Television and ecology

For some time now, environmental awareness has grown spectacularly. The reasons? Climate change, the greenhouse effect, the melting of the polar ice cap, natural disasters… and manufacturers and consumers alike quickly start thinking about how we can help improve our environment. In this article we review the main initiatives (and bets, because there are some of those too) for making our A/V system or, more specifically, our display environmentally friendly, without sacrificing an iota of quality.



REGULATIONS

Currently in Spain, eco-labels and certifications for green products have been transferred to the European Union, which adopts common legislation for all the countries of the Union. These regulations set out the various parameters for obtaining the Ecolabel, bearing in mind that it is voluntary; in other words, some manufacturers, even if they meet the requirements, may not be interested in having it shown on their labeling. In my opinion, the reason is that within the A/V sector there are enthusiasts who still associate ecology with a loss of quality, and this has a direct effect on manufacturers' willingness to include this type of label.



ECOLABEL

The European Ecolabel, also known as "the flower", is an eco-labeling scheme which, under an EU quota, can only be met by 30% of the products in each market category (PCs, refrigerators, washing machines or, in our case, televisions). So far it has been awarded to only about 300 companies for some 2,000 products.

This label guarantees that our television:

Has low energy consumption (less than 1 watt), both when switched on and in standby.

Contains a reduced amount of substances harmful to health and the environment (in the case of televisions, we are mainly referring to lead).

Has a design that increases its durability and recyclability.

Is covered by a take-back policy that reduces the production of solid waste.

Contains instructions for environmentally friendly use.

Energy Star, on the other hand, is a label similar to the European Ecolabel but applying to US regulations, which may in any case appear on products that reach European consumers and which we can also take into account, although for the time being, within the EU, it is limited to computer equipment. It is due to be introduced for all electronic devices, but no date has yet been announced.



ENERGY CONSUMPTION

This is a recent concern. Although we cannot consider the consumption of a display (whether plasma or LCD/TFT) high compared with other electronic devices, there are substantial differences that are worth taking into account, ranging from standby, in which several manufacturers guarantee consumption of less than 1 watt, to adapting the display to its surroundings according to the lighting, as Toshiba's Luma Sens does, or the backlighting of the Philips EcoFlat, which we will discuss later. In addition, some manufacturers, such as Panasonic, state that their plasma televisions have reduced their consumption by 50% over the last two years. Sony has also announced a drastic reduction in the consumption of its Bravia series LCDs, for which it guarantees a 50% difference compared with CRT technology.



NO MORE LEAD

Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS) was adopted by the European Union in February 2003. The RoHS directive came into force on July 1, 2006. It restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electrical and electronic equipment. It is directly linked to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

In Spain, both directives have been transposed into the same Royal Decree, R.D. 208/2005. However, the first is a "single market" directive; that is, it applies to all member states and must be implemented in the same way in all of them, thus avoiding bureaucratic barriers, whereas the second sets minimum criteria that member states must implement in their national legislation, and may even exceed.

RoHS is often referred to as the "lead-free" directive, but it restricts the use of the following six substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium VI (also known as hexavalent chromium), PBB (flame retardant) and PBDE (flame retardant).

The maximum concentrations set by amendment 2005/618/EC are: 0.1% by weight in homogeneous materials for lead, mercury, chromium VI, PBB and PBDE, and 0.01% for cadmium.

This means that the limits do not apply to the weight of the final product, or of the component, but to each substance that can be mechanically separated, such as the insulation of a cable or the tin plating of a component's terminal.

Since compliance is mandatory, and unlike the Ecolabel, this information will not be shown on our product, since in order to reach the general public it has had to pass a series of checks that certify it for release onto the market.

Some manufacturers, Panasonic for example, have chosen to eliminate lead from their Viera series plasma screens. Traditionally, lead oxide glass has been a key component in the manufacture of plasma screens, since the presence of this material in the glass helps maintain stable production and quality by optimizing the softening points of other materials.

Eliminating this component involves an R&D process to find less polluting materials that do not reduce the quality of the final result in any way. At the same time, work is under way on A/V products made with alternative materials, such as bamboo loudspeakers recently created by Panasonic. This and other initiatives are undoubtedly a step forward in the use of biodegradable materials. Other manufacturers have chosen to eliminate mercury and other hazardous materials from their products, which are highly polluting and difficult to dispose of.



