Australia to possibly restrict Plasma and LCD TVs

Australia to possibly restrict Plasma and LCD TVs
In a recent Australian-government commissioned report, it was stated that plasma and LCD TVs consume more power than traditional CRT displays and it seems that "strict" regulations may be placed upon them by the government.

The report was the government's Equipment Energy Efficiency Committee's response to the country's "skyrocketing" energy consumption. The Committee also speculated that the TVs could overtake air conditioning and refrigerators as the major contributors of household greenhouse gases.



According to the report, TVs will need to have energy rating levels applied to them just as other household appliances do. The new system, set to begin next year, will restrict most current Plasma and LCD TVs from being used in the country.

More information when it becomes available.

Source:
BetaNews

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Oct 2007 19:59
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  • 35 comments

  • chaos_zzz

    what? no there are some crt hd enabled but not that big poor australian no hd for them

    11.10.2007 13:52 #1

  • simpsim1

    Originally posted by chaos_zzz: what? no there are some crt hd enabled but not that big poor australian no hd for them
    Unbelievable. It just goes to prove that whilst governments are getting lost in the whole global warming thing, that they forget about the benefits of these new technologies.

    Firstly, LCD TVs do not flicker at the rates that traditional CRT sets do. Therefore, we are protecting our childrens eyesight from the normal eyestrain that results from the 50-60hz flicker from the CRT. Not to mention the cancer risks (Minimal of course, but still there..) from the X-rays emitted from CRTs, or the extra landfill space taken up by these beasts compared to the compact LCD and plasma sets, which are mainly plastics and are easily recyclable.

    Another thing. The difference in power consumption for LCD sets is minimal compared to CRTs. Could it be that the technologically improved sets are seen as some sort of gluttonous excess by the liberal Australian government? A bit like the aversity by the British to the 4X4s perhaps.

    11.10.2007 14:29 #2

  • DVDdoug

    If my understanding of Australian culture is correct, the people won't put up with that! If it were Europe, they would just add a very high "carbon offset" tax. That way, the elite classes could have their big TVs without feeling guilty, and the poor masses wouldn't be wasting energy.

    Or, maybe they could put a timer on the TV. The bigger the TV, the fewer hours you can watch each day... Or, sensors on all of the appliances, so you can watch TV if you turn-off everything else.

    Here in the US, we (mostly) try to keep the government out of our lives, and we ignore them whenever possible. When Jimmy Carter was president we officially converted to the metric system. Our cars have KPH and MPH on the speedometer ((KPH in smaller numbers), and everything in the stores is marked with two units-of-measure. But everybody still uses the old (hard to use) English system of inches, feet, miles, pounds, ounces, gallons, etc. And, most of the road signs no longer have kilometers, or were never updated to kilometers. This is the American attitude/culture!

    11.10.2007 15:23 #3

  • DOUGHBOY6

    AMERICA *bleep* YEAH lol, we're part of the reason why global warming is increasing though :(
    but glad to know that we are apart of a possible Apocalypse

    ***foul language removed by creaky***

    11.10.2007 15:42 #4

  • vinny13

    You are the reason lol

    Your government still doesn't believe in "greenhouse gases". At least the Republicans don't anyways...

    11.10.2007 17:10 #5

  • gozilla

    people shouldn't read to much into this in all honesty. this is nothing more than a pre-election stunt to gain some support from greens.

    Quote:The Committee also speculated that the TVs could overtake air conditioning and refrigerators as the major contributors of household greenhouse gases. I some what find this impossibly hard to swallow. This comment is borderline sheer stupidly.

    11.10.2007 17:28 #6

  • phantasee

    I think it's probably true. Those things get hot.

    Also, Bush mentioned greenhouse gasses in a recent speech, so...yeah.

    If the gov't decides that they consume too much electricity, then good. We'll end up with more energy efficient TVs that can be sold here in North America as well. And why would you get angry, when it would lead to a lower electricity bill?

    Unless you own the electric Utility in Monopoly, I don't see how this is a bad thing.

    11.10.2007 17:43 #7

  • fungyo

    Would be nice to see manufacturers drop spending money on DRM and use that money for producing more energy efficient TV's.
    Consumers don't want DRM and I'm sure consumers would be more than happy to have a device which is optimised for low energy consumption.

    11.10.2007 19:09 #8

  • ZippyDSM

    gotta love the PC nazi regulation,soon cars will be limited for they hurt the earth >>

    If you are rich you can by pass all of it with money.....lovely....

