Green Your TV: Energy-Efficient TVs

It's fall and that means new TV shows and nonstop sports action. But while you watch, your carbon footprint continues to grow. This week's tips are about how to green your TV habits.

Tip #1: Buy Energy Star TVs

The greenest choice is to stick with that old black box until its end, but when it's time to switch, opt for Energy Star-labeled TVs. New or used, they save energy in both standby and active modes, consuming about 30 percent less than standard units. If you're in the market for an HDTV, stick to the smaller screens and rear-projection types, which consume less energy than LCDs or plasmas.

Tip #2: Use Power Strips

Tip #3: Recycle It

Tip #4: Watch Less

Tell us: How is your TV green?

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=664140923]

My tv is green because I don't have one.

[Marie]

My husband HAD to get a new TV about a year ago. My only requirement was that it had an energy star rating. We sold our old TV online.

[caroline]

My TV is green because I don't watch it much and have it connected to energy saving strip where I can switch off vampire useage.

[Kevin]

LED tv's (i.e. lcd with led backlighting) are now available, and are significantly more efficient than previous LCD and plasma tv's. You can find 42" screens that consume less than 100Watts. The same size Non-LED LCD and plasma tv's can use several hundred watts.

Energy star ratings are continuously evolving, with new requirements planned for 2010 and 2012. So make sure you find out the power rating, in Watts.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594919533]

Hmmm now have to go home and check my TV. I think it was energystar.

[twitter.com/LonaLang]

I don't have a tv either! As green as they come. My electric bill is VERY low!! :)

[Mike M]

Why is saving energy called 'green'? Do you mean 'green' as in plant life? The concept of reducing CO2 by saving energy is NOT a plant friendly act by virtue of the fundamental fact that most all plants enjoy having more CO2 not less. Even if CO2 'caused' global warming, (which Lindzen and Choi just disproved two months ago by disproving a major radiation assumption used in the IPCC climate models), warming is also generally better for plants as witnessed by the fact that the most bio-diverse areas on our planet are in warm tropical rain forests - not in the tundra on the north slopes of Alaska.

Sierra Club, by favoring the progressive agenda of world governance via energy rationing, is in fact ANTI plant life which is then automatically also ANTI wildlife. If you want to consider what actually happens to the environment when a centralized form of government ultimately installs itself, look no further than the former USSR and how much they 'cared' for the environment. Rich capitalist countries become the CLEANEST countries because they can afford to be so and they have to OBEY the will of the people. Communists LIE and will get as many useful idiots to support them until they have gained total control. And once the useful idiots are no longer needed - those will then be the first to be eliminated. Who will speak for the environment when free democracy is ultimately traded for a phony 'climate crisis'? Wake up before it's too late Sierra Club.

[Mike M]

BTW.. that study published August 26, 2009 by Dr. Richard Lindzen and Dr. Yong-Sang Choi is posted by Dr. Roy Spencer here- http://www.drroyspencer.com/Lindzen-and-Choi-GRL-2009.pdf

I suggest to everyone that you read and understand the implications of this study because it truly decimates one of the foundational algorithms used in the IPCC and NASA climate models. Those models all assume that increased ocean warmth will result in a reduction in the amount of heat radiated back out to space - i.e. a 'positive feed-back'. This study shows that empirical evidence points to the exact OPPOSITE of that assumption. As an engineer it tells me that a 'climate crisis' truly never existed in the first place.

[opimistic deb]

regardless of what is "green" and what is the real truth - a LOT of AMERICANS are greedy slobs and are veru inconsiderate what it comes to cleaning up after themselves. Lets tell it like it really is - it is not NICE to pollute and to WASTE our resources and to go about thinking someone will pick up after your lazy butt. Taking care of our planet is easy to do yet with people making comments like above it is so easy yet extremely SAD to see that these people really exist and probably are the most wasteful people on our planet. tisk tisk. May I ask, when is the last time YOU flicked a cig butt out the window while driving, or threw your plastic bottles in the garbage or picked up after you dog? My guess is an hour ago. How about the last time you went to the beach...did you walk right past that plastic bag or fishing line laying in the sand or pick it up? I thought so.

[mary wolfe]

I have an old Sony; 15 years. Still good; I tend to keep items until they fall apart. When it is time; I will get an energy star one. Mary Wolfe

[Marliss]

When my TV was not working last year, I had to decide whether to get a new one. I called a TV repairman who came to my house and fixed it. He asked what I do for a living, and when I told him that I was a college professor, he said that supported his theory: more highly educated people tend to repair TVs because they do not watch them as often, while people with less education--and often with lower incomes--will replace rather than repair. I wonder if other TV repair people have similar stories.

[Chuck]

I made a HUGE mistake when I bought a plasma TV a couple of years ago. I was so focused on the best picture and up-front cost that I never even thought of how much power it used. As a result I ended up with one of the worst consumers of power. I think it adds $10/month, by itself, to our power bill.

I wish I'd seen this tip then!!

[Mike]

Please be aware that so-called Energy Star ratings are determined by the manufacturers themselves. We should lobby for legislation that mandates third party or independent agency verification.

[Zig]

unfortunatly you can't trust the Energy Star rating because it comes from the manufactures and not outside sources.

Zig

[Brenna Hartmann]

We switched all of our older "tube" televisions to the LCD's. This does save some money and electricity.
Thanks for the article!
Brenna Hartmann
www.healthyhomesofrochester.com