Clasp’s Analysis of Television Luminance and Power Consumption presents the findings from the collection and analysis of empirical data from testing 40 televisions, representative of the spectrum of technologies available in the U.S. market, to investigate the efficacy of the current test procedures used for television energy efficiency to determine improvements that can be made.

In the short term, suggested improvements include revisions to existing test procedures; in the longer term, suggested improvements include concepts regarding new test methods that may improve the accuracy of testing television energy consumption.

This study investigates four main areas of research:

1. The pros and cons of three test patterns used to measure the luminance ratio of home mode to retail mode, including whether each test pattern accurately measures the luminance in home and retail modes of all technologies found in the U.S. market.
2. Whether the energy use of televisions using Automatic brightness control (ABC) has a linear relationship with ambient light, or whether there is an ambient light level at which the energy use of televisions increases or decreases significantly.
3. Whether a power ratio provides equivalent information to the luminance ratio on television energy performance.
4. Preliminary testing on televisions with 3D and internet modes enabled to begin to provide data on the energy use of these new television modes.

The study includes findings regarding the three test patterns examined. It also includes preliminary findings about the energy use of ABC-enabled televisions as compared to pre-programmed television settings, and shows that energy use of ABC-enabled televisions increases significantly at 50 lux. This finding has implications regarding the efficacy of current test procedures for ABC-enabled televisions. To improve new test procedures for ABC-enabled televisions, additional research is needed to establish the range of ambient light levels in households. Additional research is also needed to determine the impacts of 3D and internet-enabled modes on television energy use.

Author: Keith Jones