    11.10.2007 19:52 #9

  • chaos_zzz

    Originally posted by fungyo: Would be nice to see manufacturers drop spending money on DRM and use that money for producing more energy efficient TV's.
    Consumers don't want DRM and I'm sure consumers would be more than happy to have a device which is optimised for low energy consumption.    there's alot of money being wasted thousansd of millions of dollars every year on reserach for mars plus another billion on keeping mexican people away from the us dude just plant bombs it's cheaper god dam pppl can't they stay where they borned i live in south america no plands to invade some other country plus many other that i dun really remember i jsut heard them the other day at college cuz of "save the earth " class

    11.10.2007 20:48 #10

  • scorpNZ

    It's not only an electionaring stunt in Oz the bloody politicians in NZ are going on about the same thing to also get votes for those with light heads who buy into the bollocks of global warming, i'd be more concerned with the emissions from ships those things switch the fuel they use to the lowest grade of fuel available when outside of country limits one can only imagine what that does o the health of the worlds air.

    11.10.2007 22:54 #11

  • morguex

    Originally posted by ZippyDSM: gotta love the PC nazi regulation,soon cars will be limited for they hurt the earth >>

    If you are rich you can by pass all of it with money.....lovely....
    Well there are some cars that should be regulated, I find it pretty sad when I see some idiot driving in downtown traffic with a bloody hummer getting 2.8 miles per gallon. Or as I heard someone say "nothing more than a mall assualt vechile".
    But as for the lcd and plasma tv thing, The power use between crt and lcd, plasma is very minor.
    And do they not use less power to manufacture in the first place?

    12.10.2007 07:35 #12

  • ZippyDSM

    Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: gotta love the PC nazi regulation,soon cars will be limited for they hurt the earth >>

    If you are rich you can by pass all of it with money.....lovely....
    Well there are some cars that should be regulated, I find it pretty sad when I see some idiot driving in downtown traffic with a bloody hummer getting 2.8 miles per gallon. Or as I heard someone say "nothing more than a mall assualt vechile".
    But as for the lcd and plasma tv thing, The power use between crt and lcd, plasma is very minor.
    And do they not use less power to manufacture in the first place?
    but then you get odd regulation on mopeds and lower class vechiles, a ATV is a perfect vehicle for 1 I hate motorbikes,2 wheeled at least but ATVs are stigmatized because they are "offroad" and the big land owners hate them so converting a ATV to a moped is out of the question half the time, and if you can afford the insane gas prices the stupid hummers/SUV then why not levying them would be more fruitful add on a extra 20G that will make sure only the richest soccer moms can have them :P

    12.10.2007 07:50 #13

  • simpsim1

    Do these governments not realise that by pandering to the whole "Green" taxation thing that the environmentalists are pushing for, that they are only further pushing the whole class war issue? By putting prices of bigger things out of the reach of people with less money they are simply compounding class differences. Surely a contradiction in terms for the typically liberal/socialist environmentalist types.

    12.10.2007 13:39 #14

  • rbrock

    Man do they live under a rock ? Always the forbidden fruit taste the sweetest. They will buy then underground anyway

    RBROCK

    12.10.2007 14:10 #15

  • ZippyDSM

    Originally posted by simpsim1: Do these governments not realise that by pandering to the whole "Green" taxation thing that the environmentalists are pushing for, that they are only further pushing the whole class war issue? By putting prices of bigger things out of the reach of people with less money they are simply compounding class differences. Surely a contradiction in terms for the typically liberal/socialist environmentalist types.the goverment is ran by the rich they see no trouble with it. :P

    For all the console/game fanboys out their.
    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles...Console-Rundown
    Oh god I can't stop laughing!!!

    12.10.2007 14:19 #16

  • edsrouter

    I got give it to Australia and any country that puts sanctions on industries who can't find better energy solutions. We are still in the "energy crisis" that was popular in the 70's. It hasn't went away. Back then people actually did something about it, even if it was just the little tips and tricks. Like turning off appliances such as the A/C when they're not home and turning off lights, and energy consumption went down. I've yet today to see an energy cell that puts out more energy than it consumes to manufacture the cell.

    13.10.2007 06:35 #17

  • dufas

    We have to do something very quickly about Global Warming at any rate.

    The Martians are set to sue the Earth for all those big earthbound TVs and SUVs that are causing the melting the Martian ice caps. It won't be too long until many Martians will be flooded out due to the rising water.

