A Look at Green Audio-Visual Technology: Energy Products Articles: Eco20/20

A Look at Green Audio-Visual Technology

There has been much talk and commotion about renewable energy, sustainable development, and eco-friendly vehicles, but what about advances in audio-visual technology such as home entertainment? Millions of homes currently have home theater systems or fancy flat-screen televisions that no doubt consume a lot of power. What's being done about this?

As far as conceptual technology, Samsung has recently revealed their new "Zero Energy Transparent TV" prototype. The fully featured television can operate solely by solar power, effectively eliminating the need for a standard power source. These solar panels are rather unique in themselves as well. They can use the ambient light in a room to produce what little energy the display requires! The 46-inch transparent screen can readily display information while remaining completely see-through. The applications for such technology are vast. Better computer monitors? Fancy store windows? Vehicle heads-up-displays (HUD's)? What about digital blinds? The sky's the limit with such an exciting innovation!

Already released televisions such as Philips' Eco TV provide a 42-inch, 1080p resolution while barely sipping the amount of energy that most televisions happily gulp. Televisions like these are loaded with power-saving features, such as being able to adjust the brightness of the backlight during darker scenes. Dimming the backlight not only saves power, but also can improve black-level performance. The television is also equipped with a room-lighting sensor, which can dim or brighten the screen according to the room's brightness. In dark rooms, the TV can dim itself to consume significantly less power. However, this could be an image quality issue for some people, and thankfully most companies anticipate this, compensating by allowing the power-saving features to be enabled or disabled at the user's preference.

It can be debated how much this lesser power consumption will save you on your electric bill, but there are also plenty of non-viewing features that benefit the environment as well. Many eco-friendly televisions use a lead-free construction and are packaged with reclaimed materials. Only using trace amounts of mercury compared to standard televisions allows these TVs to adhere to even the strictest environmental rules and regulations.

Unfortunately, with drops in power consumption, many will notice a slightly lesser overall picture quality compared to non "green" televisions. To some, the environmental benefits outweigh this small disadvantage, but for those technophiles that want the perfect home theater, they'd be hard pressed to find a television that is both green and of the highest quality. Hopefully the near future will bring a new standard to the manufacture of TVs altogether, making any choice a greener choice, regardless of your brightness settings. Perhaps some unseen technology will replace the need for backlit displays at all? Nobody knows what the future holds, but this is surely a step in the right direction towards greener home entertainment.