Giant Plasma Televisions Face Ban in Battle to go Green in Britain

Those giant flat-screened plasma televisions you see hanging around will soon be banned. Well, in Britain, that is. The energy-guzzlers will be banned as part of efforts to fight against climate change. The ministers told The Independent newspaper that minimum energy standards for televisions are expected to be agreed upon across Europe this spring and should lead to the phasing out of the most inefficient televisions. At the same time, a compulsory labeling system will be drawn up will be drawn up to identify the best and worst devices.

The moves, which follow last week's withdrawal of the 100W incandescent lightbulb, are part of a drive to slow the rapid growth of electricity consumption in homes by phasing out wasteful devices and introducing more efficient ones. Giant plasma televisions – dubbed "the 4x4s of the living room" – can consume four times as much energy as traditional TVs that used cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Source: The Independent

We have used technological advances to our benefit tremendously. Over the past 30 years, the number of electric appliances and gadgets in a typical home has almost trebled – from 17 to 47 – as a host of devices from scanners to security systems, cappuccino makers to computer game consoles have joined the more traditional kettles, irons, vacuum cleaners and cookers. The number of televisions in homes has also grown rapidly. There are reportedly 60 million of them, one for every person in Britain.

There is an obvious downside to this latest explosion of technology at our fingertips. The amount of power needed to run this electronic explosion has more than doubled in the same period, and the official Energy Savings Trust estimates that it will grow by another 12 per cent over the next four years.

The boom in flatscreen TVs, partly spurred by the digital changeover, is helping to fuel the increase, as is the growing size of the screens. The result is a high electric bill. Different makes and models of television vary in their use of power, but a 42in plasma television may use some 822 kilowatt hours a year, compared to 350kWh by an LCD flat screen of the same size. A 32in CRT, the biggest available, would use 322kWh. Manufacturers must respond by making their products greener.

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