    The Martians originally thought that natural fluctuations of the sun was responsible for their melting ice caps but after viewing Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore's movie, they realized how wrong they were.

    The Martians, after studying the Earth, have decided that it would be best if the human species would revert back to living naturally, as nature intended. This would require huge adjustments on the humans, no TV, no hospitals, no clothes, no tools. They would be existing in a way similar to the caveman. Completely natural. Survival of the fitist. Except for selected politicians, entertainers, and elitists, all others would have to live as the Neanderthals have in the distant past when Earth was perfect.

    This will be needed in order to keep the Earth's average temperature at the level that Al Gore has assigned. There has only been one average temperature throughout the ages and if it takes such drastic measures to maintain this level, so be it.

    13.10.2007 07:49 #18

  • PaulPoole

    This idea that climate can change in few short years is suspect.
    A Judge in England has banned Al Gore's book being used in schools
    without guidance due to 9 'inconvenient' false statements
    it contains.

    Paul - UK

    13.10.2007 08:51 #19

  • forkndave

    Maybe I'm just stupid, but I can't see how a solid state LCD TV display could possibly use more power than my CRT projection TV with 3 CRTs in it does. Does the light bulb in the LCD display use that much power? I would imagine that the fillaments in the CRTs take more power than an LCD screen would. Most of the power consumption in a device using vacuum tubes is used by the fillaments that heat the cathodes in the tubes up. CRTs are vacuum tubes. They also reguire ridiculously high voltages which is not that much a concern unless you work on them. These high voltages are what produce the X-Rays.

    I'm sorry that I don't understand this. I have not actually looked at the placard on the back of both types of TVs to see what the power consumption actually is. I do know tha my first color TV that I got back in '65 had a power consumption of 700W. Lights would dim when it was turned on.

    13.10.2007 11:21 #20

  • borhan9

    Interesting concept i a, glad that i got my LCD when i did.

    13.10.2007 13:02 #21

  • simpsim1

    @dufas.... LMAO! Excellent stuff. Basically you have my vote... a little more cynical than I would have put it, but that's neither here or there.

    Yes I agree that we could discuss Climate Change politics forever. Whatever your thoughts are on it (and mine is one of great scepticism), the point of this topic is Australia's theory that restricting or banning the sale of flat screen technology could in some way reduce the damage that is apparently being caused to the planet by our sinful habits.

    Quote:The report was the government's Equipment Energy Efficiency Committee's response to the country's "skyrocketing" energy consumption. The Committee also speculated that the TVs could overtake air conditioning and refrigerators as the major contributors of household greenhouse gases.Just thought I'd comment on this part. The average modern 26" CRT set uses approximately 100 watts - equal in fact to its LCD counterpart. An older set of the same size can use upto 400w, which is roughly equivalent to a 42" Plasma screen. The same size in LCD uses about 200w. The average AC unit varies between 900w and 3.5kw, and a refrigerator uses on average 200-400w (and is switched on 24-7), so you tell me what the "Major contributors of household greenhouse gases" really are.

    My opinions come with no warranty whatsoever, but are totally open-source, so you can reverse engineer or decompile them as you see fit. All other rights reserved.

    13.10.2007 13:49 #22

  • raceman94

    But I those these TVs were susposed to use LESS juice than normal TVs.

    13.10.2007 15:34 #23

  • roego

    Originally posted by raceman94: But I those these TVs were susposed to use LESS juice than normal TVs.

    13.10.2007 17:52 #24

  • dufas

    simpsim1.............

    I am glad that you can recognize factitious humor...you would be surprised by the number of people that cannot.

    Where I live, I am surrounded by hard core Union workers from the oil industry. I was talking with one the other day and he brought up the global warming debate. He told me that something has to be done quickly or we will all perish. I pointed out to him that the oil industry is one of the big targets and if everything goes as the politicians plan, the oil industry will be cut down to a small enterprise. He said that would be OK and the union would protect his job. I told him if the oil industry is cut down, there won't be many oil jobs. He came back with "We'll just have to go on strike to protect the jobs and maybe get another raise..." No matter what I pointed out to him, he is sure that his union wil protect him from anything.....

