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Domestic Appliances Guzzle Far More Energy Than Advertised, Says EU Survey (theguardian.com)
Chrisq writes: An EU study has found that many electronic devices and appliances use more energy in real-world conditions than in the standard EU tests. Often the real world figures are double those in the ratings. Sometimes this is achieved by having various optional features switched off during the test. For example, switching on modern TV features such as "ultra-high definition" and "high-dynamic range" in real-world test cycles boosted energy use in four out of seven televisions surveyed -- one by more than 100%. However some appliances appear to have "defeat devices" built in, with some Samsung TVs appearing to recognize the standard testing clip: "The Swedish Energy Agency's Testlab has come across televisions that clearly recognize the standard film (IEC) used for testing," says the letter, which the Guardian has seen. "These displays immediately lower their energy use by adjusting the brightness of the display when the standard film is being run. This is a way of avoiding the market surveillance authorities and should be addressed by the commission."
There are different ways of gaming tests. For example, if a CPU manufacturer knows that a particular test suite is likely to be used which does a lot of integer multiplications and not so many subtractions, they might optimize their processor to be faster with those instructions at the expense of others, resulting in lower real world performance but higher performance on the test. That would be a problem with the test.
However, actively recognizing a particular test film and then changing settings to lower image quality and energy consumption for that particular film, that's a whole different story. You can't blame the test for that, it's simply deliberate fraud.
What else are the testers to do? Show random films? Then the manufacturers will complain that the test for their TV set had more bright scenes and therefore was unfair to them. Tests have to be identical, so there's no way around using a standard film.
Not likely. Smart meters are one of those things forced upon consumers by power companies whenever they get an alternative power source like solar panels installed.
In California, they tried to force them on everyone, period. But they are shit. When they fail they fail in favor of the power company, or they let smoke and fire out. Meters that have been working for literally 30 or 40 years get replaced with "smart" meters that fail in 30 or 40 days. Not every time, of course, but way more than is acceptable. PG&E even gave a third party contractor the gate code so that they could come install a smart meter after we had formally opted out. PG&E is literally evil in every way in which it is possible — they do, after all, willfully kill people for profit, so this negligence is just the tip of a very large iceberg... which is melting.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Interesting how so many anonymous cowards are popping up to defend Volkswagen and say it's the evil US that's actually at fault and anyway everybody cheats on emissions, why single out VW just because they cheat more.
No, the US does not "lay down the law" for the EU.
The EU is not one country. It has many different countries, with many different regulations, which are different from the U.S. standards. Overall, however, Volkswagen recalled 8.5 million cars in the EU for cheating on the emissions tests, while they recalled only 0.5 million in the US, so, yes, they cheated in EU as well as in the US.