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Energy Efficiency Finally Coming to Cable Boxes
Cable industry to create set-top boxes that go to sleep to save on big energy wastes.
Energy efficiency is finally coming to cable set-top boxes. According to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), 90 percent of all new set-top boxes purchased and deployed by top cable operators will meet Energy Star 3.0 energy efficiency standards for set-top boxes.
The NCTA and CableLabs are forming an Energy Lab facility that will concentrate exclusively on improving energy efficiency. The Energy Lab is expected to be fully functional in the first quarter of 2012.
The initiative will promote the development, testing, and deployment of technologies that will enable cable subscribers to reduce and manage energy consumption in the home. It also will enable the manufacturing of devices that have “sleep” capabilities to reduce power consumption when subscribers are not actively watching television, says the NCTA.
Sleep and power-down modes for cable and set-top boxes have been promoted by Energy Star and other efficiency advocates. The current Energy Star 3.0 specification takes into account “deep sleep” energy consumption, which Energy Star hopes is 2 watts and under. The “deep sleep” feature isn’t mandated however, due to concerns about users experiencing delays as the set-top boxes come out of sleep mode and ramp back up.
“If every set-top box in the United States went into deep sleep for just four hours a day, it would result in savings of $350 million,” says Katharine Kaplan of the EPA’s Energy Star program.
The cable industry has come under fire for the energy use of its set-top boxes. Earlier this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reported that the average new cable or satellite box with a high-definition digital video recorder (HD DVR) consumes more electricity annually than a new flat-panel TV and more than half the energy of an average new refrigerator. That often means 30 to 50 watts being used, 24/7.
The NRDC study, Reducing the National Energy Consumption of Set-Top Boxes, found that new HD DVR set-top boxes consume about 40 percent more electricity than their basic set-top box counterparts and cost American consumers $3 billion a year - $2 billion of which is spent while the boxes are inactive but still running at near full power, as most do not yet enter low-power or “sleep” modes when they are not being used.
“Set-top boxes are the ultimate home energy vampires, silently sucking significant amounts of energy and money when nobody’s using them,” said Noah Horowitz, senior scientist at the NRDC.
The NCTA and CableLabs are forming an Energy Lab facility that will concentrate exclusively on improving energy efficiency. The Energy Lab is expected to be fully functional in the first quarter of 2012.
The initiative will promote the development, testing, and deployment of technologies that will enable cable subscribers to reduce and manage energy consumption in the home. It also will enable the manufacturing of devices that have “sleep” capabilities to reduce power consumption when subscribers are not actively watching television, says the NCTA.
Sleep and power-down modes for cable and set-top boxes have been promoted by Energy Star and other efficiency advocates. The current Energy Star 3.0 specification takes into account “deep sleep” energy consumption, which Energy Star hopes is 2 watts and under. The “deep sleep” feature isn’t mandated however, due to concerns about users experiencing delays as the set-top boxes come out of sleep mode and ramp back up.
“If every set-top box in the United States went into deep sleep for just four hours a day, it would result in savings of $350 million,” says Katharine Kaplan of the EPA’s Energy Star program.
The cable industry has come under fire for the energy use of its set-top boxes. Earlier this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reported that the average new cable or satellite box with a high-definition digital video recorder (HD DVR) consumes more electricity annually than a new flat-panel TV and more than half the energy of an average new refrigerator. That often means 30 to 50 watts being used, 24/7.
The NRDC study, Reducing the National Energy Consumption of Set-Top Boxes, found that new HD DVR set-top boxes consume about 40 percent more electricity than their basic set-top box counterparts and cost American consumers $3 billion a year - $2 billion of which is spent while the boxes are inactive but still running at near full power, as most do not yet enter low-power or “sleep” modes when they are not being used.
“Set-top boxes are the ultimate home energy vampires, silently sucking significant amounts of energy and money when nobody’s using them,” said Noah Horowitz, senior scientist at the NRDC.
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Article Topics
News · Product News · Research · Home Automation and Control · Energy Management ·About the Author
Steven Castle is a writer, editor, and humorist who recently completed Filthy Rich Things, a savage satire on our thirst for success and wealth. He is Electronic House's senior editor and co-founder of GreenTech Advocates.
2 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
+1 on the discretes!
I’ll bet the CI industry alone could save that much money because we wouldn’t have to leave the stupid things on to have a chance at them working.
Or heck, at least you could make the outlet on the back actually turn on/off based on the software menu item (and leave it that way instead of a software ‘upgrade’ that changes it 3 years later).
Oh forget it, I’ll sell another Tivo instead.
Page 1 of 1 comment pages
Discrete power commands would be nice. If not the sleep mode would work so long as we can wake it up with a button press. If not the screen will be dark when the customer presses cable and i will get the “my crestrons broke” phone calls
.
DirecTV receivers have discrete power so we can turn them off with the Room Off macro. Some cable boxes have that functionality. Others require odd work arounds that can (and have) be broken by firmware updates.