DOE Urged to Develop Test Method to Measure Energy Use of 3D TVs

California utilities and the Natural Resources Defense Council urged the Energy Department to develop a test method to measure the energy use of 3D technology as part of its TV test procedure rulemaking. Makers of some 3D TVs are including a “3D Boost” feature that automatically brightens the screen when 3D content is being viewed, the NRDC said in comments. That feature aimed at offsetting the dimness caused by the use of tinted glasses to view 3D content could lead to “significant increase” in TV power use, the group said, and sought the creation of a 3D test clip.

The new TV energy use test method that DOE develops must provide “sufficient flexibility” for the agency and others to “develop policies” to set energy use limits for TVs, NRDC said. The procedure should include testing at any setting such as at home, “brightest preset” and with or without automatic brightness control enabled, it said. The test method should also address testing for active mode, standby mode, screen luminance and automatic brightness control, the group said. The DOE should review and adopt “key portions” of the IEC 62087 test procedure that many TV makers, California and the Energy Star program have embraced, it said.

Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison urged the DOE to address the power use of 3D TVs, citing a industry report that projects sales of 3D sets rising from 4.2 million units in 2010 to 78 million units by 2015. The agency should consider developing a representative 3D “broadcast video content” and associated test procedure to measure the energy use, they said. The DOE’s TV test procedure should enable “accurate and repeatable measurements that represent real life usage” of TVs, the utilities said. The test procedure should ensure that TVs are tested at “luminance levels sufficiently bright for satisfactory” consumer experience, they said.

The DOE shouldn’t adopt Rovi’s download acquisition mode (DAM) test procedure because Energy Star DAM testing is “evolving away” from the Rovi test method and toward a CEA test method, Rovi said. But because the CEA test method doesn’t identify or require any specific methods for testing DAM power usage, it’s “inappropriate” as a DOE standard, it said. DAM testing depends on many “external factors” and no there’s no test method now that addresses those factors, Rovi said. So the agency should not adopt DAM testing procedures for now, it said. LG Electronics said it backed the CEA DAM test procedure as adopted by Energy Star.