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Lighting Standard Creating Jobs & Technology Revolution in America's Heartland

2011-12-16T20:22:50Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

The upcoming transition to better bulbs has generated a lot of news. For the most part, the coverage has focused on the consumer impact – the new lighting choices, the benefit to their pocketbooks, etc. That’s certainly been my primary focus – see my shopping tips here. Of course, there’s always also a healthy dose of coverage about the political shenanigans in DC.

But there’s an under-the-radar element to the lighting transition that’s worth noting – what it means for the lighting industry and lighting jobs right here in America.

As many of my colleagues have noted in their blogs – these lightbulbs standard have helped to drive a technology revolution in our Heartland. Here’s a quick sampling.

In East Cleveland, Ohio GE created the first Energy Star certified incandescent replacement LED bulb. And with 700 people already working at the campus, they are currently “hiring aggressively locally for engineering and design,” says Senior Physicist Gary Allen. Last year, GE invested $60 million to produce energy efficient florescent bulbs at its plant in Bucyrus, OH, creating about 100 new positions in job-hungry Ohio. And there are over 100 jobs posted on GE Lighting's website now.

TCP, a bulb maker in Aurora, OH, which makes bulbs for home improvement chains like the Home Depot, has invented technology that will allow the incandescent to become 50% more efficient and last up to twice as long. (Yes, that’s right – your incandescent bulbs have not been taken away by the standards, it’s just been improved. That’s the beauty of spurring innovation). They also created: fully-dimmable CFL bulbs, bulbs with a wide color temperature spectrum, and CFLs that quickly get to full brightness—all solving problems associated with earlier CFLs. And they plan to bring CFL production back from China, opening a CFL plant in the coming year. When was the last time you heard of something like that happening?

Then there’s Lighting Sciences Group, a LED bulb manufacturer, which has gone from employing 50 people at its Satellite Beach, FL headquarters in 2009 to employing 300 today. “We’re the antithesis of what the economy is seeing right now,” says employee Jake Schellack. And guess who they’re hiring – former NASA scientists. Seriously. It’s an awesome story.

Cree, based in North Carolina, is another leading manufacturer of LEDs, which are 75 percent more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs and last up to 25 years. Cree recently opened a new LED manufacturing line in Durham and has plans to hire upwards of 800 people in the next few years.

And in Alpharetta, GA, a company called CSA has expanded its LED lighting testing laboratory operations. "We look forward to growing our business and expanding our labs and hiring more employees here in Alpharetta," said Rich Weiser, CSA Group vice president for U.S. and Mexico operations.

According to the NEMA, the major lighting trade group, more than 2,000 American jobs have already been created in new lighting factories here in the US as a result of the law.

At a time when our country needs some goods jobs and some good news, you needn’t look any further than the 2012 lighting standard that has spurred innovation, re-energized the industry and required top talent based right here in America.

And that’s something worth celebrating this holiday season.

New Energy-Saving Bulbs Are Coming -- Here's How You Find the Right Ones for Your Home

2011-12-12T19:57:28Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

Come January 1st, a new light bulb standard goes into effect that gradually phase out the 125-year-old inefficient incandescent bulbs. The old 100W bulb as we used to know it will go away in 2012 and be replaced by more efficient incandescent bulbs as well as other energy saving bulbs such as CFLs and LEDs. The old 75W incandescents will be phased out in 2013 and the 60 and 40W bulbs in 2014.

Back in 2007 these standards were signed into law by President Bush with broad bipartisan support and will require new bulbs to be roughly 30% more energy efficient. These standards have huge benefits and will cut our nation’s electric bill by approximately $13 billion/year and eliminate the need for 30 large power plants.

Well guess what, January 1, 2012 is around the corner and there continues to be a lot of misinformation out there. Let me be clear: Consumers will continue to have an array of lighting choices, including new and improved incandescent bulbs. In an attempt to help consumers better prepare for this new standard and find the right energy saving bulbs for their home, I put together in David Letterman style list of the “Top-5 Tips on How to Select the Right Energy Saving Bulbs.” So here it goes:

Tip number 5 for consumers to find the right energy saving bulbs is … Buy the bulb that gives off the amount of light you need.

In the past we all bought bulbs based on the amount of power it used. We all got the call — “bring me home a pack of 100W bulbs from the hardware store.” While consumers were basing their bulb purchase on the amount of power it used, in reality they were trying to buy a certain amount of light and chose between the 40, 60, 75, or 100W incandescent bulb. Given the range of efficiencies the new bulbs provide, buying a bulb solely on the amount of power it uses no longer makes sense and we’ll have to shift to buying lumens. For example, a typical 60W light bulb produces around 800 lumens. The CFL that produces 800 lumens only uses 15W. To help consumers during this transition, bulb packages will likely contain a claim like “as bright as a 60W bulb” or “15W = 60W” to indicate the bulb is a suitable replacement for your old 60W incandescent bulb.

See chart below:

Number 4: Buy the quality of light you are used to.

Most consumers are most familiar with and used to bulbs that are marketed as “warm white.” CFLs and LEDs come in many flavors, some offer light that is similar to the slightly yellowish glow a “warm white” incandescent bulb provides while others offer “cooler” white light that is blueish/white in color. While numerous surveys show that more than 80% of consumers who use CFLs state that they are very happy with them, the reason that some are dissatisfied is likely because they bought the wrong one. When shopping for a CFL or LED, be sure to look for one marketed as warm white. Those marketed as cool white or day light have much different light color, which only a small minority of consumers prefer.

Number 3: Not all bulbs are dimmable.

Most of the sockets in our home are not dimmable. Those sockets that are hooked up to a dimmer require a dimmable bulb. Please note, the typical CFL bulb does NOT dim and may fail prematurely if installed in a dimming circuit. For dimmable applications, use LEDs, the new energy saving incandescents or a CFL labeled as dimmable.

Number 2: Downlights are different.

