The consumer electronics industry is highly competitive and rapidly changing. Technologies that are wildly popular one day can be outmoded the next.

Coupled with this is that energy performance is not high on the list of consumer purchasing criteria. CEE’s Electronics Exploratory Committee, formed just four months ago, is examining potential roles for CEE to encourage efficiency in this key end-use area.

Consumer electronics currently account for about 10-15 percent of a household’s total energy consumption, according to ENERGY STAR^®, and this amount is increasing.

“We probably need a non-traditional approach because everything changes so quickly in consumer electronics,” said CEE Program Associate Erica Schroeder, who is leading CEE’s efforts in this area.

“Our typical specification approach, where it can take 6-12 months to fully identify and vet the appropriateness of a spec with industry stakeholders, may not be fast enough to keep up. ENERGY STAR is facing the same constraints.”

Establishing a good working relationship with the electronics industry, dispersing research and educating consumers appear to be the best routes at this point.

In an important first step, CEE has begun working with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), a trade group that has more than 2,100 members and represents the entire range of the industry (manufacturers, retailers, distributors, etc.).

Measuring energy consumption

DOUG JOHNSON CEA

Doug Johnson, Senior Director of Technology Policy at CEA, made a presentation at the general session of the Industry Partners Meeting, explaining some of the basic trends and opportunities.

Johnson said that the industry, as a whole, supports the concept of energy efficiency promotion through voluntary programs. He also added that this type of promotion can be problematic because there is very little reliable data.

“Many estimates of the electricity consumption by consumer electronics were developed in the late 1990s,” Johnson said. “Products have changed dramatically over the last decade and so have their energy consumption characteristics.”

Thus the measurement of current energy consumption and establishment of baseline levels may be inaccurate. In order to bring data up to date, CEA has hired a research and development firm to study and report current energy consumption for consumer electronics products.

Johnson indicated that this research will be publicly available. Results of the study are expected to be released this October.

CEE’s committee will review the results as part of its upcoming work.

CEE’s Electronics Committee
In addition to maintaining ongoing contact with the electronics industry, CEE's Electronics Committee is involved in (and monitoring) a number of near-term activities.

ENERGY STAR computer specification
The committee is providing comments for an updated ENERGY STAR computer specification, which is expected to become effective in July 2007. ENERGY STAR has achieved great success with its monitor specification and monitor power management efforts.

With the revision of the ENERGY STAR computer specification, the program expects to increase its promotion of energy-efficient computers and computer power management.

Televisions
This could be an area with great savings potential because there are so many televisions in service and the trend is toward larger screens. The committee will monitor current efforts by EPA, CEA and others to develop an internationally accepted television test procedure that includes both active and standby modes, a necessary first step toward a revised ENERGY STAR television specification.

CEE is also keeping an eye on a movement to provide consumers with the federal EnergyGuide label for televisions, and has commented to the Federal Trade Commission several times in support of such labeling.

Set-top boxes
When the U.S. moves from analog to digital broadcasting, a transition scheduled to take place in 2009, there may be an opportunity to encourage energy-efficient digital-to-analog (DTA) conversion boxes.

DTAs will be required by consumers still using an analog television at that time. The federal government plans to offer $40 rebates for the purchase of DTAs, and recently requested input on the details of this rebate program.

A number of CEE members, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and ACEEE (as well as EPA and retailers such as Wal-Mart), commented in favor an energy-efficiency component to the rebate.

In addition, EPA plans to develop an ENERGY STAR specification for DTAs in advance of the 2009 transition. The electronics committee is monitoring these DTA-related opportunities, as well as other set-top box developments.

Research and information sharing
The Electronics Committee serves as forum for members to share research and data on electronics, and to identify future research needs. In addition to the CEA electronics research mentioned above, several CEE members are undertaking research of their own, which they expect to complete in the upcoming months.

All public information related to electronics that CEE obtains will be included in CEE's MAPE Clearinghouse.

Consumer education
The committee is looking into the coordination of consumer messaging on electronics by CEE members. ENERGY STAR, which posts consumer electronics information on its Web site, already provides a good platform for this process. Several CEE members currently have Web pages devoted to energy-saving opportunities for electronics.

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