California Seeks To Eliminate "Vampire" Televisions
The state of California is facing massive budget shortfalls, water shortages, and continues to have rising energy issues. The name of the game for California is all about savings.
The technological advances have produced a number of gadgets for consumers to streamline his or her life. The technologies also save time, money, and energy, all except the for the television. Why? The manufactures for the televisions have/had been pushing “vampire” energy suckers upon consumers. The consumer has no way of knowing a product is not an energy efficient piece of equipment 'til the electric bill arrives, and then there is awareness. Does this still happen today? The savvy consumer will always be aware and know facts before any purchase of a television, because applying a sticker to merchandise does not automatically make it an energy saver. California has taken it a step further for consumer protection.
California has voted in favor of a regulation to “innovate” manufactures television production by lower the energy pulled from these products. The California power company Pacific Gas & Electric Co. states, “LCD TVs use about 43 percent more energy than tube sets.” This figure clearly shows a need for pushing the manufactures to create better televisions, because this cost will be pushed to the consumer. How? “LCDs now account for about 90 percent of the 4 million TVs sold in California each year.”
California is setting the stage (again) for consumer protection. The usual arguments have been used by manufactures to address California’s regulation. “Instead of allowing customers to choose the products they want, the commission has decided to impose arbitrary standards that will hamper innovation and limit consumer choice,” said Jason Oxman, a vice president of the Consumer Electronics Association. “It will result in higher prices for consumers, job losses for Californians, and lost tax revenue for the state.”
Why is it always the same threat for the consumer? The song and dance California has to go through with manufactures is worth it since waste has been reduced. Just as a quick example, the innovation of smog regulation for vehicle emissions. The cost of meeting the regulation standards is expensive with the censors; however, the vehicle operates longer. Perhaps the manufactures are worried that a better product could be made that will not need to be replaced?
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