In advance of the World Cup which started last week in South Africa, many people having been going to the shops to buy themselves new television set - and many will still be planning to do so in the coming days. Firstly, let's be clear - we do not encourage people to get rid of their cathode tube TVs if they are still working well. The increasingly popular super size TVs in particular can turn out to be very costly: hundreds of Euros in extra electricity bills over the years. Also, super size TVs and other gadgets are partly responsible for growth in electricity demand, with obvious consequences for the environment. And, changing your TV set obviously contributes to the growth in electronic waste.
However, we think that people who are chosing to buy their new TV sets - whether because of the World Cup, or the digital switchover (which however does not mean old TVs won't work) or because the old one is really broken - should have access to better energy efficiency labels and be able to chose more efficient TVs.
New labels and minimum standards for TVs will come into force soon, thanks to the Eco-Design Directive legislation. Sadly this is not soon enough to help for this specific sporting event, so campaign organisations around Europe are holding their very own competition to help football fans buy more efficient TVs. In the Netherlands, where one of these competitions was held, the winners were LED TVs, with LG, Samsung, Sharp and Philips leading in three different size categories.
In practice, football fans looking to save energy and money are best off buying a LED-TV with a power consumption below 100 Watts, since these are the most efficient in all sizes (26’, 32’, 37 inch). The average cost difference over the life time between the winners of our television teams and the average in the market is around € 200 on your utility bill.
LG is the winner of the 26’ team, with 70% more efficiency than the least efficient models still sold. Samsung is first at the medium-sized televisions of 32’, while Philips is leader of the pack of the largest screens of 37’. Still, the larger the screen, the more energy is used. A 93’ Samsung plasma TV causes up to €1350 electricity costs after its 10 years of average usage.
For Dutch speakers, the full list of super–efficient TV options are downloadable here.
Similar initiatives are taking place in France, Germany, Spain (run by Ecodes and WWF), Belgium and Slovenia.
Partial list of media coverage around Europe:
Netherlands:
http://www.allesduurzaam.nl/nieuws/bericht/620/tv_vervangen_voor_het_wk_koop_een_led_tv
http://www.voordewereldvanmorgen.nl/site/TV_vervangen_voor_het_WK_Koop_een_LEDtv/list_messages/2999
Spain:
http://blogs.elpais.com/eco-lab/2010/06/el-televisor-con-led.html
http://www.efeverde.com/esl/contenidos/noticias/28-mayo-2010-13-34-00-ecologistas-piden-etiquetado-energetico-para-televisores
http://www.consumer.es/web/es/medio_ambiente/2010/05/29/193430.php
http://www.hoytecnologia.com/noticias/ecologistas-ECODES-consideran-para/176142
Germany
http://digitalleben.t-online.de/flachbildfernseher-bund-fuehrt-uebersicht-zum-stromverbrauch/id_21353604/index
http://www.wunschliste.de/news/8166
http://www.digitalfernsehen.de/news/news_918150.html
Slovenia
http://www.energijadoma.si/znanje/zanimivosti/okolju-prijazno-gledanje-svetovnega-prvenstva-v-nogometu
http://www.lifestylenatural.si/955/TOP-11-energetsko-ucinkovitih-okolju-prijaznih-TV-sprejemnikov
[Notes: Energy costs calculations based on an average German electrity price of 23.6ct/kWh]