Televisions

Televisions contribute a significant amount to electricity use in the home. Following the tips below can make a big difference to the amount of electricity televisions use use. When buying a television never be afraid to ask for details about power consumption including standby power

Television Tips To Save Electricity

Turn the television off at the wall rather than leaving it on standby
Turn off the television when you leave the room for more than a few minutes
Turn the brightness and contrast down as far as possible consistent with comfortable viewing
Turn off at the wall DVDs, satellite receivers, VCRs, etc when not in use with the television

Although this was a few years ago the general principles and comments below still apply. In September 2007 our television packed up with a digital decoder failure. Although it was under four years old we decided to replace it with a a slightly larger one since the cost of repairing it was going to be at least £250.

General

Of the three main types of television available we decided to go for an LCD type (as opposed to plasma or CRT). CRT types are rapidly disappearing in the UK, they tend to be the largest, heaviest and can use more power than the other two types. Having decided on a size of 42" and compared the quality of about twenty televisions (LCD and plasma) we narrowed the choice down to four based on picture quality and ability to connect to peripheral devices. All of these had similar picture quality so we started looking at power consumption (in use and standby power). The ones with built in free view or high definition decoders typically had a higher power consumption so if you don't need these go for one without. One point to bear in mind when comparing picture quality is the fact the lighting in shops is chosen to enhance performance - beware of dim lighting and TVs with the brightness near maximum - if in doubt ask to view the TV in a different location, although they complain a lot of shops will do this.

Television Power Consumption

The electricity consumption during use varies quite a bit from TV to TV and it quickly became apparent we were not comparing like for like. It appears the power consumption is quoted for maximum brightness and contrast setting. A quick survey showed the shops set the brightness to give the best picture (for obvious reasons). The moral of this is set the contrast and brightness to 50% and then compare the televisions. Doing this narrowed the choice down to one made by Philips. Having purchased the TV based on the criteria above I then measured the power consumption and the results were to say the least surprising. Set up as we wanted the power consumption is 221W (specification 240W) and the standby consumption is 25W (specification 1.5W). The standby figure makes the assumption that standby is when the set is in a state able to be activated by the remote control. You only achieve the standby specification if the set is switched off (using the switch on the side) when the power consumption is 1W. THis seems to be a very liberal interpretation of the meaning of standby. The high standby current is not a problem to us since we switch the television off at the wall socket when not in use. Once again it also highlights the fact that 'Off' is not really off.

One lateral way of reducing television power consumption is to minimise the room lighting as much as possible so the television brightness can be reduced, also making sure no lights are shining directly onto the television.

For more information on standby power consumption of digital televisions the energy efficiency page from Digital UK provides some information, including a link to a search tool for specific models which gives information on standby consumption..

Television Running Costs

Our original television as measured used 275W (standby 2W), the new television as measured uses 221W giving a reasonable saving. If the television was left on standby the cost would be massive at480W per day (20W * 24 hours).