NRDC Hails as ‘Step in the Right Direction’ EPA Plan to Monitor TV Test Clips
EPA’s determination to deny Energy Star Version 8.0 certification to TVs found to be less energy-efficient when tested “with content that reflects a variety of typical viewing experiences” without agreed-upon definitions of what that actually means has been an obvious sticking point as the agency works to finalize the V8.0 spec by early June (see 1704110050). Acknowledging that “typical viewing experiences” can mean different things to different people, EPA is offering to referee and monitor TV makers’ test methods and results applicability before a set is offered for Energy Star certification or its qualification is denied, it said in its recently released second draft of the V8.0 spec.
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The agency “understands manufacturers’ concern regarding variability of ‘typical viewing experiences,’ and thus encourages manufacturers seeking greater assurance to share their assessment of any new energy saving feature with EPA for approval prior to certification,” EPA said. “We would expect to see performance data demonstrating savings over a range of typical viewing content,” including “full length of popular programming such as news, sports, dramas,” the agency said. For energy-saving features "dependent on content displayed," such as motion-dimming, “using any common length of popular programming over a variety of genres should be adequate to determine if the features deliver similar savings across different content,” EPA said.
The issue of test clips that better reflect typical viewing experiences than the test clip standardized years ago by the International Electrotechnical Commission and adopted as the law of the land by DOE is expected to generate significant discussion at EPA's May 15 webinar on the Draft 2 spec. That EPA is proposing to referee TV makers’ test clips for their accuracy in showing content that’s more realistic than that of the IEC test clip is “clearly a step in the right direction,” Noah Horowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, emailed us last week. NRDC hopes the proposal “puts manufacturers on notice that EPA is indeed watching and is poised to delist manufacturers who are gaming the system,” said Horowitz.
NRDC thinks the “ultimate solution” for defining “typical viewing experiences” in a test clip “is for a new consensus test method to be developed that removes the abnormally short scenes contained in the current test clip used during TV energy use testing,” said Horowitz. Any such newly developed test clips also need to include native-4K and high dynamic range content, he said. The appropriate committees at CTA and the IEC, “the forums where the updated test methods will be developed, need to develop an increased sense of urgency and actually begin this important work,” Horowitz said.
IEC representatives didn’t comment on the stalled process to develop a new TV energy-efficiency test clip. Doug Johnson, CTA vice president-technology policy, emailed us Friday that TVs are “an energy efficiency success story driven by innovation.” CTA “has been on the vanguard of policies and programs that recognize this success,” Johnson said. “Industry consensus standards for measuring power consumption are fundamental to any energy efficiency program or initiative; one needs a standardized way to measure energy use for the product in question.”
CTA over the years “has produced industry standards for measuring energy use in set-top boxes, small network equipment and televisions,” Johnson said. “Knowing that technology continually evolves, it’s important to review and periodically revise such test method standards in order to keep pace with the market.” For TVs, “this task was made more difficult” in 2013 when DOE mandated a TV test procedure (see 1310040060), “locking it into regulation,” Johnson said. “Nonetheless, CTA is committed to the industry standards development process at both the domestic and international levels and the need to revise the TV test method standard, which is important to the global market. The current industry standard for measuring TV energy use benefited from input from stakeholders in industry, government and the energy efficiency community, and this stakeholder participation and input will be important once again during the revision process.”