Quiz: How Green is Your Screen?
The Sierra Club has a quiz on the energy efficiency of various television technologies. You can take the quiz here. (I got a high score even though I guessed on many of the answers.)
I was interested to find out that my guess that it’s better to keep my old CRT than trade it in for a large widescreen was right - keeping the CRT is probably the more eco-thing to do. Why?
According to Sierra Club’s answer sheet:
An LCD TV always uses less energy than a CRT model.
False, because screen size can quickly overwhelm even an LCD’s greater efficiency. For example, the surface area of a 42-inch widescreen TV is four times that of a 20-inch model with the old 4:3 screen ratio. So even though the LCD is more efficient, square inch for square inch, ditching a 20-inch CRT for a 42-inch LCD (a typical upgrade) means you’ll actually use three times as much energy. That 42-incher seems downright thrifty, compared to a 65-inch model, which uses more than six times the power of the 20-inch model.
To be the most energy efficient, your best bet would be to get a small LCD screen…or better yet, don’t watch TV at all. (But that’s not going to happen, as long as we still don’t have the answer to what the “island” really is on Lost…)
I love technology but I am also quite aware of the negative impact it can have on the environment. Still, I think it's technology that has the most potential to save us. Here you'll find articles on the green tech aka clean tech, such as alternative fuel, green computing, and e-cycling. You'll also hear about the "green" and the "tech" - from green household cleaners to why Linux is the progressive operating system of choice.