An increasingly popular type of fixture in our home are the circular downlights in our ceilings, also known as recessed cans. These are intended to use directional type bulbs designed to shine the light downwards. As such do NOT put in a regular pear shaped bulb or a spiral CFL bulb inside the recessed can. They will not shine the light where you want it. Instead select an LED, CFL or halogen reflector or flood light.

And tip number 1 for consumers looking for new energy saving light bulbs... Energy efficient bulbs save a lot of money! To make sure you get a good one only buy those with the ENERGY STAR label on them.

A typical CFL bulb will save a consumer $30 to $50 over its 6 year lifetime. LEDs are rated to last up to 25 years and will thus save consumers more than a hundred dollars over its lifetime. The best bang for your buck today are CFLs as they typically cost less than $5 and can often be purchased in a multi-pack for less than $2 a bulb. Over time LED pricing will come down and become more affordable for the average consumer.

Also not all CFLs and LEDs are created equally. ENERGY STAR labeled products must meet detailed performance requirements and are subjected to independent testing to help ensure the super efficient bulb you are buying not only saves energy, but is also as bright as the bulb it claims to replace and does not fail prematurely.

Now here are some of the best places to go for more info:

Sylvania Lighting has put together a great online guide that shows a photo of the old bulb you used to have and photos of the new bulb choices.

NRDC has published a light bulb buying guide that includes information on the cost and savings from each type of bulb.

A great light bulb finder smartphone app is available from the folks at Eco Hatchery. It helps a consumer select the right type of light bulb for a given application. It also provides the ability to directly order the bulbs, although the prices are much higher than those found at a big box retailer.

EPA also has a wonderful CFL buying guide

DOE also has some great information on its website

And finally our friends at Consumer Reports recently wrote a wonderful story called Get Ready to Replace Your 100W Incandescent Bulb

For those of you who have any questions about the new lighting standards and/or the legislation, the following link provides everything you’d ever want to know about the new law, including blogs from experts, facts sheets, videos, buying guides and other helpful consumer information:

www.nrdc.org/energy/lightbulbs

Cable Industry Owns Up to Energy Problem and Commits to Fixing It

2011-11-21T23:48:15Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

The cable industry announced a commitment to cut the energy use of those set top boxes that allow us to watch cable TV. According to the industry’s trade association, NCTA, a new R&D facility called "CableLabs – Energy Lab" will be created to help develop more efficient devices.

This work is critical as installed boxes waste a whopping $2 billion/yr and six power plants worth of electricity when consumers are NOT watching or recording a show.In many cases, the DVR set top box is consuming more energy each year than the big screen TV it is connected to. With existing designs, hitting the off button on many of the boxes merely dims the clock and the device continues to consume near full levels of power 24/7. Consumers can ill afford this “Inefficiency tax” that is essentially imposed by the cable and satellite companies.

No doubt NRDC’s in-depth study on set-top box energy use, as well as Senator Feinstein’s efforts to move the industry in the right direction, each played a role in the industry’s decision to take a closer look at their products.

Thanks to the spotlight we’ve placed on this issue, the industry is pledging to shift to models that meet ENERGY STAR 3.0. This is a great start as these new devices use approximately 30% less energy than models produced over the past few years. Unfortunately these new devices still do NOT go into a true “deep sleep” power mode when turned off.

We are hoping this industry will really roll up their sleeves and strive to attain the types of leading edge power management that is already in place in today’s smart phones and tablets. These devices use extremely low levels of power when not in use, while maintaining the ability to wake up almost instantly when the user returns or to download content.

While the industry’s press release says a lot of the right things, it lacks a target date by which they will achieve truly low power levels when the box is not being used. You can bet the industry would be much further along in solving this problem if they had to pay consumers back for all the wasted electricity their installed boxes cause.

And it’s worth noting it’s not just the cable industry. Satellite companies are also hard at work at reducing the energy use of their products too.

Quite frequently, I am asked by reporters and consumers “who makes a really efficient set top box?” My answer has always been, “No one - yet.”

I hope I’ll have a new answer soon. We will continue to track the industry’s progress in this space and will report back when real breakthroughs occur.

In the meantime, be sure to request a set top box from your provider that meets ENERGY STAR Version 3 (and not the older ENERGY STAR Version 2 models which are much less efficient).

Effort to Repeal Energy Efficient Bulbs Fails in the House

2011-07-13T21:56:24Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

This week, the House of Representatives defeated the BULB (Better Use of Light Bulbs) Act which would have overturned the federal energy efficiency standards for every day light bulbs that were signed into law by President Bush in 2007. This is great news as these standards are poised to deliver massive benefits:

Annual electricity savings of greater than $12 billion per year
Save as much electricity as that generated by 30 large (500MW) power plants, and
Prevent more than 100 million tons of CO2 emission per year, which is equal to the emissions from 17 million cars.

Since the standards were passed, we have seen more innovation in the lighting space in the past three years than we have in the last 125, when the first incandescent was invented. Due to the standards, consumers will now have access to incandescent bulbs that use at least 28 percent less power than the older bulbs, as well as many other energy savings choices including compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs) that save even more and last a lot longer too. Due to the onslaught of misinformation spread by the BULB Act sponsors, I feel obligated to remind everyone one more time -- YOU CAN CONTINUE TO BUY AN INCANDESCENT BULBS LIKE THIS ONE AFTER THE STANDARDS GO INTO EFFECT.

Now that we made it through this hurdle in the House, we hope everyone involved will shift their attention to helping consumers get ready for the new wave of bulbs that will be coming. We need all the involved parties including the U.S. Department of Energy, retailers such as Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart and Ace Hardware, and lighting manufacturers to help get the word out on how the new standards work and how to select the right bulb.

To help jumpstart the consumer education campaign, NRDC put together a two-page fact sheet, and a light bulb buying guide that helps consumers choose the new more efficient bulb to replace their old 100-, 75-, 60- and 40-Watt incandescent.

The chart below from the light bulb buying guide also helps consumers understand the total cost of ownership of the various bulb choices.

Also, for a state-by-state breakdown of consumer savings from the lighting standards, see this recent NRDC analysis.

