A few weeks ago I wrote how Panasonic’s plasma TVs have been made more energy-efficient by reducing the size of the plasma cells.

Whoops. Wrong. (Game show buzzer sound.) Turns out that’s not the case at all. Panasonic’s plasma TVs are still more energy efficient than its previous models. The company says it has reduced power consumption in its plasma line by 25 percent to 35 percent.

But reducing the size of the plasma cells didn’t do that. In fact, says Bill Schindler, vice president of electrical engineering in Panasonic’s plasma display laboratory, reducing the size of the cells actually makes a plasma panel less efficient. Basically, Schindler explains, you get more brightness in a plasma cell with more gas volume. “Plasma works more efficiently in larger volumes,” he says.

This was the major hurdle in making “Full HD” 1080p displays more efficient, because instead of having about 1 million pixels (or cells) in a 720p display, there are about 2 million cells, over the same area. The plasma cells had to get smaller, which would demand more energy to achieve proper levels of brightness--and this made a 1080p plasma display a highly inefficient proposition. That’s when Panasonic looked for ways to make more energy-friendly plasma panels, Schindler says.

The smaller cell structure of a 1080p display, in turns out, was the inspiration for better efficiency. So what did Panasonic do to make plasmas more efficient?

One of the company’s primary innovations was to make the walls between the plasma cells thinner. This created more space in each cell, which increased the efficiency. “This allows the brightness to be increased because there is more area available for the phosphor coating [on the back of the cell] and more volume for the plasma gas,” Schindler says.

That’s not all Panasonic did to cut power consumption in its plasma screens. The company also used better phosphors, changed in gas mixture in the plasma cells, and optimized the electronic driving circuits for better efficiencies. Panasonic won’t tell me its optimal mixture of neon and xenon gases; apparently that’s like Colonel Sanders’ secret recipe.

But the alterations Panasonic has made in its plasma line seem to be working. The units looked great at the recent CEDIA Expo.

About the Author:
Steven Castle - Contributing Writer

Steven Castle is a writer, editor, and humorist who recently completed Filthy Rich Things, a savage satire on our thirst for success and wealth. He is presently expanding his magazine work by writing more about alternative energy sources and green building.