Green group pushes for flat-screen televisions to show power use by law
Cheung Chi-fai – Updated on Jan 31, 2009 – SCMP
Flat-screen televisions should carry mandatory energy-efficiency labels, a green group says, as concern grows about how much power the sets use. The call comes as the European Union considers banning plasma television sets that waste energy and requiring other types of sets to carry energy-use ratings.
In the United States, a new standard measuring the power consumption of televisions was introduced in November. Sets are not given an Energy Star label unless they attain prescribed limits.
The US standard was introduced amid rising concern about a surge in power usage as televisions became bigger, with screen sizes up to 70 inches. This is coupled with rising television ownership per household, the introduction of digital broadcasting and changing viewing habits.
In Hong Kong, while televisions consume less electricity than air conditioners and refrigerators, they still accounted for about 5.5 per cent, or 547 gigawatt-hours, of aggregate power use in homes in 2006. They used more power than electric heaters, washing machines, rice cookers and clothes dryers, which accounted for 0.8 to 4.5 per cent, according to the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department.
Hahn Chu Hon-keung, environmental affairs manager of Friends of the Earth, said televisions should be given priority to carry mandatory energy labels since they had become essential appliances in the home.
“We have seen a growth of household power consumption attributed to different sorts of electronic products at home,” Mr Chu said. “Digital broadcasting has triggered a wave of TV replacements and it is good timing to expand the labelling scope.”
He said the current voluntary energy-efficiency labelling scheme for televisions was insufficient as the products only had to meet minimum standards on standby power mode. Even so, the label’s penetration rate was just 15 per cent, meaning fewer than two out of 10 televisions had been labelled. In shops, picture quality is usually highlighted and little is explicitly stated about power performance.
The city passed a law last year requiring producers and importers of air conditioners, fridges and compact fluorescent light bulbs to report energy usage levels under a mandatory labelling scheme.
A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said it had yet to decide the coverage of the second batch of products in the scheme. He said the department had noted that some countries were considering plans to restrict the sales of plasma televisions, and it had also been monitoring the development of energy efficiency standards for television sets.
“We will keep a close watch on relevant developments and review the position of Hong Kong, taking into consideration local factors including market demand and availability of substitutes,” he said.
The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department also said it was still reviewing the new US standards and corresponding test procedures. It advised consumers to buy lower-wattage sets or ones with smaller screens if they wanted to save energy.