Brightness Rules ‘Remain a Concern’ in Energy Star Version 8.0 TV Spec, Says CTA
CTA broke its silence Tuesday on Energy Star V8.0 for TV that EPA released Friday (see 1802230046), calling it “another milestone and testament to the importance of voluntary programs." TVs “have become an energy efficiency success story thanks to innovation"…
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and "flexible, market-driven programs,” said Doug Johnson, vice president-technology policy. Developing the spec “presented some challenges,” he said. As “longtime champions” of Energy Star, CTA and members urged EPA “to revise its proposed requirements impacting consumers' overall TV-viewing experience,” he said. “While some problematic issues were resolved, others, such as brightness requirements, remain.” EPA "analyzed" but rejected a recent proposal to lower a TV's minimum required brightness with the energy-saving automatic brightness control feature enabled and when the TV is viewed in rooms with nearly total darkness, said the agency. Had EPA "accepted" the proposal, it would have meant “up to a 30 percent reduction in the average brightness” of 75 percent of the TV models in the “dataset,” said the agency. EPA sees the minimum-brightness rule as critical for discouraging consumers from disabling ABC because the screen is too dark in ambient room light of 3 lux. CTA's reaction to the final spec was much more subdued than that of the "revised final draft" that EPA released late October. EPA's proposal to mandate ABC in all preset picture modes would put the agency "in the business of control, deciding how consumers receive and use technology," CTA said then. EPA adopted those proposals in the final spec.