In closing, we are happy to see that wiser heads have once again prevailed. The US has a long and successful record of setting energy efficiency standards for a wide range of products ranging from refrigerators, clothes washers to office lighting. The new standards will simply ensure that a more efficient and money saving bulb goes into each of our nation’s 4 billion screw based sockets.

What could be more American than that!!

Money Sucking Vampires Emanating From Your TV: Beware of Cable, Satellite and DVR Boxes

2011-06-14T21:33:10Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

This week the cable TV industry is having their big annual meeting in Chicago. The meeting includes three days worth of in-depth technical sessions and it looks like not a single one covers the energy use or environmental impact of the ubiquitous set-top box (otherwise known as a cable, satellite or DVR box) that the cable companies install in your home when you sign up for their service. This is a pity as the set-top boxes in the field today act like vampires by sucking up huge amounts of electricity all night long even though the user has turned off their box. A fact to get your blood boiling (vampire inspired pun intended) and interested in reading further: Due to outdated designs, today’s cable and satellite set-top boxes consume a whopping $2 billion per year of electricity when they are turned “off”.

Now that I have your attention, I’d like to highlight the findings of a report NRDC released today on the energy use of the set-top boxes including the DVRs installed by the cable, satellite and telephone companies that enable you to access pay-TV. NRDC and its consultant Ecos recently went into the field and monitored the power used by basic set-top boxes and DVRs that were connected to a wide range of service providers including Time Warner, Comcast, Dish Network, Direct TV, AT&T and Verizon.

The biggest finding from our field work was that the only way to really turn these boxes off is to unplug them -- not an attractive option. For almost all the boxes we tested, hitting the power button simply dims the clock or display. For a typical DVR, instead of consuming 30 Watts when on, the box used 29 Watts, only the difference of one Watt. When you add it all up, this means it’s costing our nation $2 billion per year in electric bills to power devices when we are NOT using them. That’s money and energy we simply don’t have to spare these days.

Here are some of the key findings of our research:

More than 80% of US home subscribe to some form of pay-TV. There are more than 160 million set-top boxes installed in US homes, or roughly one box for every two Americans.
On a national level set-top boxes are consuming 27 billion kilowatt-watt hours per year. That’s equivalent to the annual electricity use of the entire state of Maryland.
It takes the equivalent of nine coal burning power plants (500 MW) to operate these devices.

For those of you that are more visually oriented, take a look:

To put set-top box energy use into perspective for the average consumer, we developed the bar chart shown below. Some of the things to note:

Many DVRs consume more electricity each year than the big screen TV they are connected to.
A household with one DVR and one basic HD set top box uses roughly 450 kwh/yr or the equivalent annual electricity use of one new ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerator.

So now that we’ve identified the problem, what can we do about it? The challenge is finding a way to have box go into a significantly lower power state when not in use AND maintain network connection, security and be able to resume functionality in short order.

But solutions already exist. In Europe they’re making progress. For example, Sky TV now has three power levels on its DVR boxes:

– 22.5W On

– 13.2W Sleep

– 0.65W Deep Sleep

They’re programmed to auto power down at 11 p.m. to 0.65 Watts – but for those who tape late night shows, the boxes wake-up automatically to record programs. Sky’s boxes also wake-up every ½ hour to check for new program recording requests entered by subscribers using smart phones.

If we switched to better boxes, we could dramatically cut our energy costs. We hope these findings help inform US service providers and settop box manufacturers and lead them to develop and deploy more efficient boxes.

And for consumers, help is on the way. You can call your pay-TV service provider and request a set-top box that meets ENERGY STAR Version 4.0. That means you’ll have the most efficient box on the market, keeping the vampires on your screen, not next to it.

Are Today's Video Game Consoles Playing Games with the Environment?

2011-06-01T23:25:05Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

The key players in the video game industry will come together at their big annual industry meeting E3 Expo in Los Angeles on June 7-9. We at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading environmental advocacy group, previously performed an in-depth study of the energy use of video game consoles like the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii and found some staggering results. Most notably a high-end video game console made in 2008 would consume as much electricity each year as two new refrigerators if the consumer forgets to turn off the device when it’s not being used.

Our report served as a call to action to the industry and we are pleased to report that some good progress has been made relative to the energy efficiency of these fascinating devices. Below is a summary of where things stand today and at the end of the article I provide you with my wish list for things I hope will be announced at the show.

50% Power Reductions Achieved During Video Game Play – When first introduced to the market, the PS3 and Xbox 360 each consumed roughly 180 Watts of power during game play. In comparison, the Wii was a relative energy sipper as it used less than 25 Watts during game play. Both Sony and Microsoft have worked hard to improve the energy efficiency of their products and their latest releases each consume around 90 Watts, a reduction of around 50% (see chart below). Congratulations to both of them!

Video Game Consoles Need to Rev Down When You are Not Playing Games – Imagine sitting in your car at the traffic light, with the engine stuck at 4,000 rpm, instead of revving down to 800 rpm. Your car would be guzzling extra gas, costing you money and polluting the environment unnecessarily. Well, current video games consoles are not very good at revving down: they use approximately 80% as much power in Menu mode, when they hardly have any graphics to process, compared to that consumed during active game play.

Making consoles use only as much power as required by the task at hand would significantly reduce the annual energy use and electricity costs of video game consoles without any impact on their performance. Let’s rev it down!

Video Game Consoles Need to Sleep When We Sleep – Believe it or not, today’s video game consoles do not automatically go into a low power mode when no one is using them. If you don’t turn your device off it will continue to draw near full power levels 24/7. While today’s Xbox 360 and PS3 now ship with software that causes the device to consume very low levels of power when not in use (approximately 1 Watt), Sony and Microsoft both ship their devices with this feature DISABLED. Users need to know about this option and physically go into the menu and turn this feature on. You can probably count on one hand how many people have done this. It’s mind boggling that this important feature is still designed as an “opt in”, rather than shipping devices with this option enabled and allowing consumers to instead “opt out” should they want to.