    On another point...I have a Samsung 60 inch LCD/HD TV. It uses an array of white LCD lamps instead of a high powered incandescent lamp. It's total power usage is around 75 watts. This is about 1/3rd the power consumption of our 32 inch CRT TV. I think some of these scientists are just jumping on the green bandwagon, possibly looking for government grant money. Many of them did the same thing with food items. Eggs, potatoes, chocolate, oat bran, coffee, tea,and many others were all bad or an answer to some health problem at one time or another and then flipped around the other way later. Some flipped back and forth several times.....

    Here in the North western US, they stopped cutting trees saying that it would ruin the ecosystem and they wanted to protect the old growth trees. Funny thing is that many of those 'old growth trees', I planted when I was a kid. It was one of my first jobs..... One cannot believe everyone that has an agenda...

    13.10.2007 18:04 #25

  • roego

    I don't know all that much about the poer useage of all the TVs' available.
    Ido know that surveys I have read come down slightly in favour of plasma pic quality but also suggest power useage is higher.
    I have a Samsung 34 inch 100hz. Great picture(but very poor mechanics) and it uses 160W. I cannot understand why 100hz is not good enough.
    The actual stories are no better, most you only want to watch once.
    As for the power all TV should at least should have a power used rating as for washing machines, refidgerators etc.Even cars in Australia have the fuel ratings.
    As for the yanks heaping shit on the restof the world(they are the
    biggest terrorists in the world)they are denying themselves all sorts of freedoms , making the rich richer(especially a lot of no brains film participants),the poor poorer,mastering the art of corruption and very little interest in saving all the greeny things.
    Just be happy with what you have..get all the electronics people to make what they have excellent instead of spending billions in power, materials etc making things we do not really need.

    13.10.2007 18:05 #26

  • dufas

    Per square foot, a TV station or studio uses more power than most other businesses. Lets just cut them off and save the planet. Movie studios are notorious for not only using a huge amount of power but also emit more than their share of pollutants. They should be closed down also just to protect the planet. Then, no one will have to worry about their TV sucking up all that power, the greens will be happy, the politicians will be happy, everyone will be happy. Goom bye yah..

    13.10.2007 18:22 #27

  • wetsparks

    Personally I think that global warming is real, just not man made. Hell (pun intended), if we can have an ice age, why is it not understandable that there should naturally be global warming?

    But there was a video of a guy that was linked to the control-alt-delete homepage about global warming that I thought was spot on. It pretty much was that there are four possible outcomes.
    1) Global warming is real, and we do nothing to prepare ourselves and are probably fucked.
    2) Global warming is real, we prepare our selves, life goes on.
    3) Global warming isn't real, we do nothing, life goes on.
    4) Global warming isn't real, the money we used to prepare ourselves for that outcome is wasted, but put to better use than the money going into Iraq.

    Personally, I think the Aussie government should be putting their time into something more worthy, like maybe doing whatever the hell they can to help out their people, since I remember reading somewhere that they have been in a bad drought for a decade.

    God hates console fan boys.
    http://cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20050205
    -----
    May the way of the hero lead to the Triforce.

    15.10.2007 18:29 #28

  • simpsim1

    Let me enlighten people on my standing here. Yes I am a sceptic with all things "GW". I will admit that it is possible that the CO2 level in the atmosphere is increasing and that we MAY be responsible for it. I also agree that the Earth is in a warming period at the moment and may continue on that trend for some time. It's the argument about how those two different circumstances correlate, which is, as far as I'm concerned, very debatable.

    I've had many a discussion, most with very scientifically minded people who will argue about the subject until they're blue in the face. As I've said before, it's more about concensus than about proof, but because it's scientific concensus, we're forced to believe that it must be true.

    I don't for one minute think that we should think that the WHOLE global warming issue is a complete lie, but we should be far more objective than we are being alllowed to be. Anyone who is remotely sceptical is usually shot down in flames (Usually accused of either ignorance or being in allegiance with the "Evil industries"). But if the cause is really the energy that we humans are using, should we not be targeting the industries that produce millions of tonnes of CO2 every year as opposed to the ordinary families and households that the green campaigners seem only to be able to reach?

    As with most charity and similar advertising, we target the ordinary and less well off using "Pull the heart-string" type ad techniques. The same is true with the Aussie plan to limit certain electrical goods. The only people who will really be affected is the ordinary family at the bottom of the economic ladder who will not be able to benefit from new technology because the government has overpriced it with "Green" taxes. Those more fortunate (Or those richer) will either take advantage or get around it by buying abroad or elsewhere.

