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California is at it again.
State regulators just set energy efficiency standards for new TVs, mostly the big, flat-panel models that gulp kilowatts. As a result, consumers will save about $8 billion in the next decade in the form of lower electricity bills, while carbon pollution will drop by an amount equal to removing 100,000 cars from the road. As my dad used to say, “a penny saved is a penny earned” —so why doesn’t the Consumer Electronics Association, CEA, want you to get your share of that saved carbon or those 800,000,000,000 pennies?
The CEA fears that TV makers won’t be able to add more bells and whistles to future products, because such features might draw too much additional power. Given that I can already download every show, movie, and video game ever made—and control my entertainment center without leaving the couch—what else would next generation TVs do for me? Make and deliver the popcorn?In fact, if past is prologue, this new regulation will drive innovation in the form of exciting new technologies that can be adapted for other products. Past California energy efficiency mandates have not only made Californians 40% more energy and carbon efficient than average Americans, they have also inspired the invention of things like laser printing, a process that is now used to “print” layers of materials onto thin film for making new transparent solar panels.
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