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TV Manufacturers Accused of Gaming Energy Usage Tests (cbslocal.com)
The Natural Resources Defense Council has issued a new report accusing Samsung, LG and Vizio of "misleading consumers and regulators about how much energy high-definition screens devour, alleging that the televisions were designed to perform more efficiently during government testing than in ordinary use." The report "estimates that the collective electricity bills during a decade of watching the high-definition TVs will be $1.2 billion higher than the energy ratings imply," and that "the higher energy usage generates an additional 5 million metric tons of carbon pollution." CBS Local reports: The findings are based on an analysis of high-definition TVs with screens spanning at least 55 inches made in 2015 and 2016. The estimates on electricity costs are based on high definition TVs with screens 32 inches and larger. The study concluded that Samsung and LG have gamed the system during government testing in an effort to get better scores on the "Energy Star" yellow labels that appear on the sets in stores. Those scores often influence the buying decisions of consumers looking to save money on their utility bills. The report said Samsung and LG did not break any laws in their manipulation of the tests, but rather exploited weaknesses in the Department of Energy's system to measure electricity usage. The Samsung and LG sets have a dimming feature that turns off the screens' backlight during part of the 10-minute video clip used in government tests. But that does not typically happen when the sets are being used in homes to watch sports, comedies, dramas and news programming. The analysis also found that Samsung, LG and Vizio disable energy-saving features in their TVs when consumers change the factory setting on the picture, a common practice. The energy-saving feature is turned off, with little or no warning on the screen, sometimes doubling the amount of electricity consumed, according to the NRDC report.
The setting on my Samsung TV is called "Motion Lighting". It dims the screen when the image is perfectly still for more than a few seconds. It was, of course, one of the first things I disabled since it's absolute bullshit for normal use; it doesn't kick in for 99% of content, and when it does it's extremely disruptive, there's no reason static images should suddenly dim out of nowhere. I Googled it at that time (three months ago) and it seemed to be common knowledge that it was added to circumvent energy efficiency tests.
I'm going to have to vote "B" here, folks.
Correct answer. Energy Star certified a gasoline powered alarm clock in 2010. It's pointless pencil whipping operation; another collection of government lawyers sopping up a grand living from government teats.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
That is _exactly_ what the Utilities do. (This also goes for, at least in California, Water...)
Very few people want new Power Plants. They are expensive, troublesome, and take many years to design and construct. One of the points about the "Energy Star" program is to get some insight into future purchasing trends, which helps to forecast aggregate Electricity Demand. Take the simple Light Bulb. I've been testing a bunch of the new LED Lamps. Now any individual LED Lamp that uses ~12% of the Equivalent Incandescent Electricity doesn't make much of a difference, but multiply that reduction by the billions of Lamps now in use...
And that is _exactly_ why Power Companies underwrite the purchase of LED lamps to the point that they are now practically giving them away. My home and boat are now all LED. (Yes, some of the Tech sucks, and I've figured out a way to knock another couple of percentage points off...) To the Power Companies, this is cheaper and far less bother than planning for and building new Power Plants. Lighting, (Residential and Industrial/Commercial), alone used ~11% of US Electrical Demand in 1995.
I should put this Disclaimer out now- I worked for the DOE, but I've been Consulting on and off for both PG&E and WAPA for three decades. In the early Eighties, PG&E instrumented my house and started testing my usage. I got a few goodies to keep.
In that time, I've gone from ~15KWH a day to ~3.2. I am an extreme case; I live alone and am quite willing to put up with all sorts of nonsense, like the time the guy checking for heat losses to the attic put his leg through the plasterboard ceiling, next to the furnace. I took a photograph...
Now, back to LED Lighting. It takes a fair amount of Electricity to make the damn things, and when folded into the net Electrical Usage until thrown away, puts a dent into it. But note very carefully here- Most of these Lamps are made in China, using Chinese Electricity. In the last two decades, the demand for Per-Capita Electricity in the US has actually dropped, and is approaching European metrics. (There is a pun in there...)
This has been endlessly studied, and in fact there is a whole Country being experimented on now- Norway. Why is this? Norway has by far the highest percentage of Electrical and Hybrid Automobiles now, with plans in place to go all-Electric as soon as practicable. This means that Norway has to plan for the very long term just how much Electrical Demand there will be, and plan accordingly. Norway, as of now is a net Exporter of Electricity, most of it Hydroelectric in origin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Norway
Norway _does_ Import Electricity at times when it makes cents. (Sorry, another pun...) On a per-capita basis, Norwegians use more Electricity than any other significant country, because Norwegian Winters are long and cold. But because of careful planning, their Electrical rates are among the lowest of any Industrialized Country. It balances out.
I can understand that some of the Libertarian Bent can smell Conspiracy here, and for just this once, they are right. There actually is a World-Wide Conspiracy, that dates far before the Global Warming thing; in fact it dates back to the Nixon era, and Nixon himself. (Only Nixon could go to China...)
It starts with a Lightbulb, and then a Household, and then Communities, and then Countries, and then Continents, and then the World, all of the First, Second, and very significantly, Third Worlds, where Electrical Lighting is just now becoming a Thing.
Those who have Hydroelectric Power, even with the Ecological devastation that it entails, are sitting pretty. Instead of depending on the whims of a manipulated Fossil Fuel Market, they are subject to the whims of Weather and, (Wake up there, you in the third row...), Climate.
This Conspiracy, is for want of a better phrase, the Anti-Brady-Bunch Conspiracy. One brightly lit House, six kids, and two vehicles that get less than 10MPG are not a sustainable Model for the whole World. There just i