CE Association on California HDTV Ban: It's Stupid. We
Agree

post from Fast Company on 19 November 2009 11:30:54 AM. © Fast Company

The Consumer Electronics Association has publicly reacted to California legislators' ban on inefficient TVs by saying "You're all dumb, with about the same grasp on technology as Homer Simpson." I'm paraphrasing, but the CEA has a point.

102-inch tv

The California Energy Commission just voted to limit sales of HDTVs to those that meet its energy efficiency criteria, starting in 2011. So far so good. But then the CEC strayed into la-la land, voting in an additional measure to potentially ban the sales of TVs greater than 58-inches, starting in 2013. So, yes: Officials are making a law dictating the size of your TV. Never mind all of those Barco projectors and 7-way Dolby sound systems that gulp down 500 watts ore more every time a Hollywood mini-mogul powers up his home theater. Sounds crazy right?

The Consumer Electronics Association thinks so. Its SVP for industry affairs Jason Oxman says his association is "extremely disappointed" in the decision. So, presumably, are its vested interests. But Oxman goes on to say that this is simply "bad policy" that's "dangerous for the Californian economy" and decries the fact that "The commissioners repeatedly rebuffed attempts from the CE industry to provide input or correct the litany of errors and flawed assumptions upon which these misguided regulations are based." It's not hard to imagine this law being bandied about by a bunch of politicians whose living rooms all have beta max players that blink "12:00 a.m."

But what of these flawed assumptions? Are the HDTVs we're all buying like crazy just really energy-munching monsters that are bad for the planet? The answer is, of course, no. The CEC is kinda wrong. But the story is complicated, as you might expect, because it depends on what technology is powering your TV as much as how big it is. Oddly enough, those hulking old cathode-ray tube (CRT) TVs we used to own are not too dissimilar in power-hungriness than some flat-screen TVs... so it's not that switch-over that's important. More telling is that CRTs were size-limited by technology and by how much space the damn things took up--a situation HDTVs don't suffer, hence we're all up-rating our TV screen size. And, roughly speaking, bigger screens do eat up more electricity, especially plasma ones since their energy-consuming light-emitting pixels scale up as you increase the size. That's what the CEC is worried about.

But different TVs of the same size from different makers use different amounts of power, and even within manufacturer product lists there's a great variation. Newer TVs that incorporate new lighting systems (like LEDs for LCD screens) also tend to eat less power, and that's a constant downwards trend exhibited as the screens themselves get shallower--since there's less room for cooling ventilation behind them.

In other words, tackling a vast, complex field the CEC has made a blanket ruling that bears little relation to the fine details of the products it affects. And that's just talking about current technology: As TVs get thinner, and display technology gets cleverer, the same size of screen will both look better and eat less power. That's as true for TVs made next year versus this year's crop as it will be in 2013. The situation will get particularly silly when OLED technology is the norm for TV screens as its power consumption is potentially way lower than existing tech can offer. And it's at this point that you can begin to see the CEA's point.

As Eddie Izzard once warned at a show in San Francisco, speaking of over-zealous legislating: "No smoking in bars now, and soon no drinking and no talking. Be careful California! You're supposed to be the crazy state, the out-there, the wild ones you know!" And soon you shall all have small TVs too.

[Via CEPro]

Image: Gizmodo