In the US, the government created the
Energy Star program. It certifies electronics that meet a minimum level of energy efficiency. From the Energy Star website:
"
ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy
helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy
efficient products and practices. Results
are already adding up. Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved
enough energy in 2007 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions
equivalent to those from 27 million cars — all while saving $16 billion
on their utility bills." So what would it take to put together a complete, Energy Star approved, home theater? Here's a look:
Television options:
There
are 442 big screen televisions listed at the Energy Star website,
ranging in size from 37" to 70". For example, you can get a Sharp 46"
LCD, a Hitachi 50" plasma, a JVC 70" HD-ILA, and almost anything and
everything in between. Unfortunately with TVs, the Energy Star logo
might be misleading. According to an article by Patrick Barry entitled
"
This is Your TV on Juice",
the Energy Star program rates TVs based on how much electricity they
consume while turned off. Since the TV spends a majority of its time
turned off, this seems like a valid measurement, but according to the
article there's a Hitachi 55" plasma that is certified
compliant, but it consumed more power than any other set in a 20 TV
shootout conducted by CNET, a whopping 434 watts. But turn it off and
it disappears from the (power) grid.
DVD options:
There's
about 100 products listed in the DVD section, including several
upconverting DVD players from Philips and a Pioneer Blu-ray player.
Shopping around you can find an upconverting player for as little as
$59.99. The Pioneer Blu-ray, model
BDP-95FD,
is a great device. The marketing quote is that it "doesn’t compromise
a thing when it comes to high-definition picture and audio." Although
we haven't used it, we have enough experience with Pioneer to know that
this is probably a true statement. However, with a suggested retail
price of $999 US, you may not be sacrificing any audio or video
quality, but you might not be able to buy groceries for a few months.
Being environmentally conscious a good thing, but it will take quite a
while to recoup that kind of investment in your monthly electricity
bill.
Receiver options:
Energy Star lists 23 receivers
on the website, including a handful of options from Panasonic, Pioneer
and RCA. But doing a little more research, we found that the
Onkyo TX-SR705
is actually quite energy efficient. While not certified compliant, it
is a great option for those who want the best of both worlds. The step
up from our recent fave the
Onkyo TX-SR605,
the 705 is quite efficient and actually consumes less power than the
605. It supports HDMI 1.3 with built-in decoding for Dolby TrueHD and
DTS-HD Master Audio. It has Faroudja processing and HDMI video
upconversion, and you can find it online for $595 (
Buy now). So while it isn't officially Energy Star, it's certainly worth looking at.
Conclusion:
It's
probably more than just a "noble" idea to want to conserve energy, and
it goes deeper than just wanting to save money on your bills. We
applaud the Energy Star concept and hope that more manufacturers will
embrace it in the future. It sure makes it convenient for a consumer
to simply look for that special logo and know that they're getting a
certified product. But as we found in our research, it can be a bit
limiting in designing your home theater around that logo and you may
need to do a little research on your own. But with some digging and
due diligence you can put together a home theater that not only rocks,
but lets you do your part as well.
Blu Ray
