Inefficient HDTVs Could get the California Ban-Hammer

I love my HDTV like crazy. It's maybe one of the best purchases that I've ever made. Since I bought it though, I've watched prices fall to ridiculously low levels, and more and more people are starting to turn up with these works of beauty. With everyone getting their hands on these television sets, it makes you wonder how much energy they consume...

The California Energy Commission has proposed that all energy inefficient HDTVs should be banned from being sold in stores starting in 2011, citing a lack of proper regulation for current HDTV models. While many TV manufacturers do adhere to Energy Star standards, the CEC argues that those are not as rigorous as they should be, and allow a fairly generous watt usage.

Currently, the only real restrictions on these TVs is when they are in standby mode, which is only about 3.0 watts. Unfortunately, "energy used in standby mode only represents about 5 percent of all TV energy consumption." Right now there are many energy-hogging HDTVs in the market, specifically plasma TVs, which use quite a bit more power than LCD's do.

Hopefully this proposal leads to more "green" TVs being produced in all different formats. As the growth of HDTV continues, it becomes more crucial to lower the energy consumption from each unit. To read more, check out the article at Wired.