Technology

Things have been getting tight for electrical devices with high power consumption since March. Due to a tightened EU regulation, many are threatened with the end, and televisions with strong images are also affected.

Strasbourg/Munich – Things might soon get tight in Europe for well-known power guzzlers such as large, visually stunning televisions. Some may even be threatened with extinction. The reason: With the new EU Ecodesign Directive, the upper limits for the energy consumption of electronic devices are tightened, among other things. In addition, the manufacture of products in the EU should be designed to be more resource-efficient, so that the devices should be more energy-efficient than before before the start of their life cycle.

In the EU, products are to become more energy-efficient in the future

But even when in operation, they should be allowed to consume less electricity in the future. After all, almost a third of the electricity consumption in German households is due to devices from the entertainment sector, i.e. televisions, game consoles, computers and monitors. Therefore, as part of the new regulation, the EU has also tightened the limit values ​​for the energy label, which sticks to almost every electronic device in retail and divides its power consumption into classes A to F. Until now, these labels have been more of a guide for consumers to quickly identify energy-saving models in the store.

The EU is tightening the limit values ​​for the energy efficiency classes for electronic devices such as televisions

In the future, however, the new energy efficiency classes for particularly energy-intensive devices will have drastic consequences, and a sales ban will apply to them with immediate effect. Models whose power consumption is just above the new class G limit. 27-inch monitors must therefore stay below around 26 watts, 55-inch TVs below 89 watts. According to the EU, it wants to save 167 terawatt hours of energy annually by 2030, which, according to the EU Commission, corresponds to the annual consumption of Denmark. The emitted greenhouse gases might be reduced by around 46 million tons. The course in Europe is clearly set for more climate protection.

No television in the EU will receive the green energy label in the foreseeable future

Since the new limits are quite strict, there will be no more TVs with a green label. What does this mean for consumers? Which televisions will soon no longer be available for sale? For those who are now wondering whether they should grab it very quickly in order to be able to enjoy the home cinema feeling in the future, let me say: Only new models whose power consumption is just above the limit for the new ones are subject to the ban Class G lying, affected.

27-inch monitors must therefore stay below around 26 watts, 55-inch TVs below 89 watts. Devices that are already on sale may still be sold. However, the successor models must become more economical in the future. However, according to the widespread opinion among industry experts, no device will be able to do this in the foreseeable future.

The new upper limits are problematic for televisions with particularly strong images

Particularly large and picture-strong televisions have so far been above the new upper consumption limit. For certain display technologies such as 8K TVs, the new guidelines will make things difficult. Because of the large number of pixels, they consume more light than other televisions and therefore also a lot of electricity. Previous 8K TVs already consumed around 250 watts at 65 inches. For the new upper limit, their energy requirements would have to be at least halved.

Manufacturers can change the factory setting for televisions and thus bypass the upper limits

Many manufacturers will solve this for themselves with new factory settings, such as an eco mode in which the screen is simply dimmed. Consumers can then still switch to another mode with stronger image brightness themselves and simply accept the higher power consumption. However, the demand for 8K televisions in Europe is not particularly high anyway.

The industry does not want to launch any new 8K and LCD models for the time being because the devices consume too much energy

The display size also plays a role in the classification, since larger devices generally consume more power than small ones. Nevertheless, larger monitors are particularly affected. It will also be difficult for large OLED televisions, most of which come with 4K technology, to stay below the limit. A special regulation used to apply to these, which is no longer applicable. With these measures, the EU aims to ensure that manufacturers bring more energy-efficient devices onto the market in the future. Some have already announced that they will not launch new LCD or 8K TVs in 2023. One wants to hold on to the old models for the time being.