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The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has vowed to pursue legal and legislation solutions to yesterday’s decision by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to impose energy-efficiency requirements on TVs sold in the state. The standards require that new televisions sold in California consume 33 percent less electricity by 2011 and 49 percent less electricity by 2013. The standards affect only those TVs with a screen size 58 inches or smaller. For example, a 42-inch screen would consume 183 watts or less by 2011 and 115 watts… View this story
Displays • LCD • Plasma • Industry • Manufacturers • Dealers • Retailers • Green Technology • Info and Answers

CE retailers are banking on the day after Thanksgiving being not black, but Blu Friday. Blu-ray player prices are being slashed and blockbuster titles on Blu-ray will be going for $8 - $13. The cost of entry is dropping to where the average consumer can finally justify putting some HD content on that plasma or LCD. Best Buy, now running its own Deal of the Day leading up to the Holidays, is offering the LG BD370 player for a low $129 with free shipping, today… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Industry • Retailers • Deals • Product News

Zip Express Installation has scored another win for its home entertainment and networking installation business. The company has partnered with Shopko, a $2 billion regional retailer of everything from pharmaceuticals to optical services to home entertainment gear. Shopko, headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., has 136 stores in 13 states throughout the Midwest, Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions. With the deal, Zip strengthens its furniture assembly and regular old “white glove” delivery offerings in its roster of services. Furniture assembly starts at $130. Shopko customers can… View this story
Computer Systems • Computers • Displays • Flat Panel • HDTV • Furniture • Industry • Installers • Retailers • Info and Answers

The California Energy Commission (CEC) today voted to enact restrictions on the sales of energy-hogging TVs up to 58 inches in screen size. The new restrictions will limit the sales of TVs in the state to only those that meet energy requirements, starting in 2011. A second, stricter phase of requirements is slated to go into effect in 2013, and could include restrictions on sets larger than 58 inches in size. The vote by the CEC culminates a months-long battle fought contentiously by the Consumer… View this story
Displays • LCD • Plasma • Industry • Manufacturers • Dealers • Retailers • Green Technology • Info and Answers • Product News

The Tweeter brand is up for grabs. The Canton, Mass.-based specialty electronics retailer that once had nearly 200 locations across the U.S. shut its doors in Dec. 2008. However, it’s possible that its brand soon will be back from the dead. Atlanta-based liquidator Apto Solutions is accepting bids for Tweeter’s intellectual property, including its name and URLs, according to Christopher Re, VP of business development for Apto. All bids are due by Nov. 30, 2009, says Re, who is handling the bidding process. “Then a… View this story
Industry • Retailers • Info and Answers

What are the biggest energy hogs among electronics? Contrary to common “wisdom,” it’s not data centers for the Internet and large, commercial IT operations that are the biggest energy users among electronics today, says Bruce Nordman of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “By my estimates, data centers are perhaps 20 percent of electronics’ energy use.” In other words, the great majority of our energy use is not in data centers, but in our buildings and homes. Nordman has been collecting figures from various reliable sources… View this story
Computer Systems • Displays • Industry • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

The California Energy Commission (CEC) delayed a vote on setting new energy-efficiency standards for TVs in the state, planning to now address the issue at its Nov. 18 business meeting. The Commission is considering proposed sales restriction for energy-hogging TVs that will be imposed in two tiers, in January 2011 and January 2013, though the first phase of restrictions will not include TVs larger than 58 inches. Click here to read the proposed energy requirements. The proposal has generated much controversy, pitting the environmental advocates… View this story
Displays • Flat Panel • HDTV • LCD • Plasma • Industry • Manufacturers • Dealers • Retailers • Green Technology • Info and Answers • Product News

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) hails the smart grid as one of “5 Technology Trends to Watch” in 2010. The CEA’s annual list is a barometer of emerging technologies. CEA research finds that 70 percent of Americans are concerned about the cost of their monthly electricity bill, which is predicted to rise with growing demand. In writing on the smart grid, Chris Ely states: “Energy efficiency and green-energy production (including solar, wind and hydro) is a growing component in national energy policy. In fact, the… View this story
Industry • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Almost everyone by now knows the long-term benefits of a smart grid: It will displace much of our country’s oil imports and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But arriving there could take decades. Even arriving at a workable smart grid is a massive undertaking, necessitating the establishment of hundreds of standards so the grid’s many pieces and parts can work together in a reliable and secure way, according the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in its draft of a Framework and Roadmap for Smart… View this story
Home Control • Industry • Networking and Communication • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

The fight over proposed sales restrictions of energy hogging TVs in California is raging on, with both sides making impassioned cases before the California Energy Commission (CEC) in a public hearing yesterday, Oct. 13. The CEC has proposed limiting the sales of TVs in the state to only those that meet energy-efficiency standards, starting in 2011 and with a second, stricter tier of requirements in 2013. Trade groups such as the Consumer Electronic Association (CEA) and the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) oppose… View this story
Displays • LCD • Plasma • Industry • Manufacturers • Installers • Dealers • Retailers • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

You’ve probably heard of this smart grid. It’s coming. And with it, we’ll be doing a lot more home energy management. The smart grid is a way to enable a more efficient distribution of our electric power, and can save the United States a lot of energy that’s wasted in inefficient systems and transmission. And although a lot of it will happen behind the scenes, it will affect each and every one of us. Here are three things you need to know: 1. The smart… View this story
Industry • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Technology companies placed in four of the top five spots in Newsweek’s survey of the greenest top 500 corporations in the United States. That’s great news, though a few of the top green dogs may be no surprise: Hewlett-Packard and Dell, ranked number one and two, respectively, have had strong environmental and recycling policies in place for years. Some of the other rankings in the survey may surprise you. Microsoft beat out Apple, and Yahoo topped Google. AT&T and Apple failed to break into the… View this story
Industry • Manufacturers • Retailers • Green Technology • Info and Answers