There are several existing industry test procedures for measuring TV power consumption with 2D content, but little is known of the impact 3D content has on power consumption. 3D TVs have seen a steady growth in shipments since 2009, spurred curiosity over the power consumption associated with these products.

The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative launched the first SEAD Global Efficiency Medal Competition for televisions in 2012, a global competition that enables the market to move toward higher efficiency by spurring innovation among manufacturers and increasing the market share of efficient products.

The first SEAD Global Efficiency Medals were awarded to the most energy efficient flat-panel televisions. This competition encouraged the production and sale of super-efficient TVs in three different size categories and four geographical regions (Australia, Europe, India, and North America), and recognized an overall global winner for each size category and for the most efficient emerging technology product. Global award-winning TVs are 33-44% more efficient than TVs with similar technology.

As the only global mark of energy efficiency, the Global Efficiency Medal has the potential to make a significant impact on energy savings. The competition also helps consumers easily identify the most efficient products across a region, and recognize these products as global leaders in energy efficiency. Through the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition, policymakers and utilities can identify industrial potential on energy efficiency improvement in selected product groups and design appropriate policy measures to drive the market towards greater efficiency.

The Assessment of SEAD Global Efficiency Medals for Televisions report is a study conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to determine whether the objectives of the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition were met. This report details the policy implications of the competition including the following findings:

• SEAD award-winning TVs present significant efficiency improvement potential
  The award-winning models are 22-59% more efficient than TVs with comparable technology, and 32-71% more efficient than TVs with conventional technology.
• The Global Efficiency Medal competition can accelerate manufacturers’ on-going efforts in efficiency improvement and cost reduction throughout the production year.
• The Global Efficiency Medal helps realize energy savings potential
  If all TVs sold were as efficient as the SEAD award-winning models, more than 84 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity would be saved worldwide in 2020. That’s equivalent to taking nearly 12.3 million cars off the road for a full year.
• SEAD drives energy efficiency, cost effectively
  The commercially available winning TV models in the U.S. were found to be cost effective to consumers.

For more information, please visit superefficient.org.

Total residential electricity consumption in China has increased more than 10% per year since 2007. This is mainly due to wider use of electric equipment. The Chinese government wishes to improve products’ energy efficiency. There are already 48 MEPS in place for residential and industrial products and the China Energy Label covers 27 products. Several rebate programs have been put into place to promote high efficiency products.

The objective of the study by Top10 and CLASP is to analyse the current market status of efficient products, calculate potential energy savings and provide policy recommendations.

Nine major products were selected for the analysis: fixed and variable speed air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, rice cookers, induction cookers, monitors and copiers.

Detailed market data was gathered from a number of sources. From this large amount of data, the analysis showed that:

• The model shares of products under each energy efficiency tier vary greatly among products and technologies.
• The relationship between energy efficiency and capacity varies according to products, but the absolute energy consumption increases with the capacity for all the products.
• MEPS and energy label thresholds influence pricing strategies of energy efficient products.

The SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition is a global and regional awards program that encourages the production and sale of super-efficient products. This winner-takes-all competition spurs energy efficiency innovation among manufacturers and guides early adopter consumers towards the most efficient product choices. The first annual competition recognized the most energy-efficient flat panel televisions (TVs) in three different size categories and four regions around the world.

This paper focuses on the development and implementation of the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition with the European Awards as an example of a policy mechanism to promote highly-efficient products through awards programs or other voluntary schemes. The paper will also demonstrate how the competition subsequently informed some national and international energy efficiency policies for televisions.

The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Global Efficiency Medal competition is designed to enable the market to move toward higher efficiency by spurring innovation among manufacturers and increasing the market share of efficient products.

CLASP recently initiated the coordination of a new global program in support of the Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), a Clean Energy Ministerial initiative with a mission to drive and support sustainable commercial markets that increase modern energy access worldwide.

In its role as Awards Operating Agent, CLASP promotes and manages the Global LEAP Outstanding Off-Grid Product Awards program to catalyze markets for off-grid energy products and services.

Over 1.4 billion people worldwide live without access to the electric grid, the vast majority of which are in the developing world. The Global LEAP Awards competition will drive industry to innovate more efficient and higher quality off-grid products, delivering substantial economic, environmental, and quality of life benefits to these off-grid populations.

The first round of the Global LEAP awards will focus on off-grid LED lighting applications. The second round will focus on off-grid flat panel televisions. The rules for both competitions will be announced by first quarter 2013.

