Though Version 7.0 Not Quite Complete, Energy Star Distantly Eyes Next TV Spec Revision

Finalizing for Version 7.0 of the Energy Star TV spec "allowance" that permits 4K TVs still to be Energy Star-certified if they consume up to 50 percent more incremental power than comparably sized and featured regular HD sets (see 1412040035), the EPA resisted a call from some to designate a similar "adder" in Version 7.0 for 8K TVs, the agency said in documents released last week. The agency said two commenters lobbied EPA during the yearlong process to devise Version 7.0 so that 8K TVs "could benefit from the same UHD adder as 4K as long as there is no maximum resolution limit on the adder." EPA sided with three others who didn’t support creating Energy Star allowances for 8K TV in Version 7.0. EPA "is not providing a separate allowance for 8K Ultra HD at this time, given the limited amount of available data and limited number of products that are currently 8K," the agency said. "EPA will continue to monitor the market going forward to determine the appropriateness of such an adder." Though EPA won’t formally declare the Version 7.0 TV spec finished until late December, the agency already has begun looking beyond Version 7.0 toward the next revision, Verena Radulovic, CE product manager for Energy Star at the EPA, told us in a Monday email. "We typically do a full revision (in this case, it would be Version 8.0) when we are making changes that impact qualification of currently eligible models, such as the stringency of the power consumption limits," Radulovic said. "However, if we expand the scope of the spec without impacting current qualification of eligible models, then we are able to do a .1 revision (7.1)." When it comes to how to account for Energy Star treatment of 8K if and when it arrives on the market, "we will have to see what data comes in over the coming year or two in order to make the determination of whether we would do a .1 revision or if we would fold in consideration of 8K TVs into a full specification revision," Radulovic said. As for the life expectancy of a new TV spec version until the development of the next version, "typically," she said, "we evaluate the TV specification at least 18 months from the time we finalize a specification revision to determine if it is ready for another revision based on the number of available ENERGY STAR models in the marketplace."