Panasonic is advertising its Viera Plasma TVs as "environmentally friendly". We think that’s a bit of a stretch.
Plasma TVs generally use more power than similar sized LCD models. In a recently published test by the Australian consumer organisation Choice, a Panasonic Viera model used 48 percent more power than the average of the nine LCD models in the test. Compared with the best LCD, it was a whopping 134 percent more.
You could run a large fridge-freezer on the extra 500 kWh needed to run the Panasonic for a year. This level of energy use is clearly not so good for the environment.
The company’s ads also say its plasmas are lead- and mercury-free, “which reduces the impact on the environment when the time comes to recycle or dispose of your TV”. But it doesn’t mention that TVs can contain other substances that may be harmful to the environment. We might be more impressed if the company was providing recycling services for old TVs. It’s not.
Any company making “green” claims – about electronic appliances or any other product – needs to tread carefully. Companies which go too far risk falling foul of the Fair Trading Act.
The Commerce Commission’s guidelines on green marketing caution against using claims such as “environmentally friendly” or “environmentally safe”. These claims, says the Commission, are vague and could potentially mislead consumers into thinking that the product causes no harm to the environment in its production, usage and disposal – few, if any products, could legitimately make this claim.
More from consumer.org.nz
- Plasma and LCD televisions - buying guide and test results
- New green marketing guidelines - our March news item about the Commerce Commission's green marketing guidelines
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Again, Consumer seems to be out of step with reality when it comes to the plasma vs LCD situation. The latest new Panasonic plasmas have been proven to use less power than the previous generations in independant tests overseas, yet also produce greater brightness levels due to higher efficencies and newer technology. However, there's more to it than the maximum power consumption specs printed on the labels. Actual plasma power consumption levels fluctuate considerably, as the power consumption depends on the actual brightness of a scene at a given time. The average levels are far below this. An LCD panel (forgetting the latest modulated LED backlight models) uses similar power levels, even in dark scenes as the backlight lamp remains on at all times. It may come as a surprise, but most videophiles and professionals prefer plasma panels for their more natural pictures, often better blacks, and lack of motion blur. LCD panels often look better in bright showrooms, and "look impressive" but fall short in the home. Along with other comments I've read here, I feel your test results on 42" sets are flawed. How could you rate the HD ready Panasonic just behind the Full HD model? The difference in real life is huge. BTW, I don't have any connection to any company selling or distributing TVs, nor any financial interest in this area.
I had to laugh at this. I'm sure it is just a typo, and you mean 500 kWh. 500 kW ishe capacity of a largispply about 125 homes.
One of the commonly accepted abbreviations of kilowatt hour is kWh.
Thanks John and Kevin: you are both right, and we have sown the seeds of confusion with an unfortunate typographical error.
It should be 500kWh, and we have corrected this.
Kind regards,
Hamish Wilson
Testing Manager
The annual extra energy used by the Panasonic plasma TV compared to an LCD model should be stated as 500 kilowatt hours. The kilowatt is a unit of power.