Frequently Asked Questions – Televisions

Why introduce television energy rating labels? One in four Australians buys a new television each year. Televisions are now the fourth largest electricity user in our homes after water heating, refrigeration and lighting. In the extreme, a large wide-screen TV can use more energy than a family-sized fridge each day or more energy than used by your dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer combined.If these recent trends were to continue, television energy use will be more than double that of refrigerators by 2020. Introducing performance standards and energy rating labels for TVs will reverse that trend-in the future, televisions will use less energy while still delivering high overall performance with all the features we all value.Due to the presence of the label most consumers actually think about energy efficiency at some stage in the process of purchasing a fridge, clothes washer or dishwasher. But most Australians are not aware of the large amount of energy consumed by wide-screen TVs and little reliable information is available to potential purchasers.Energy rating labels are aiming to change this situation by providing highly visible and reliable information about the energy efficiency of different TVs. This will allow us to choose more efficient TVs and provides an incentive to manufacturers to strive for energy performance improvements.
Why introduce Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for televisions? Minimum energy performance standards will set a fair benchmark for TVs and will lift the base performance of the whole market. TVs that do not meet the minimum standard will no longer be able to be sold in Australia. This minimum standard does not remain static and will be increased after October 2012, to take account of technology improvements in that time.Minimum energy performance standards are already in place for home appliances such as fridges, freezers and air conditioners. They have proven to improve the energy efficiency of these appliances over the long term, saving purchasers money through lower operating costs.
How will energy rating labels help? The labels provide the information you need to consider energy efficiency in your choice between comparable models. More efficient televisions help reduce demand on electricity supplies, save on power bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Example of Energy Savings

The stock of televisions in Australia now exceeds 18 million and each year another two million are purchased. When you opt for a ‘greener’ more efficient model, your decision encourages manufacturers to innovate and produce more efficient televisions, so a good decision today can have an even more positive effect tomorrow.
What information is on the label?
  • Stars – the greater the number of stars, the more efficient the television is compared to other competitive models of the same screen size.
  • Kilowatt hours (kWh) per year – (this is the television’s estimated total electricity use over one year) the smaller the number, the more efficient the television is compared to other competitive models of the same screen size.
  • Running cost – to calculate a rough cost of operating the television, multiply the energy consumption figure by 15 cents per kWh (note, actual electricity prices vary between each state and territory).
  • Greenhouse gas emissions – to calculate a rough estimate of the emissions from your television, you can assume each kWh equates to 1kg of greenhouse gas emissions (note this varies according to where you live and your electricity supply contract).
What else can I do to reduce my TV energy consumption?
  • Choose the most energy efficient television that meets your needs.
  • Switch off your television when you’re not watching it.