Armageddon
or Entertainment – Plasma & LCD TVs versus the Ice
Caps?
It is probably obvious that if
you have a 50" Sony Vega Wide-Screen, a 42" Samsung Plasma Screen
with DNIE
and Trusound or indeed any super PDP, DLP or LCD television
then it is going to have a much bigger Carbon footprint than your old Cathode Ray
Tube
job. Does this mean we should all be responsible citizens and save the
environment by watching TV on our on our LG Prada mobile phones?
In May this year a professor of
the 'economics of climate change' called for the taxing of certain high energy
output home devices. Included along with our beloved
entertainment systems where patio heaters.
Now
clearly I am biased because as you can tell if you read my blog, I love
the world of new technological digital visual and audio recreation. In
fact for me a Friday night watching Legolas the
Elven super hero archer, surf the battlements while shooting
double arrows at the evil Orcs in full high definition(HD)
glory, a beer in one hand (me not Legolas), the kids snacking on sweets
in a total trance at the full glory and apparent reality of events, is
better than almost anything.
So I will now try and defend our beloved
Plasma and LCD screens.
The first thing to say is that all PDP, LCD,
DLP manufacturers are aware of the problem and are already making TVs
that are far more efficient than they used to be. This is an ongoing
process. Plasma is a bit more to blame than the other technologies but
interestingly it is these screens(the worst offenders) that might hold
the key to the environmental solution.
This is a technology, which as
the name suggests uses partly organic
substances which when arranged in a matrix can be used to project
pixels of all colours for a much lower energy consumption level. The
current problem with OLED is that the products have a significantly
reduced lifespan compared to Liquid Crystal Screens etc. But the
technology is still in development and will likely play a part in the
solution to the large Carbon footprint problem of current TV technology.
Approximately a CRT
(Cathode Ray Tube) conventional set costs around £25 a year
to run and
equates to about 100kg of Carbon Dioxide. A Plasma TV costs about a
£100 a year and accounts for about 400kg of CO2 . If you
consider the
size difference between Plasma and CRT then depending upon how you do
the sums you can actually account for all the increased Carbon
footprint in the size of the screen. We could therefore, if we wanted,
blame the size and not the specific technology. Clearly I am twisting
the facts to fit my argument, but so is the professor who called for
the tax.
Let
us assume that the professor got his way and a significant tax was
introduced. This could dramatically reduce the popularity of big screen
TVs. This would have the knock on effect of dramatically reducing
investment in in the newer power saving technologies. DOHH!
What Might Be More Sensible
There
are lots of things we can all do to help the problem without spoiling
our fun. We can all turn the Plasma or LCD Screens off at the plug when
not in use (except when removing
screen burn).
Of course we can do this with many of our electrical appliances. And of
course going beyond our electrical stuff there is plenty more that we
as individuals can do. For example a measly
500 miles in a 2.5 litre car
gives off more Carbon Dioxide than a Plasma TV could in a year. We
could also perhaps wear a jumper when on the patio if its a bit chilly.
So
lets just be sensible about this and not throw stones at each others
glass houses (Professor Ekins) especially when there's a sexy
50”
Plasma with Trusound and all the other bits in the house, that might
get hit as well.
Still
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