    Robin Hood in reverse I think, but in a far more cynical way. Who is really gaining here?

    My opinions come with no warranty whatsoever, but are totally open-source, so you can reverse engineer or decompile them as you see fit. All other rights reserved.

    15.10.2007 20:12 #29

  • ZippyDSM

    Just so I will get dissed, we do need to effect change in the indutry and lower overall pollution, however we can not do it on the backs of the working class.

    15.10.2007 21:18 #30

  • kuchu

    Originally posted by dufas: We have to do something very quickly about Global Warming at any rate.

    The Martians are set to sue the Earth for all those big earthbound TVs and SUVs that are causing the melting the Martian ice caps. It won't be too long until many Martians will be flooded out due to the rising water.

    The Martians originally thought that natural fluctuations of the sun was responsible for their melting ice caps but after viewing Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore's movie, they realized how wrong they were.

    The Martians, after studying the Earth, have decided that it would be best if the human species would revert back to living naturally, as nature intended. This would require huge adjustments on the humans, no TV, no hospitals, no clothes, no tools. They would be existing in a way similar to the caveman. Completely natural. Survival of the fitist. Except for selected politicians, entertainers, and elitists, all others would have to live as the Neanderthals have in the distant past when Earth was perfect.

    This will be needed in order to keep the Earth's average temperature at the level that Al Gore has assigned. There has only been one average temperature throughout the ages and if it takes such drastic measures to maintain this level, so be it.    How ignorant Martians can be? Right now it is their fault for burning those fossils and created global warming. It is the same thing that happened to those poor mammoths. They had a perfect frigging ice age and yet they couldn't appreciate the inhabitable lands. The mammoth were cannibals and grilled their own ancestors and created co2 as the by product. The result? Global warming and melted most ice. Wait. Maybe it was the cavemen who were burning fossil fuels as an experiment of creating Corvette. No matter what, it is the Martians' fault and not the ever changing, unstable universe. The sun is supposed to be at the same temperature for eternity despite the hydrogen fusion takes a lot of energy from its will-never-be-replenished core. The universe only consists of the earth and the martians and since the earth cannot change(despite the tsunami, eartquake, volcano erruption, etc) therefore we can simplify the answer by saying the Martians are always at fault and need to be wiped out just the way the environmentalists want it to be ever since the beginning they were formed. Even if a volcano eruption contributes more CO2 than Martians ever did, it doesn't matter. It is the Martians. Beware of the Martians.

    Originally posted by PaulPoole: This idea that climate can change in few short years is suspect.
    A Judge in England has banned Al Gore's book being used in schools
    without guidance due to 9 'inconvenient' false statements
    it contains.

    Paul - UK    I salute the Great Britain for exposing such conman. It was also the British television which showed "The Great Global Warming Swindle".

    15.10.2007 22:38 #31

  • forkndave

    Mars' atmosphere is nearly 100% CO2 and it sure isn't very warm there I realize that their atmosphere is very thin and they are much farther from the sun than we are. It must have really been cold there when they had an atmosphere similar to ours and liquid water on the surface. I realize what I'm saying sounds ridiculous, but I don't think humans can ever produce or reduce enough CO2 to change our weather signifantly one way or the other. Global warming exists for sure, but I think human causes are negligible as far as changing the weather. This is just my opinion and I guess I could be wrong.

    15.10.2007 23:17 #32

  • simpsim1

    Quote:I salute the Great Britain for exposing such conman. It was also the British television which showed "The Great Global Warming Swindle".
    ....Which is unfortunately as one-sided as the Al Gore film. A lot of the stuff in that documentary was debunked, particularly the bit about volcanoes (They don't throw out nearly as much CO2 as we do, as much as we'd like to believe it). However, a lot of stuff still hasn't been debunked (such as the fact that the most prevalent greenhouse gas isn't actually CO2 but water vapour), and enough questions were raised to get people talking about the subject more and not just blindly follow what they are told.

    My opinions come with no warranty whatsoever, but are totally open-source, so you can reverse engineer or decompile them as you see fit. All other rights reserved.

    16.10.2007 04:35 #33

  • borhan9

    The fact i tend to agree with this article that we do need energy ratings on TV's also it should become common practice.

    22.10.2007 17:52 #34

  • ZippyDSM

    we need moderation lets get to the middle ground of power consumption, the less we use the better we are off for the most part, BTW hows Australia's power grids?.

    22.10.2007 18:00 #35

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