Save Energy, Read a Book: California to Regulate Energy Hogging TVs

TV has been blamed—with reason I think—for a lot of bad things, among them increasing obesity and short attention spans. Until this morning, though, I hadn’t thought of what television sets represent in terms of energy consumption. During peak viewing periods, like the Super Bowl, TVs in California use up to 40 per cent of the state’s electricity production, and on average TVs represent 10 per cent of a family’s electricity bill, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The main culprits are those increasingly popular big screen models—up to 52 inches—and new California standards, passed just before the first of year, will regulate them beginning in 2011. “LCD -- liquid crystal display -- sets use 43% more electricity, on average, than conventional tube TVs; larger models use proportionately more. Plasma TVs, which command a relatively small share of the market, need more than three times as much power as bulky, old-style sets,” the LA Times reports. The new regulations mandate more energy effcient sets, which could result in considerable savings on consumers’ power bills.

But maybe this is just another reason to turn the darn things off and read a book.