LED vs Plasma Power Consumption
I still think there are a large number of people out there who don’t realize how efficient most flat screen TVs are nowadays. People probably still believe that plasma TVs are the most environmentally unfriendly devices manufactured today. If you want a good laugh, grab a Kill A Watt monitor and check what your computer, fridge, and set top box are pulling down when in use. You might be surprised. This article tries to eliminate some of the confusion.
Do LED TVs save real money?
The shortest answer is yes, they do save money over plasma, and less so over traditional CFL backlit LCD TVs. But real money? No, let’s not get carried away by that Energy Star rating.
I admit my math skills aren’t
I admit my math skills aren’t the greatest, but I read it differently. What the guy said was that he was assuming 10 cents per kilowatt hour, which–if I’m reading it correctly–would be 10 cents per 1000 watts/hour. If the TV is pulling less than 1000 watts/hour, as his examples are, then you should be under the 10 cents/day mark.
The article takes into
The article takes into account the few dollars you could save a month. It doesn’t mention the real benefit of power efficient devices which is the overall effect if everyone switches to them. “That’s right $2.00 per month. Not a huge contributor to my $100+ monthly bill.” Well, 2% might not seem like much for a single person, but 2% reduction in power usage nationally is a pretty big shift in energy use.
oliverredfox wrote:The
[quote=oliverredfox]
The article takes into account the few dollars you could save a month. It doesn’t mention the real benefit of power efficient devices which is the overall effect if everyone switches to them. “That’s right $2.00 per month. Not a huge contributor to my $100+ monthly bill.” Well, 2% might not seem like much for a single person, but 2% reduction in power usage nationally is a pretty big shift in energy use.
[/quote]
Capitalist societies (like ours) use $ to measure value so the author is correct to use that metric as way to make decisions. If the additional value provided by a PDP is greater than $2 it would be irrational to swap it out for something else for the greater good. FWIW, I don’t mean this as a value judgement, just a statement of fact; idealism is not a practical way to influence consumer choice. If you want to change the behavior you have to change the costs (there is a strong argument to be made that our cost model doesn’t properly capture the negative externalities associated with consumption, but that’s academic unless the model changes).