James Delahunty
20 May 2007 18:28
According to a leading expert on Climate Change issues, Governments around the world should explore possibilities of placing taxes on Plasma TVs and other power-hungry devices to promote more energy efficient designs. Plasma screens are much bigger than cathode-ray tube TVs and consume about four times the power on average. Professor Paul Ekins, who studies the economics of climate change, said placing a tax on these screens would reflect their "greater climate change burden."
A CRT TV costs about £25 (GBP) per year to run and causes 100kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on average, compared to plasma's running costs of £100 (GBP) per year, accounting for 400kg of C02 emissions on average. Obviously, there is no easy comparison because of the size difference between plasma displays and others.
"At the very least you might think that government would provide some differential incentives to accelerate the development of more energy-efficient diode screens and encourage their take-up," said Professor Ekins, co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). "Once plasma screens are bought, they are likely to be there for five years at a minimum - perhaps 10 years, perhaps longer."
The issue of climate change has made "power consumption" an important consideration when buying new consumer electronics equipment for many consumers. Display technology currently being developed for the CE market like surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SED) and Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) screens tout lower power consumption than their rivals as a selling point for consumers.
Source:
BBC News