Leaving video game consoles on can also be a terrible waste of money. Depending on the year you bought your box and where you live, you might be throwing away $50 to $100 or more a year to power your box when you are not using it, like when you’re asleep, at school or at work.

Some users may leave their boxes on all the time for one of two reasons: a) while they turn off their TV, they forget to turn off the video game console, or b) they deliberately leave it on in fear of losing their place in the game. Fortunately most of the new games automatically save your place in the game as you go. Future games will even automatically save your settings before the device automatically powers down after extended periods of inactivity.

Video Game Consoles Consume Too Much Energy To Display Movies – One of the key selling points of the PS3 is that you can play Blu Ray discs on it. That’s like getting a Blu Ray player for free. Today all three consoles also allow you to stream or download movies from the internet. While this is really cool, these companies have not yet incorporated state of the art designs to make this happen efficiently. For example, today’s PS3 consumes more than 7 times more power to playback a movie than an energy efficient Blu Ray player (70 Watts to play Spiderman 3 disc on PS3, while it only takes 10 Watts or so on a new energy efficient Blu Ray disc player).

OK, now for my wish list for the E3 show:

1. Manufacturers announce that their new devices will ship with a well designed auto power down feature ASAP. This feature will be turned on for all new devices at the factory and the industry will work to encourage users to activate similar software on their existing consoles. This applies to Nintendo as well, and perhaps we will be positively surprised when the new Wii 2 is introduced, which may be imminent according to rumors in the trade press.

2. Manufacturers pledge that their next generation consoles will rev down to 20-40% of maximum power use when not performing graphics-intensive tasks and down to 1 Watt or less when turned off.

3. Game publishers continue to work closely with the console makers to implement auto save capabilities that allow users to keep their place in the game when the device is turned off and to easily restore their place in the game when they return.

4. It takes no more than 25 Watts to play a movie on a video game console, levels much closer to todays stand alone DVD players.

5. I get to attend the show and play lots of games of Pong, arguably one of the best early video games made.

Shoulda Gone to LIGHTFAIR This Year

2011-05-18T16:07:51Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

The world’s largest lighting tradeshow, LIGHTFAIR International, is occurring this week in Philadelphia. While I was unable to go to the show this year, I have been glued to my computer reading about new product launches, each more amazing than the one I just read about. Without a doubt, the theme of the show is new energy efficient bulbs. The new technologies are coming from leading manufacturers of lighting products that are showcasing bulbs in every shape, brightness level and price point imaginable.

The industry is really racing to provide more energy efficient alternatives to the 125 year old incandescent light bulb. A major catalyst for all this work is the new federal energy efficiency standards for light bulbs that go into effect starting in 2012 that will update the energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs (click here and here). In the last year or so, we have seen more innovation in this space than in the last 50 years combined. Below are some examples of the new light bulbs that consumers will soon see on the shelf:

New and improved incandescents - Earlier this year each of the big three lighting companies -- Philips, GE, and Sylvania -- “reinvented” the incandescent light bulb and introduced new versions that use at least 28% less power to operate. These bulbs will comply with the new federal efficiency standards. We understand leading lighting companies like TCP, the biggest producer of CFLs sold in the United States, are hard at work at producing an even better incandescent that uses 50% less energy than conventional bulbs.

Brighter and better performing LED bulbs – LEDs use around 80% less energy than today’s incandescent and last up to 25,000 hours (that’s 25 years at around 3 hours/day). LED manufacturers have been working hard to make LED bulbs brighter, dimmable and able to distribute the lights in all directions. At LIGHTFAIR several companies announced new LED light bulbs that only use 17-watt and are just as bright as the old 75-watt incandescent bulb. Here is a picture of the Philips EnduraLED which is expected to hit the shelf later this fall. Not only is this bulb super efficient but several of the key components are likely to be manufactured in the US.

This week, I got a call from a colleague who was excited to share that lighting manufacturers had figured out how to make a LED that is as bright as a 100-watt incandescent. The news keeps getting better. At least three companies showed prototype LED bulbs that would replace today’s 100-watt incandescent and only use 15-watt or so. These are being shown by companies such as Lighting Sciences Group, Osram Sylvania (bulb on the left) and a new startup company called Switch Lighting (right) which is showing this futuristic looking design.

Longer Lasting and Improved CFLs – Not to be lost behind all the buzz about LEDs, lets not forget the little ole spiral CFL. CFLs continue to be a very cost effective energy saving option for consumers. Today’s CFLs are far superior to older versions and will save consumers $30 to $50 over their lifetime. Lighting manufacturers have also been working to extend the bulb lifetime and most of the bulbs now are rated 8,000 and 10,000 hours, up from 6,000 hours previously. CFL pricing has come way down and consumers can now find CFLs for $2 per bulb in multipacks at big-box retailers. In addition, retailers like Home Depot and Lowes have stepped up to the plate and offer free recycling for the bulbs.

Based on all the points of bright light emerging from Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, this week, it’s clear that consumer choice will INCREASE as a result of the new lighting standards. Choices will include new energy saving incandescents, CFLs, LEDs and probably some new technology we have not even conceived of. Let there be light!

USA Today poll shows overwhelming support for energy saving light bulbs

2011-02-18T17:05:04Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

This morning, USA Today released the findings of its national poll that shows consumer satisfaction with energy saving light bulbs and their support for the bi-partisan 2007 U.S. law that will bring consumers better and more energy efficient lighting choices.

I have previously written about the massive benefits of the federal energy efficiency standards for light bulbs which include saving Americans more than $10 billion a year in the form of lower electric bills. The results of the USA Today poll demonstrate that consumers know and support the benefits these lighting standards provide:

More than 70% of Americans purchased a LED or compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb in the past few years. (Note, consumers can now also buy energy savings incandescent light bulbs at leading retailers such as Home Depot and Lowes that use 28% less power and meet the federal standards.)
84% of those who made the switch were satisfied or very satisfied with the new bulb.
63% of all independent voters thought the law enacting the light bulb efficiency standards was a good one.

