on the TV you which to compare, along with how many hours you think you will be viewing that TV on a daily basis. Then enter in the cost of electricity in your area, and you can easily gauge how much that set will cost you to run compared to three others.
Use our Digital TV Energy Usage Calculator HERE.
Improving the energy efficiency of Digital TVs will benefit us in Australia both economically and environmentally. The push by manufacturers to constantly lower energy usage of thier TVs has seen a dramatic decline in power usage year on year over the last few years. We all know that one major benefit of LED TVs is thier great efficiency, but even Plasma manufacturers like Panasonic, LG and Samsung have really lowered the energy output from thier current models, compared with thier offerings a couple of years back or more. Here is a fantastic link from http://www.energyrating.gov.au/, which lists the energy rating of every available TV model in Australia! Use this information with our own energy calculator, and you can easily compare any models you like in terms of how much they will cost you to run.
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