On August 31st 2012, the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition recognized Samsung and LG for producing the most energy efficient televisions in Europe.

In its first year, the SEAD Global Awards competition is encouraging the production and sale of super-efficient televisions by identifying the most efficient TVs in three different size categories and four geographical regions.

The governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom announced the European regional winners at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin. For information on the awarded products, please visit the full press release on the SEAD website.

“The point is not only to award a laboratory product, but a TV that actually can be bought by consumers on the European market”, says Mr. Per-Anders Widell, Head of Section at the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications in Sweden. “However, we are also interested in promoting emerging technologies with the potential to make TVs even more energy efficient in the near future.”

Electricity savings would amount to 18 billion kilowatt hours per year if all televisions sold on the European market were as efficient as the ones recognized by this award, according to estimates by the Swedish Energy Agency.

Globally, savings would be more than 70 billion kilowatt hours yearly. “This is equivalent to the combined national electricity use of Denmark and New Zealand”, says Mr. Peter Bennich of the Swedish Energy Agency. “We have seen drastic improvements in TV energy efficiency over the last years, but the winning manufacturers demonstrate that the potential for improvement remains large.”

SEAD will announce corresponding winners in North America, India, and Australia in October 2012, and the best performer in each size category among all of the regions will be declared an “International Winner” for the respective size category. SEAD will host an international awards ceremony in connection with the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in early 2013 to distinguish the international winning product models.

SEAD member governments will be working with manufacturers and retailers to make it easy for consumers to identify these award winning products.

The first SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition focuses on flat-panel televisions. The next round of SEAD Global Efficiency Medals will be awarded to computer displays and electric motors, two product categories with large global energy consumption.

Read more about the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition.

Around the world, energy performance requirements and test methods are being implemented and regularly revised for a range of domestic, commercial and industrial products and equipment. A significant amount of analytical effort is required to develop these requirements and optimise them to best reflect overall policy objectives; however, very often this work is done with only limited or partial knowledge of similar activities that have been done in other economies. Effort can be saved and outcomes improved for many products through properly reviewing published studies in other economies and utilising the information that is relevant in the local context. This paper presents a practical illustration of the potential to improve the quality of such analyses through four examples working on transformers, televisions, electric motors and external power supplies. This paper also discusses barriers to leveraging these analyses and makes recommendations around leveraging cross-economy analyses to accelerate global adoption of test methods and energy-efficiency requirements.

In 2011, CLASP launched a study to collect field data on background lighting levels during television viewing in homes in oder to support efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to revised the television test procedure for ENERGY STAR.

Since CLASP published the study “Analysis of Background Lighting Levels During Television Viewing,” several new issues have arisen, including the need for specific recommendations on luminance test points. As a result, CLASP has conducted additional analysis of the data collected to provide further technical support to EPA and DOE during the finalization of the revised test procedure.

The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative announced the first SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition, a global competition that aims to encourage the production and sale of more energy efficient electronics and appliances. SEAD is an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), a high-level global forum launched by the Department of Energy and other leading governments in July 2010 to advance clean energy technology.

The SEAD Global Efficiency Medal is awarded to products that demonstrate the greatest energy efficiency, with the first competition focusing on flat-panel televisions. Television manufacturers from across the globe will compete against one another in a competition based on the energy efficiency of their products. There are three television size categories (small, medium and large) in four regions (Australia, the European Union, India, and North America) that make up the competition, with one international winner also selected in each size category.

“Helping consumers save money by saving energy has always been a priority for the Energy Department. The SEAD Global Efficiency Medal awards will help identify the most efficient products on the market, making it easier for consumers in the United States and around the world to reduce energy waste and energy bills” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Televisions are responsible for six to eight percent of global residential electricity consumption. Evidence suggests that technology advances, such as more efficient LED backlighting, can yield significant reductions in television electricity consumption over the coming years. More efficient TVs mean consumers save money on their electricity bills.

Manufacturers and resellers of commercially available flat-panel television products are eligible to participate. They can also submit products not yet commercially available to be judged as emerging technologies. Product nominations will be accepted from February 1, 2012 through May 31, 2012. Prospective winners will be required to provide samples of each entry to verify energy efficiency claims, which will be conducted by sponsoring governments based on the televisions’ power consumption per screen area. Winners will be announced this fall, with an international awards ceremony in early 2013.

Consumers will be able to easily identify and purchase the most efficient televisions available through the labels on the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal award-winning products. The awards are being administered by the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP). For more information, visit the SEAD website at superefficient.org.