These results confirm that most consumers have already begun to make the switch to new and improved light bulbs and they like them.

Hopefully the handful of representatives in Congress who are working so hard to repeal the bi-partisan law and prevent these standards from going into effect will see these compelling findings and decide to call it a day.

Thank you USA Today for bringing more clarity to this issue.

The 125-year-old incandescent light bulb gets a facelift

2011-01-19T20:55:36Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

Earlier this month, Representative Barton reintroduced his bill to “save the 125-year-old incandescent light bulb,” which I blogged about when it was first introduced in the last Congress. Given the reintroduction of the bill, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the details on the lighting efficiency standard as well as point you to NRDC’s new fact sheet that provides more detail.

In 2007, President Bush signed a law that requires the 125-year-old light bulb to be more energy efficient. The first phase of the energy efficiency standard for light bulbs takes effect January 1, 2012, and requires new bulbs to use 25 to 30 percent less energy starting with the conventional 100-watt bulb. The second phase will go into effect in 2020 and requires new bulbs to be at least three times more efficient than today’s incandescent bulbs, which means they will save 65 percent energy. This standard will lead the way to a new generation of energy-efficient light bulbs and save consumers more than $10 billion annually, avoid the need for 30 new power plants, and decrease CO2 emissions by 100 million tons per year. To put the national savings numbers in perspective, repealing the standard would effectively cost each household $100 to $200 or more every year in increased home energy bills.

The lighting efficiency standard is technology neutral in that it sets a requirement for how much energy a bulb can use to produce a given amount of light (lumens), but does not specify what technology can be used to meet the requirement. For instance, while traditional incandescent bulbs waste 90 percent of the energy they use as heat and therefore won’t meet the standards, there are new more efficient incandescent bulbs that do meet the standards (such as the new energy saving halogens shown below, which are a type of incandescent and look and perform the same as conventional incandescent bulbs). These products were developed and are being introduced by lighting manufacturers like Osram Sylvania, GE, TCP and Philips in direct response to the standards.

An important point to note is that since the standards are technology neutral, consumers will still have a wide array of choices when it comes to buying a light bulb. This means there will be bulbs that fit in every socket and application. Consumers will be able to choose from bulbs of various shapes, sizes, technologies brightness levels, and color temperatures. In addition, many of these new products would not have been introduced in the absence of the federal standards set by Congress. While compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) currently offer consumers the biggest bang for their buck, the standard does not require them and consumers will still have plenty of other options.

The national lighting efficiency standards are also providing certainty and uniformity to manufacturers who would otherwise face a patchwork of varying state regulations. For instance, California has already begun to implement the lighting standard a year in advance of the federal standard and without federal regulation other states would likely implement their own standard. The lighting industry unanimously supports the standards, in part because the standards provide companies the certainty they need to invest in new manufacturing facilities, many of them in the United States, which is exactly what they have been doing. For example, Cree, Lighting Sciences Group Corp, and Philips have created several thousand American jobs producing the next generation of efficient LED bulbs. For more examples of how industry is investing in US capacity to meet the standard, see my previous blog and our fact sheet.

The bottom line is the new standards will gradually retire the 125-year-old inefficient light bulb, which is easily the least efficient piece of equipment in our homes. In its place will be a broad suite of new and improved bulbs, all of which use a lot less energy to produce the same amount of light and will save consumers money. And what could be better than a light bulb that lowers my electricity bill and my carbon footprint? That’s a bright idea in my book.

In the Market for a New TV? Check out NRDC's Holiday Shopping Guide

2010-11-17T19:57:08Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

Get ready for the tidal wave of Black Friday, Christmas and End of Year sales on big screen TVs and other consumer electronics.

All the major retailers and manufacturers are gearing up to offer you rock bottom prices. What they won’t be telling you, though, is how much energy their products use or what they cost to operate.

Someday, maybe, we’ll see the industry leaders declare a “Green Friday” and compete based on energy use and other environmental impact. In the interim, I’ve put together a list of the most energy efficient TVs on the market as well as some additional shopping tips and advice on how to minimize the energy use of TVs and some of the products connected to them.

Consumer Electronics and Energy Use 101

Consumer electronics are the fastest growing source of energy use in our homes and represent 10 percent to 20 of our overall electric bills. The biggest chunk of this energy use is tied to your TVs and the equipment connected to them – the DVD player, video game console, cable or satellite set top box(es), surround sound system, etc. When you add it all up, it is like adding a new kitchen’s worth of electricity use to your home. As everyone cares about at least one of the following -- lower electric bills and saving money, cleaner air, and less global warming pollution -- products that offer the same performance while using less energy are the way to go.

Shopping for a TV

While the 2010 models are significantly more efficient than the offerings just a few years ago, there are still some real dogs out there. For example, some models use twice as much power to operate as another similar-sized product. Unfortunately consumers have no way of knowing this when shopping and as a result may be paying a few hundred dollars extra in their electric bill over the ten-year lifetime of their new TV.

So here is what you can do:

1. Only buy a model that has the ENERGY STAR label on it. Today this means a TV is one of the better models on the market (but not necessarily the best) in terms of energy efficiency.

2. Take the enclosed list of the 200 most efficient models on the market with you. These TVs use roughly 25 percent less power than today’s ENERGY STAR Version 4.1 requirements. This list includes a wide cross section of manufacturers, screen sizes and features. When deciding which TV to buy, be sure to factor in the lifetime electricity cost data I provide in the last column.

3. When setting up your new TV be sure to pick the home setting. TVs at the home setting will operate at the correct brightness level for your home and use 15 to 25 percent less power than those in the other unnecessarily bright settings.

As a result of NRDC’s advocacy, all new TVs will contain a yellow Energy Guide label by the middle of 2011 like the one shown below. This will make it a lot easier for consumers to make informed decisions when picking which TV to buy and we anticipate that disclosure of this information will further drive manufacturer competition to improve the energy efficiency of their products.