LOGISTICS AND PACKAGING

Other brands, for their part, guarantee that the materials used in transport and packaging, as well as in the casing of our display, will be treated ecologically and will be environmentally friendly.

A particularly important case is that of polystyrene, present in most displays, especially in their packaging, and capable of being fully recycled if the right processes are followed. Some manufacturers, such as Sony, claim to use only recycled materials in the packaging of their products and in the manuals for their televisions.



LEADING MODELS

Philips' Eco FlatTV television won the overall "Best in Show" award at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES Las Vegas), part of the "Best in CES" awards presented by CNET.

The 42PFL5603D model is a Full HD LCD that offers great picture quality while keeping energy consumption to a minimum. It also incorporates several energy-saving features, such as a gradual dimming technology that reduces the backlighting of the LCD panel in order to reduce energy consumption as well. The system includes a light sensor that automatically measures the ambient light in the room and adjusts the television's backlighting to optimize energy consumption.



WASTE MANAGEMENT

There are some examples of environmentally friendly manufacturing processes that we find particularly interesting.

One of them involves Panasonic, which has introduced some environmental awareness initiatives into its manufacturing process. At the Amagasaki plant in Japan, the production process has been improved, resulting in a 48% reduction in CO2 emissions for plasma screens. The plant itself obtains part of its energy from natural energy sources, including wind turbines and solar power, while using collected rainwater to water the lawns. The outer wall of the Amagasaki plant has also been coated with photocatalytic material to prevent harmful substances from escaping and, in addition, the entire waste disposal procedure is monitored.

In addition, since 2005, Panasonic has had a 100% ecological subsidiary in Europe, EcologyNet Europe (ENE), which acts as a provider of recycling services for manufacturers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment.

Sharp, for its part, opened its second production plant in Kameyama, Japan. It is the first eighth-generation LCD factory. This is where the new AQUOS Full HD LCD TVs for the global market are made. Approximately one third of the electrical energy needed for production is generated in combined heat and power plants running on natural gas. Waste heat is recovered and reused in the air conditioning, to heat water and to produce steam. One of the largest photovoltaic panel systems in the world supports the cogeneration plant in producing energy. In addition, all the wastewater from the manufacturing process is collected and recycled using water purification techniques.

As for Sony, the company has signed up to the "Product, process, planet" agreement. This communication initiative covers all the key consumer touchpoints, such as a website on ecology. "Sony has a strong track record of environmental initiatives in Europe that go beyond mere legal compliance. But this is the first time we have addressed consumers directly through various channels to improve the communication of valuable environmental information," said Serge Foucher, executive vice president of Sony Europe. "This initiative should definitely help consumers make the right decision regarding their own contribution to sustainability through their purchase," he added.



CO2 REDUCTION

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is a goal shared by all the manufacturers that have made environmental commitments at their respective factories. All of them have presented figures, which in percentage terms speak of a reduction of between 30% and 50% in emissions of CO2 or of gases that contribute to the "greenhouse effect", and most have committed to a gas emissions reduction target for 2010.



OLED: THE FUTURE

OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology consists of diodes based on an electroluminescent layer formed by a film of organic compounds that react to a given electrical stimulus, generating and emitting light by themselves. Logically, therefore, its application in the world of displays is immediate.

OLED televisions have an extremely low environmental impact owing to their thinness and the potential energy savings of their panels, although the technology is not yet fully developed. Thanks to their passive matrix, they guarantee lower consumption than plasma and LCD. In addition, OLEDs have much faster response times than LCD, and can also achieve pure blacks, as well as allowing the television to be viewed from any angle. The problem lies in their manufacturing cost, but according to recent studies this would no longer be a problem: German researchers at the Technical University of Braunschweig (Technische Universität Braunschweig) are already using tungsten oxide as the anode in their displays to create much more efficient devices. And the good thing is that their design requires only two organic layers, unlike previous OLEDs, which required several layers. This results in a display that is thinner, more flexible, more efficient and cheaper to produce.

So, with luck, we will soon see OLED screens that are more efficient, with incredible images, and cheaper. Finding the balance between ecology and quality is undoubtedly the challenge for the years ahead.