By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California may be still waiting for the go-ahead to force higher fuel economy in its cars, but the Golden State is moving to crack down on a less obvious energy glutton -- the television set.
As television screens grow steadily in size and numbers, sucking more juice from the U.S. power grid, California regulators has crafted the nation's first mandatory energy curbs on TVs -- and meeting resistance from the industry that makes them.
Having pioneered energy-efficiency rules over the past 30 years for appliances and gadgets ranging from refrigerators to cell-phone chargers, the California Energy Commission has now turned to TVs, which account for 10 percent of home electric bills in the state.
And like much of the commission's previous work, its new regulations are likely to become the new industry standard for manufacturers everywhere, by virtue of California's sheer size as a consumer market.
The initiative was sparked in part by the recent surge in popularity of larger, flat-screen televisions that devour, on average, at least 40 percent more electricity than the old-style cathode ray tube, or CRT, sets.
Converting all of California's TVs to the proposed standards would save roughly 500 megawatts of energy, the amount generated by a large-scale power plant and enough electricity for more than 300,000 homes, experts say.
GOOD FOR THE PLANET?
"Appliance standards are not a sexy story but ... a more energy-efficient television is going to help save the planet," Energy Commission spokesman Adam Gottlieb said.
CRTs still make up the bulk of the estimated 35 million sets in California homes today. But they are rapidly being replaced by flat-panel models, mostly liquid crystal display, or LCD. They account for nearly 90 percent of the 4 million new TVs sold each year.
Higher-end plasma screens, which can gobble up three times more power than an average-size CRT, represent about 10 percent of the market.
The agency's plan is unfolding against the backdrop of a larger state effort to cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas pollutants 28 percent by 2020.
President Barack Obama this week ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider a request by California to impose its own strict caps on carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. Compliance with those limits also would yield higher fuel economy for cars.
Much as automakers have resisted California's clean-car measure, the state's proposed TV standard has its critics.
The plan is opposed by some in the consumer electronics industry as unnecessary, costly for manufacturers and consumers and at odds with a voluntary nationwide labeling program, called Energy Star, developed by the EPA.
INDUSTRY OBJECTIONS
Industry officials cite estimates that about a quarter of the flat-panel TVs currently on the market would fall short of the proposed state standards if they were in effect today.
"The commission essentially wants to cut off a certain number of TVs from the market in order to save energy," said Doug Johnson, senior director of technology for the Virginia-based Consumer Electronics Association.
But supporters say the most energy-gulping models of today will be replaced by more efficient sets before the new regulations take effect, leaving consumers plenty of choice. They also argue that lower electric bills will more than offset any product price increases.
Both sides point to strides already made by TV makers in reducing their products' energy use -- some of them on display at this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas -- to support their arguments.
Panasonic Corp, for example, touted at CES new plasma screen technology that it says will slash power consumption to one-third of its 2007 models while achieving the same brightness.
Foes of mandatory standards say such advances prove that sizable efficiency gains are being made without new regulations -- that a voluntary, market-based approach works.
But Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said those successes only disprove the industry's contention that the standards are too onerous.
The proposed two-tier regulations would require all new TVs sold in California to consume about 30 percent less energy than current sets starting with the 2011 model year, and 50 percent less power starting with 2013 models.
"Today, a full four years before the standard is proposed to go into effect, there are over 100 models that meet the tier-two standard levels, from a wide range of manufacturers," Horowitz said.
Making efficiency standards mandatory, he added, is the only way to ensure that all manufacturers comply with them.
The commission also points to its past successes in mandating lower energy use for numerous appliances over the years, starting with refrigerators three decades ago.
"Thirty years ago, refrigerators were sucking up 200 watts, and today they sip 40 watts," Gottlieb said. "California is the most energy-efficient state in the nation, due in part to appliance standards."
(Editing by Mary Milliken and David Wiessler)