Video Game Consoles

An increasing number of homes also have a video game console – Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation3 or Nintendo Wii -- connected to their big screen TV. The older versions of the Xbox 360 and PS 3 consumed in excess of 150 watts when in use. To make matters worse, these devices as shipped do not automatically turn themselves off when not in use. The design flaw in these products is they continue to consume near full power levels if the user forgets to turn them off when they are done playing the game or watching a movie. Depending on the version purchased, the consumer is throwing away roughly $ 75 - 125 per year to power their device when it is NOT in use. For an older model left on all the time, this is the same amount of energy used by two new refrigerators each year.

Now for some really good news. Today’s Xbox 360 and PS3 use roughly 50 percent less power (around 85 watts) than earlier models, and the Wii continues to use much lower levels (under 25 watts) of power then the other devices. In addition, the Xbox 360 and PS3 now both contain an auto power down feature that puts the machine into a low power mode after extended periods of inactivity. In other words, your video game console will use only 1 Watt in the middle of the night instead of the 80 to 150+ Watts levels your new or older model, respectively, would use if left on.

You will have to dig deep into the operating menus to find out how to enable the auto power down feature. To help guide you through this process we provide you with step-by-step instructions below. We are continuing to encourage manufacturers to ship all their new models with this feature enabled by default and are optimistic they will make this change relatively soon.

Sony PlayStation 3

Microsoft Xbox 360

From the Navigation menu, select:

System Settings
Power Save Settings
System Auto-Off
1 hour
Turn Off System Automatically Even Under Special Conditions[1]
Controller Auto-Off

From the Dashboard, select:

My Xbox
System Settings
Console Settings
Startup and Shutdown
Auto-Off
Enable

Cable and Satellite Set Top Boxes

Unfortunately there is not much good news to report here. Today’s cable and satellite set top boxes and DVRs essentially stay at near full power levels 24/7, even when you “turn them off.” The major part of the problem here is that we the consumer instead of the service provider pay the electric bill. This really adds up as there are around 188 million of these set top boxes in the US. As such, our nation is wasting the equivalent output of six large (500 megawatt) power plants each year to power these devices when they are NOT in use. Many of today’s DVRs use more energy each year than the TV they are connected to. Later this year we will announce the results of a recent field study we did on these devices.

In the meantime, let’s try an interesting little experiment: Head over to the Facebook pages of Comcast, Time Warner, Direct TV, Dish Networks and tell them you are not happy with this situation and you want a box that uses very little power when you are not watching or recording a show.

Ask the companies if they’d be willing to pay you for the portion of your electric bill, approximately $25 a year, caused by them to power your box when you are not using it. If they hear from enough of us, perhaps they’ll move more quickly to solve this flaw in their system.

And then maybe we can celebrate a green Friday before too long.

[1] Enabling the special conditions function will allow the auto-shutdown feature to work even if you have a game or movie inserted in the console and on its main menu page. Without it, the console will not turn off after video or game play, including idle menu page screens - making it rarely effective.

The Light Bulb as We Know It Is Changing

2010-10-18T22:07:54Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

In late 2007, President Bush signed a federal energy bill that established energy efficiency standards for the everyday light bulb. These standards essentially retire the 130-year-old incandescent, which is so inefficient that 90 percent of the electricity it uses is wasted as heat. As there are around 4 billion screw-based sockets in the US, this is a really big deal. Once in full effect, the standards will:

Cut our nation’s electric bill by $13 billion a year.
Eliminate the need for 30 large (500 MW) power plants.
Prevent more than 100 million tons of CO2 emissions, the main pollutant responsible for global warming.

To put this into perspective, these standards will save as much electricity each year as that used by all the homes in the State of Texas.

Unfortunately some have decided to launch a campaign to “save” the inefficient incandescent light bulb. Last month, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas introduced legislation that would return us to the past; its backers are spreading loads of misinformation along the way. The legislation represents a disturbing trend of bashing energy efficiency regulations across the board, regardless of their benefits.

Interestingly enough, the lighting companies are not in favor of such a rollback. Flip flopping policies are the last thing they want. To its credit, the lighting industry’s trade association issued a press release that sums up its ongoing commitment to meet and exceed the new lighting efficiency standards. These companies have made major changes to their supply chains and invested billions of dollars in research and development and new production facilities. Preserving the most inefficient light bulb is no longer in their financial interests.

Barton’s bill also ignores exciting new energy saving lighting products that are beginning to hit market. These replacement bulbs provide just as much light as today’s incandescents and last much longer, which means fewer trips up the ladder and significant cost savings for the user.

Not surprisingly, Edison’s 125-year-old bulb is a really bad deal in today’s economy. While today’s incandescent bulbs cost 25 cents to 50 cents per bulb when bought in a 4 pack, they are a really bad deal both for your pocket and the environment. That’s because energy saving alternatives such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) use 4 times less energy to create the same amount of light. Over a five-year period, a 100W incandescent bulb will cost $40 more than the comparable 25W CFL.

Unfortunately many consumers are unable to get past the slightly higher first cost of the CFL, $2 (in a multi pack) to $5 (when bought one at a time), and unknowingly are being hit with higher electric bills.

What Does the 2007 Law Really Do? Contrary to many alarmist headlines, the law signed by President Bush in 2007 does NOT ban incandescents (or any other technology for that matter). The law simply requires new bulbs, beginning in 2012, to use 25 percent to 30 percent less power than today’s conventional incandescent bulb. The law is technology neutral and allows any type of bulb to be sold as long as it is a reasonably efficient one. Consumers will have lots of choices including energy saving halogens, CFLs, LEDs, and even new and improved incandescent lamps.

What about Jobs? The experience so far is that Osram Sylvania chose to retool its incandescent factory, one of the few remaining in the United States. In retooling its plant in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, Osram Sylvania preserved 265 jobs and protected the jobs in the feeder plants throughout the country that make the glass, bases and halogen capsules that go into the new energy saving bulbs.

