Recently Filed in Green Technology

Want to save energy, but still want your HDTV? Today you can have both high-quality high-def viewing and energy savings. If there’s a blue Energy Star logo on the latest TV you’re eyeing, you know it meets stringent power requirements. And you shouldn’t have to worry about performance being compromised. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) television typically requires much less power than plasma, which has seen makers Pioneer and Vizio drop the technology within the past year. LCDs are becoming more and more efficient, thanks… View this story
LCD • Plasma • Green Technology • Info and Answers • Slideshows

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

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

Have your TV professionally calibrated, and it will not only look better, it can save you some money in energy costs. Recent THX research demonstrated in all cases that a calibrated viewing mode consumed less energy than “vivid” and “dynamic” modes. The approximate savings for consumers ranged from 15 percent 50 percent, resulting in savings of up to $40 to $50 per year. The annual consumption and cost calculations are based on four hours of use per day and $0.1136 per kilowatt hours (kWH), which… View this story
Displays • LCD • Plasma • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Building a house can be a major stress-inducer. There are almost always setbacks, cost overruns and other unexpected angina producers. Stir in the prospect of building green, and those setbacks can become lengthy delays, cost overruns can become major budget busters, and the angina—well, let’s not even think about that. Despite the dangers, Kimberly Lancaster and Joe Hageman have bravely waded into green home building—even incorporating home technologies to make their soon-to-be completed coastal Rhode Island home as energy-efficient and sustainable as possible (click here… View this story
Home Control Systems • Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

Energy efficiency and technology are big topics at this year’s Greenbuild show taking place in Phoenix, Ariz., where the movers and shakers of the growing green movement are urging attendees to go beyond plucking the “low-hanging fruit” of energy savings and take the extra steps toward deep energy savings. “We are in a time now where we really have to make big changes,” said Al Gore, in the show’s opening plenary session on Wednesday night. “It’s time for us to shift to a new kind… View this story
Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • Power Management • Home Control Systems • Green Technology • 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

Want a “net-zero” home that produces all of its own electricity? No problem. You just estimate how much energy you’ll use, then buy enough solar panels to produce all the electricity for your needs, right? If there’s some energy-efficient home technology, like a home control system that shuts things off and some lighting control, even better. But what if, say, you worked backwards on that as did Jabar McKellar of Envision Solution in Dublin, Calif. McKellar designed a system in this 4,300-square-foot home, in which… View this story
Home Control Systems • Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

The world lives, eats and breathes for new technology. It’s what CE pros and enthusiast consumers do every day. The pursuit of technology is relentless. Everyone wants the latest in electronics, from flat panels to iPhones. It’s great news for integrators because it means upgrades, upgrades, upgrades. But are some of those upgrades even worse than the previous technology? A recent study revealed that in an effort to save fuel, trans-Atlantic freighters have cut their average speed to 10 knots. But cargo sailing ships from… View this story
Fixtures and Switches • Green Technology • Movies and Music • Info and Answers

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, where electricity usually isn’t an issue, you’ve probably heard about standby, phantom, or vampire power. (They’re all the same thing.) It’s the phenomenon that occurs when your home electronics or appliances continue to consume power—even when they’re “off.” This is caused by ghostly apparitions, pixies and blood-sucking ghouls who perpetrate this when we leave our electronics alone or go to sleep. Just kidding. Standby, phantom, or vampire power—whatever you want to call it—is caused by digital clocks, LED… View this story
Power Management • Line Conditioners • Surge Protectors • Home Control Systems • 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

Home energy monitoring may be about to go mainstream. It’s made it into at least one spec home, this one constructed by Mark Johnson Custom Homes in Wilmington, N.C. It’s part of a green home that the builder intends to make LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, meaning it has many eco-friendly and sustainable features, from the insulated concrete form (ICF) walls to low-flow water fixtures to a rainwater harvesting and underground irrigation system that will save $70 to $100 a month in… View this story
Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes