Market ‘Movement’ Will Determine NEEP’s 2011 Legislative Plan for State TV Standards

The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships will push for state TV energy standards in 2011 if there’s evidence that the “market hasn’t really moved” in terms of efficiency gains from levels early this year, said David Lis, the group’s appliance standards program manager. TV energy bills that the group supported this year either were defeated in committee or were stalled in a handful of states. Making things a little complicated for state TV standards is the U.S. Department of Energy’s move to develop federal standards for TV energy use.

While a bill in Maryland was defeated in committee, bills in New York and Massachusetts failed to move out of committee. In Connecticut, an omnibus energy bill that contained TV energy standards, was vetoed. As for the DOE’s proposal to develop national standards, Lis said NEEP is “still waiting to hear what their plan is and what their timeframes were.” When the DOE comes out with the federal standard for TVs, the issue will be out of the purview of states, he said. But states who want a “more aggressive” standard could still seek a waiver, Lis said.

NEEP will track the “next iteration of models” that come out in the fall and holiday season so “we'll have a better idea of what the market looks like and how much savings opportunities there might be in a TV standard,” he said. If there hasn’t been much movement in terms of energy efficiency in the sector compared with NEEP’s analysis done earlier this year, “we would be interested in promoting state standards for televisions,” he said.

Lis wouldn’t comment on the consumer electronics industry’s recent moves to develop an alternative to the Energy Star program. The industry is frustrated with changes to the program’s product qualification and verification rules and the way the EPA is handling those changes. “A lot of programs we work with have relied on and supported Energy Star for a really long time,” he said. “We would continue to work to support and improve Energy Star in areas that need improving but work under that existing framework.”

The changes to product qualification and verification rules come at a time of public skepticism whether “Energy Star really represents the energy savings that it claims,” said Lis. So it “makes sense to increase the care” that the EPA takes in making sure that “the products meet the efficiency level they claim,” he said.

TV energy efficiency has “improved dramatically in an incredibly short period of time thanks to great engineering, technological innovation, competition and consumer demand -- all without the need for costly government mandates or heavy-handed regulation,” said Douglas Johnson, CEA vice president of technology policy. The push to regulate the energy use of TVs has been based on “outdated data and poor analysis, as well as a failure to properly account for the energy savings in the electronics sector,” he said. “This is unfortunate because all of this time, money and energy spent pushing unnecessary legislation and regulation is much better spent promoting energy efficiency to consumers, supporting the Energy Star program, or exploring new and creative, market-oriented programs.”