On the Heels of a Bulb Ban, Europe Mulls Pulling the Plug on Large Plasma TVs

[babylonsister]

On the Heels of a Bulb Ban, Europe Mulls Pulling the Plug on Large Plasma TVs
By Leora Broydo Vestel


Panasonic unveiled a 150-inch, 6 ft. x 11 ft. plasma TV at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. Meanwhile, the European Union is planning to ban such units, which are energy intensive. (Photo: Getty Images)


European Union countries are close to agreeing upon minimum energy performance standards for televisions, according to reports this week in the British press. It’s likely the largest plasma models will be outlawed under the new requirements because of the extraordinary amount of electricity these units consume.

On the whole, plasma televisions use about 50 percent more power than those with liquid crystal displays.

“Energy-guzzling flatscreen plasma televisions will soon be banned as part of the battle against climate change,” noted The Independent newspaper. The new standards, expected this spring, will lead to a phasing out of the most inefficient TVs, and also establish a compulsory labeling system to identify the best and worst models, the paper explained.

On this side of the pond, the creation of a new national efficiency standard for televisions is in stand-by mode. But regulators at the California Energy Commission are proposing state standards that would require all new TVs use 50 percent less energy by 2013.

more...

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/on-the-heels-of-a-bulb-ban-europe-mulls-pulling-the-plug-on-large-plasma-tvs/?hp

[LeftyMom]

1. It's too bad more people don't go with rear projection.

Sure, you can't hang them on a wall but the new ones are very shallow and they use much less power than plasma or even LCD units of a similar size.

[Trillo]

4. The bulbs burn out. Little tiny bulb. Big replacement cost

IIRC, around $250+ for TV repair guys (who presumably know where to get a good price on them).

They also seem to dim before they burn out, at least some of them.

But they are much more repairable than the new Digital TVs, apparently.

[LeftyMom]

5. My Dad's LCD went out, after a few trys Samsung's authorized service guys had it replaced.

Like everything, these days replacement is often cheaper than repair, because manufacturing in BFE is cheaper than service people here.

[Trillo]

7. "authorized service"?

It used be the case that an electronic tech could come out of the Navy and open an independent repair shop. Now, I guess you need a lawyer on staff to draw up an agreement with big corporate manufacturer. yada yada

It's good to know that some things can be fixed on the new Digital TVs. A TV repair guy I knew bought a replacement module he thought was the problem with one, it cost him $500, it was no larger than a desktop computers video card, it didn't fix the TV, so he had to eat that expense himself. Several of these guys have told me the Digital TVs are largely disposable, though sometimes they'd "get lucky" with a repair on one of them.

They would tend to develop a large customer base that they'd need to keep happy, like "the only guy" in a town of 40000 folks. It was probably depressing for them to see this at the end of their "American Dream".

[LeftyMom]

8. It was only a few months old, so it was the people under contract with Samsung

to do warranty repairs.

[RC]

2. A couple of questions

How much power are we talking about for a plasma tv vs a LCD?

What about light bulbs for microwaves and refrigerators? 4 watt night lights? LED night lights don't put out enough light.

[LeftyMom]

6. Link:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-2.html?tag=rb_content;rb_mtx

[jpak]

3. If they ban plasma TVs - only criminals etc.

:evilgrin: