Vizio "Green TVs" Cut Power Consumption in Half

Finally a TV set Al Gore could love. At least that's the pitch from consumer electronics maker Vizio which says it will be introducing a line of environmentally friendly "ECO" LCD TVs that use half the power of competing flat-panel TVs.

Vizio says its line of "Green TVs" is aimed at delivering a quality picture without gouging your wallet or Mother Earth. The new flat-screen televisions are expected to hit shelves September or October with a price tag around $699 for a 26-inch set and $799 for a 32-inch model. Both will have a screen resolution of 1366 x 768.

As for power consumption Vizio says its 26-inch model will consume 45 Watts of power and its 32-inch system will sip 55 Watts of power. That Vizio claims will reduce carbon dioxide pumped into the environment, save 107kWh of power annually, and reduce end user energy cost between $2.50 and $7.70.

That's not a huge savings, but to give you an idea of the scale of this thing I took a look at the back of my own 26-inch TV/DVD combo and it uses up 80 Watts, so you get a much bigger screen than the average TV without the guilt.

The push to produce green televisions is starting to take off, and just in time for the February 2009 switch over to all-digital signals that will renders some televisions obsolete. Philips recently came out with a 42-inch HDTV that the company claims uses up about 75 Watts of power. Of course with a price tag in the $1400 range, you might want to opt for the more cost effective 720p model from Vizio this fall.

What Vizio was not talking about, and should, is whether or not it has been able to reduce the amount of nasty chemicals used to manufacture the sets, if it has reduced the overall carbon footprint of the sets, and whether or not its manufacturing process is "green." I'd like to also know whether Vizio has adopted any new policies when it comes to reducing electronic waste as other companies have worked hard to do. Vizio's e-waste policies seem outdated compared to what progressive companies such as Sony, Samsung, and Toshiba.

But if you're not ready to shell out the cash for an ECO model just yet, the Consumer Electronics Association came out with some power saving tips recently to control costs and help out the environment.

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