How much money will you save with a new green TV?


All TV makers are now offering a green TV. Usually they still sell their normal TV, and the new green model is offered at a premium. Some use LED technology to reduce power consumption, and some use all sorts of ideas like an optical sensor that knows if you leave the room and shuts down the screen (but not the audio), or an 'eco-mode' button that reduces brightness by 20%.



These are nice ideas, and we definitely want to see less power-hungry TVs. But is this really financial sound?



An Israeli newspaper has made the calculation, assuming that you watch 4 hours of TV a day. For example, Samsung's 40" LED TV consume almost half the amount of electricity when compared to their normal 40" LCD TVs (95W/h vs 175 W/h). The cost is more than double. The saving? around 1.2$ a month in the electricity bill (in Israel 1 KW costs around 12 US cents). In any case, it will take over 166 years to offset the difference in price!



For Plasma (PDP) TVs, the savings are more substantial. For example Panasonic's new 50" Plasma, which uses their neoPDP tech consumes 269 W/h compared to 555 Kw/h in an older model. They actually reduced the price, too. The monthly power saving is around 4.7$.



Obviously the new LCD TVs offer a better viewing experience, and new models always cost more than old models, but it seems that the money saving is minimal. 



OLED TVs will consume even less power than LED LCDs, but will be priced at a premium - at least until manufacturers can actually make them cheaper than LCD TVs (which should be possible, as they have a more simple design). I'm guessing that OLED TV companies need to focus the marketing on the image quality and thinness rather than the power saving of OLEDs...



Posted: Sep 23,2009 by Ron Mertens

Comments

Please pay closer attention to your differentiation of LCD technologies. Your statement "...Samsung's 40" LED TV consume almost half the amount of electricity when compared to their normal 40" LCD TVs (95Kw/h vs 175 Kw/h)" implies that so-called LED displays are displays which uses light-emitting diodes to create images, which is not correct. Liquid crystal panels are still the core technology behind LED edge or backlit LCDs or CCFL backlit LCDs. Only the lighting methods are different between the aforementioned models.

You're right of course. This is not a LED-TV but a LCD with LED as back-light.

Thanks!

Ron

"For example, Samsung's 40" LED TV consume almost half the amount of electricity when compared to their normal 40" LCD TVs (95Kw/h vs 175 Kw/h). The cost is more than double."

Ehm, just to point out a mistake there: 95kW=95000 Watts. If TVs actually ate that much electricity, I'd be a poor man by now >.

Right - I fixed that mistake. Thanks!

 

Ron