Another manufacturer, GE, has a mixed story. GE invested $60 million to create a global center of excellence for linear fluorescent lamp manufacturing in Bucyrus, Ohio, an action that will double that plant’s jobs. But GE has also recently announced the closing of an incandescent plant in Virginia, a closing that will sadly result in the loss of 200 jobs.

Other job-related news includes:

TCP Inc., one of the world's biggest manufacturers of high-quality compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), is moving some of its production from China back to the U.S. When was the last time that happened?

Lighting based on light-emitting diodes or LEDs has created many new jobs in the United States; many more are on the way.

For example, Cree, a North Carolina-based lighting company, recently announced plans to invest more than $500 million in two new factories that will provide more than 800 new jobs in the Durham, NC area.
Also check out this story about Lighting Sciences Group Corporation, which is producing new LED light bulbs that will soon appear on the shelf at Home Depot stores. The company recently won almost $19 million in federal stimulus bonds to expand operations to develop and manufacture energy efficient LED lighting in Florida's “Space Coast.” The development has the potential to create 832 new jobs over the next two years. While it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make a LED light bulb, these factories are indeed quite sophisticated and provide the type of high paying green jobs that are in everybody’s best interest. In fact, many of the new hires could indeed be former NASA employees.

Overall the job creation story is overwhelmingly positive. The loss of one plant and its jobs, however traumatic for the impacted community, cannot be allowed to overwhelm developments that promise hundreds and hundreds of new jobs here in the US.

Stay tuned to this space for more news about changes in lighting technology. With the new standards set to begin soon and with massive innovation in the worldwide market, we’re all going to need guidance and advice as we enter the clean energy future.

P.S. – One last point I want to reemphasize: We will all still be able to buy a great bulb for every socket. Contrary to what some luddites say, consumers will be able to choose from a wide range of bulbs, using a variety of technologies, coming in many different shapes, brightness levels, and color temperatures (warm yellowish light to cooler bluish light). No one is requiring you to buy a CFL – not now, not ever. The regulation is simply making manufacturers build you a better bulb.

In the interest of full disclosure, though, I’m a big fan of the new CFLs as they are now small enough that you can even pull one out of your pocket, as I demonstrated on national TV – with Hoda and Kathie Lee one morning. Also check out the October issue of Consumer Reports for their recent reviews of CFLs, which were quite favorable.

Black Friday Shopper's Guide to Energy Efficient TVs

2009-11-24T21:27:34Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

The countdown to Black Friday has already begun and for many of us who choose to brave the crowds, our shopping lists include big ticket holiday items such as the latest and greatest HD flat screen TVs.

Luckily - right in time for the holiday season - there is a brand new generation of energy-efficient TVs on the market. These models may use two to three times less energy than other TVs on the store shelves - meaning these former home energy hogs are on a liquid diet, just sipping a fraction of the energy it takes to run their not-so-distant cousins from just a few years past.

But there is one small catch - it's not that easy to tell which TVs are the most efficient ones. That's because the current version of ENERGY STAR, Version 3.0 is not very stringent and almost all models in the store today have the ENERGY STAR label on them. To their credit, the EPA has created a new version called Version 4.0 that goes into effect in May 2010. Unfortunately there is no easy way for consumers to easily determine which models meet the more efficient ENERGY STAR 4.0. That's where NRDC comes in....

To find the models on the market today that meet the ENERGY STAR 4.0 power requirements, we've written up a shopping guide for you.

These models are smart buys -- they'll keep your electric bills down but still give you the same great picture and sound quality provided by the high tech TVs of today.

Of course - while making sure the TV you buy meets the Energy Star 4.0 power limits is the most important step you can take to shopping energy-smart, there are a few more tips to enjoying your TV while keeping your energy bills in check:

First (or really second) - Only buy as big a TV as you really need. In general, bigger TVs use more energy and cost more to operate than smaller ones.

Second (or really third) - Adjust the brightness. When setting up your new TV, be sure to pick the "home" mode setting. This setting may cut your power use by up to 25% compared to other settings such as "vivid" or "retail" which are unnecessarily bright for most users.

Lastly - if you're swapping out an old TV for a new one, be sure to dispose of the old one properly (after all - older CRT televisions contain 4-8 pounds of lead, along with various other toxic materials, and no one needs that in our landfills). So....

Recycle your old TV. This helps reduce the pollution and energy use tied to the production of new electronics, and keeps hazardous materials out of landfills.

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition (NRDC is a member of ETBC) provides this map with links to responsible recyclers in each state.
ETBC also provides this guide of TV companies that have take-back programs.

And while you're taking steps in your own life, I should note what NRDC is doing on its end to ensure all TVs become as energy-smart as possible. Beyond our work with Energy Star, we were also a part of a recent victory in California - last week the California Energy Commission adopted the most advanced TV energy efficiency standards in the world. The new standards will make new TVs sold in California 30-50 percent more efficient and put almost a billion dollars a year back into the California economy in the form of lower electricity bills. Plus, the electricity saved will be equal to the amount used by all the homes in Oakland and Anaheim annually, and the new standard will also eliminate the need for California to build a new, large-sized 500 MW power plant, reducing carbon emissions equal to removing 500,000 cars from the road. Sounds like a pretty good plan, right?

Hopefully, that win will become the model for things to come around the world. Stay tuned.

California on track to improve TV efficiency and lower consumers’ electric bills

2009-10-09T19:58:18Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

I am pleased to report that the California Energy Commission (CEC) recently released its proposed energy efficiency standards for new TVs sold in California. These proposed standards are due to be voted on by the full Commission later this fall and upon passage will represent the most stringent standards in the world. Here's why this matters:

These standards will cut the power use of new TVs by 30 to 50% and will save Californians almost a $1 billion dollars a year in the form of lower electricity bills. These standards will also accelerate the industry's adoption of more efficient designs and ensure that every model sold in California is an efficient one.

