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The most popular posts on the Green Piece Blog are the ones addressing HDTV's and energy usage.
HDTV's are tremendously popular as people make the switch from traditional tube televisions to the flat, high-definition versions. Unfortunately, as electronics companies improved the visual performance of their TV's, they did not improve their environmental impact. In fact, an LCD or Plasma TV burns through 4 times as much energy as a traditional tube TV.
The technology companies are currently playing catch-up by introducing more energy efficient flat-panel HDTV's. The first company to build a more energy efficient HDTV is Philips. Their Eco TV provides owners with options like dimming the back light or capping peak light output to reduce energy consumption by as much as 30 watts compared to traditional Philips HDTV's.
CNET has also ranked HDTV's based on several categories of energy usage, such as watts per square inch and watts overall. Here are the best of each category...
- Watts per square inch of screen overall: Samsung HL-T5687S (0.12)
- Watts per sq. inch LCD: Philips 42PFL7432D (0.22)
- Watts per sq. inch plasma: Insignia NS-PDP42 (0.29)
- Watts per sq. inch after calibration: Samsung LN-T4665F (0.09)
- Watts overall, regardless of screen size: Sharp LC-32D44U (126.25)
- Watts overall, 40- to 50-inch screen size: Philips 42PFL7432D (134.04)
- Watts overall, larger than 50-inch screen size, flat panel: Olevia 252T FHD (257.29)
First, make sure that your HDTV is plugged into a power strip or wall outlet that you can turn off whenever you are not using the television. HDTV's uselessly burn energy while in "standby" mode.
Second, make sure you recycle your unused tube television. Don't just toss that antique in the garbage. Inside the tube TV is a lot of toxic metals and substances that can get into the water supply or spread in other ways to negatively impact people and animals. To find a nearby television recycling center, go HERE.
I am looking for HDTV's that can be operated directly on 12VDC (i.e. from solar panel). Going through a power inverter to convert to 120 VAC (which in turn gets converted back to DC inside the TV) is most inefficient. Size range from 22 inch to 42 inch is of interest. A total power consumption of 120 Watts or less (10 Amps at 12V) is desirable.
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