Televisions
Televisions inform and entertain people. Making TVs more efficient will lower their energy demand and reduce running costs.
Everything you need to know about televisions
Televisions (TVs) help people learn, relax, and connect. Critically, they can also provide life-saving information during emergencies.
While smartphones and laptops can stream the same content, TVs offer a shared large-screen viewing experience.
These appliances work by receiving signals through antennas, cables, or the internet, then turn these signals into images and sound.
Where are TVs used?
Introduced in the early twentieth century, TVs became widely available in many countries after World War II.
Today, 87% of the global population has access to one,1 making them among the most popular appliances.
When families in low- and middle-income countries are first connected to the electric grid, TVs are often the first appliance they buy.
Do TVs contribute to climate change?
Televisions produce greenhouse gases indirectly if the electricity used to power them is generated by burning fossil fuels. The more energy they use, the more emissions they create.
Per square inch, modern flat-screen TVs are much more energy-efficient than bulky earlier models. However, they’re also getting bigger, brighter, and used more often—all factors that increase the annual energy consumption of TVs.
One little-understood feature of televisions means that they use more electricity, and therefore generate more emissions, than most people realize. When TVs are turned off, they don’t shut down completely; instead, they go into standby mode (meaning they’re ready to turn on again immediately) or network standby mode (meaning they’re ready to turn on immediately and are also still connected to the internet). Both modes can use a significant amount of electricity.
This background consumption, multiplied across millions of homes, puts pressure on energy systems and increases emissions.
How do TVs contribute to sustainable development and climate adaptation?
In areas with no electric grid or an unreliable grid, solar-powered TVs are an information lifeline, serving as crucial communication tools in emergencies.
Researchers have also found that TVs have positive effects on school enrollment and literacy, family planning, financial decisions, and health, particularly for women and girls.
In India, for example, access to TV has been shown to decrease acceptance of family violence toward women and preference for male children. It has also been linked to women having fewer children and greater autonomy.
In some places, televisions are used to generate income. One study in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda found that some people earned an average of $14 USD weekly from their TVs.
CLASP has identified 10 appliances critical to fighting climate change and improving people's lives. Televisions are one.
[Photo: CLASP]
[Photo: Shutterstock]
[Photo: Shutterstock]
What is the solution?
- Increasing global access to energy-efficient TVs, as well as educating people about turning them off properly, will benefit communities, lower consumers’ energy bills, and reduce climate emissions.
How can we achieve this?
Governments
- Develop, promote, and incentivize the production and import of efficient televisions.
- Set policies to phase out the production, trade, and sale of inefficient models.
- Increase national awareness of the net benefits of efficiency.
- Use labels to indicate and promote the most efficient models.
Television manufacturers
- Invest in research and development to improve the efficiency, affordability, and repairability of TVs to match global best practice.
- Abandon the production and export of inefficient models and challenge competitors to do the same.
Consumers and consumer groups
- Choose the most efficient TV you can afford to lower your energy bills and reduce your carbon footprint.
- Fully turn off your TV when it is not being used or use a smart power strip to stop it from drawing power unnecessarily.
- Contact government representatives to request ambitious efficiency policies for all appliances.
Are you a policymaker working on televisions? Explore CLASP's free tools:
Net Zero Appliances NDC Toolkit
- Learn how (and why) to maximize the potential of appliance efficiency in NDCs.
World's Best MEPS: Tracking Leaders in Appliance Energy Efficiency Standards
- Find the world’s most ambitious energy performance standards for six key appliances and equipment.
Mepsy: The Appliance & Equipment Climate Impact Calculator
- Analyze efficiency policy options for key appliances across 162 countries.
CLASP's work on televisions impacts:
0. ”Net Zero Heroes: Scaling Efficient Appliances for Climate Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience,” CLASP, November 2023. https://www.clasp.ngo/report/net-zero-heroes/executive-summary/.