*For those of you that are more visually oriented, here is a graphical depiction of how the standard works. Note, as a concession to the industry California has proposed to postpone regulation of TVs >58 inches till a follow-on rulemaking.*

We wholeheartedly support their passage and are doing all we can to make sure this happens. I have been representing NRDC and our more than 1.3 million members and e-activists during the Commission's more than 18 month proceeding.

But, as is often the case, this process hasn't been easy thanks to a misinformation campaign of epic proportions brought to you by the folks at the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) - a DC-based lobbying group that is doing everything it can to prevent such regulations. CEA's most recent stunt includes creating a web based campaign centered around the misleading name of "Californians for Smart Energy". This is a textbook case of deception by an industry funded front group designed expressly to defeat the Commission's energy efficiency standards.

The CEA is philosophically opposed to mandatory standards and is recycling its usual litany of fabricated predictions of dire economic consequences, massive job losses and empty shelves. They previously made similar claims that proved to be totally untrue during their opposition to the Commission's highly successful efficiency standards that cover the ubiquitous black boxes called AC to DC power supplies that power our cell phones, laptops, cordless phones, routers and MP3 players. CEA also opposed, unsuccessfully, California's standards that limit the amount of power consumed by a wide range of consumer electronics when they are in standby mode (eg, when they are turned off.) In both cases, California's standards have since been adopted by other jurisdictions around the world.

But here's the thing, trade associations have been spreading these boogeyman stories on behalf of manufacturers for over 30 years every time California considers efficiency standards for things like air conditioners, water heaters, refrigerators and now consumer electronics. California, to its credit, has moved ahead anyway. And guess what - not a single one of these adverse impacts was ever observed. Today's air conditioners keep you just as cool, your refrigerator keeps the food just as fresh, and after passage of the TV standard you'll still get that great "high def" picture. Instead, California has prevented the need to build several costly power plants, new product features continued to develop, and the only difference most consumers observed was lower electric bills.

While the CEA staff continues to serve as the face of the opposition to the TV standards, we think they are doing a disservice to their members like Samsung and Sharp who have recently introduced some of the most energy efficient models on the market. Much of their innovation and hard earned environmental credibility or "greenness" is at risk of going down the drain by standing behind the CEA and its smear tactics. Fortunately Vizio, a California based company and the leading selling brand of flat panel TVs in North America, has broken away from the pack and taken the courageous step of expressing their support for the Commission's standards.

It will be interesting to see if history repeats itself and other leading manufacturers step up and tell the CEA to support progress and innovation or they will terminate their CEA membership. A great parallel is the recent rush for the exits at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce where leading companies such as Apple, PG&E, and Exelon fled the organization due to its backward policies on climate change.

I will continue to report on future developments on the California rulemaking and other developments in this rapidly changing industry as they occur. In the meantime, for a more factual based and detailed summary of the proposed California efficiency standards and critique of the misconceptions created by CEA and perpetrated on California consumers, read on:

Economic impact - These standards are good for California's economy. With the use of off the shelf technologies and additional innovations that are coming very soon, there will be little to no incremental cost to meet the standards. Due to their lower energy use, these standards will put billions back into the California economy in the form of lower electric bills.

Jobs - CEA talks about thousands of lost jobs in California. First of all no TV production or assembly occurs in California, or the US for that matter. There is no basis for CEA's predictions of harm to the independent retailers. These retailers will continue to offer their customers a wide range of hi-end models to choose from. For example, you can already buy state of the art 52 inch TVs with new LED backlights that are only 1 ½ thick, have amazing contrast ratios, and easily beat the proposed 2013 standard.

TV Choice - The standards are performance based and technology neutral. The standards also scale with size, meaning bigger TVs are allowed to consume more power. In other words, consumers will continue to be able to choose any type of TV, whether it be LCD, plasma, DLP or some technology not even in existence today. Despite the misleading headlines that California is banning big screen TVs, one will continue to be able to buy TVs of any size, period.

Market Status - Today, more than 3 years before the standard goes into full effect, there are almost 300 models that already meet the Commission's Tier 2 energy efficiency requirements. These are made by all the leading manufacturers including Samsung, Vizio, Sharp, and Sony, as well as several of the lesser known, low cost house brands. Just like the computer laptop makers have, the TV industry is also expected to move towards LED backlights which will provide additional savings.

Environmental Benefits - We will prevent the emission of just under 3 million tons per year of CO2, the main heat trapping pollutant responsible for global warming, once all TVs installed in California meet the Tier 2 efficiency levels. In addition we will save as much power as that generated by a 500 MW power plant.

How much energy do TVs really use?

2009-09-17T23:42:49Z

Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Energy Efficiency, San Francisco, CA

About 4 years ago I started noticing that flat panel, big screen TVs started to pop up almost everywhere I went. Places like the hotel lobby, the fitness center, restaurants, at the airport and increasingly in our friends' homes. Also overnight, the size of TVs seemed to almost double.

As an energy efficiency advocate I had to know the answer to the question, "how much energy do these new LCD and plasma TVs really use?". Much to my surprise there was virtually no public information available about their energy use or cost to operate. The only thing out there was the number on the back of the TV that indicates how much power a TV can safely draw before it becomes unsafe to operate.

Not to be deterred I worked with our consultant Ecos Consulting to measure the power use of the latest TVs. We went into a few big box stores armed with a power meter and a 2 minute clip of the movie Shrek and measured the power draw of the TVs that were on display. To make a long story short, here is what we found:

Some of the bigger, less efficient models consumed more electricity each year than a new refrigerator and can cost several hundred dollars to operate over their 10 year life.
There was a wide range of energy use between similar sized models. In general, plasmas consumed considerably more energy than equivalent LCD models.
TVs now represent approximately 5 % of residential electricity use and over 1% of all national electricity use.

I have since dedicated much of the last few years to moving the industry towards more efficient designs. The potential dividends are enormous and include cutting our nation's electric bill by up to $10 billion/yr, eliminating the need for several large power plants, and preventing millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the main heat trapping pollutant responsible for global warming.

And I'm excited to say that my home state of California may lead the way on this one — stay tuned for more on that later.