State Energy Laws Could Boost LED TV Sales
Several states have followed the example set by the California Energy Commission three months ago when it passed stricter power consumption requirements on all TVs in the state.
Washington, Wisconsin, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York have recently introduced legislation mandating similar energy efficiency guidelines.
Massachusetts and Washington have also expanded their bills to cover other home theater components, such as Blu-ray players and speaker systems.
While energy-hogging technologies such as plasma may be hurt by the new legislation, energy efficient technologies like light emitting diode (LED) TVs, will benefit, Munisamy Anandan, an analyst at consulting firm Gerson Lehrman Group, said in a statement.
Another potential boost for LED sales is the fact that LED displays are getting cheaper as manufacturing methods become more efficient, according to a new report released today by research firm DisplaySearch. This could translate into lower prices for LED TVs for consumers.
Samsung, the U.S. market share leader in LED TVs, has already begun producing next generation LED panels that already surpass California energy requirements scheduled to go into effect in 2011 and even 2013 requirements. The new energy-efficient TVs will go on sale this spring.
"We've been promoting a green LCD panel strategy for quite awhile – developing technologies that allow us to drop power down significantly, and at the same time, we're actually improving the picture quality," Scott Birnbaum, vice president LCD Business at Samsung, told TechNewsDaily.
Home theater components may also be subject to state legislated energy guidelines, but so far, the energy requirements only address power consumption during standby mode, when the device is not running but is still plugged into a power source.
While the state-passed energy laws are good for the environment, it would be more ideal if there were a federal law that applied to the entire nation, said Massachusetts State Rep. Frank Smizik.
"Manufacturers want standardization of laws," Rep. Smizik said in a statement released by his office. "They don’t want one state to be different that all others.”
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