[opendtv] Re: White paper from CEA
- From: Mark Aitken <maitken@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2005 11:03:32 -0500
What is REALLY important is not whether or not they work well, but
rather, whether or not they are efficient!
*House Squanders Chance To Save Energy In Digital TV Transition*
10/27/2005 Washington, DC - The House Energy and Commerce Committee
rejected an opportunity to cut consumers' energy costs as the nation
transitions from analog to digital television broadcasting. With
Congress considering legislation to set a final date for the transition,
the committee rejected an energy efficiency standard for the digital TV
adapters that many consumers will have to buy to continue using their
broadcast TV sets after the 2008 transition date. Instead, the House
committee passed a meaningless energy efficiency requirement for this
equipment that would override stricter state standards.
Following the transition to digital broadcasting, millions of American
households will be forced to install digital television adapters (DTAs)
to continue watching broadcast programming on their analog TVs. Congress
is considering a federal subsidy program to offset the cost of DTAs to
tens of millions of affected households, many of which are low-income
households that cannot afford to buy new digital-ready TVs or subscribe
to cable or satellite TV services.
"The House amendment would increase consumer costs for the digital
transition, while worsening our energy problems. Congress should help
consumers afford this transition by establishing meaningful efficiency
requirements for any DTAs eligible for the taxpayer-funded subsidy,"
said Jennifer Amann, an ACEEE Senior Associate.
Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) had proposed an amendment to set
efficiency requirements for subsidized boxes similar to
minimum-efficiency standards set to take effect for all boxes sold in
California as of January 2007. The Markey amendment would have limited
DTAs to a maximum of 8 Watts of power draw when the television is on,
and 2 Watts of power draw when the television is off. These requirements
would have saved a typical household (with two TVs) about $20 annually
and saved all consumers as much as $3.5 billion in electricity bills in
the 5 years following the shift to digital broadcasting.
"It is astounding that the House Committee would reject an amendment to
ensure the energy efficiency of a new product it is requiring and
helping consumers to buy, particularly at a time when consumers and the
country as a whole are bracing for record energy bills. By declining to
put in place a meaningful efficiency standard, the Committee is placing
an unnecessary financial burden on American consumers in terms of higher
electric bills, and wasting energy needlessly. As this bill moves
forward, Congress should make sure low-income and other consumers do not
end up paying more in higher energy bills than they will get from the
federal subsidy," said Kateri Callahan, President of the Alliance to
Save Energy.
Rejecting the Markey amendment, the House Energy and Commerce Committee
adopted an amendment by Representative Mary Bono (R-CA) that would yield
little or no energy savings and pre-empts California--and any other
state--from adopting a better efficiency standard. The Bono provision
would limit DTAs to a maximum of 9 Watts of power when the set is off
and have no requirements for when the set is on.
Importantly, the Bono amendment would pre-empt California (and other
states) from enforcing standards for DTAs. California adopted its
standard just 12 months ago as part of the state's efforts to help keep
electricity demand and supply in balance. New York also has passed
legislation directing that energy use of these boxes be regulated. "The
House action will save little or no electricity across the country,
while costing California and New York consumers millions of dollars in
higher electric bills. It is inappropriate for Congress to use this
federal budget legislation to prevent states from setting their own
energy policy, particularly when no federal standard is at issue," said
Steven Nadel, Executive Director of ACEEE.
/SOURCE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
<http://www.pollutiononline.com/content/news/article.asp?docid=%7b07BDFA5B-B705-4858-8CC7-70761BFEE68E%7d&VNETCOOKIE=NO>
/
Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
>John Shutt wrote:
>
>
>
>>The proof is in the lack of ATSC product.
>>
>>
>
>Let's just for a second assume that Dale is right. The CE
>companies, looking to maximize profits, only sell to the
>umbillical service providers. Can you not accept that if
>this were the case, COFDM-based DTT receivers would suffer
>the same lack of availability as we see now?
>
>Before you can decide what the cure is, you need to know
>the disease.
>
>I had really expected, after 8-VSB was essentially fixed
>for indoor reception, that the CE vendors would get off
>their butts and get product out there. In order to hold on
>to your belief structure, you need to go on pretending
>nothing got fixed. All these 5th gen receivers, and perhaps
>even the Samsung prototype that appears to be a notch above
>the LG, are just a figment of CRC's imagination, and they
>have duped all the other people we've heard from, with
>success stories. It's all a big lie.
>
>
>
>>Have you noticed that most auto companies build the same
>>car, with only minor modifications for local laws, to
>>sell around the world?
>>
>>
>
>You can repeat this if you like, but it doesn't make it
>true. As I said before, depending on the time period, what
>you say here was not the case. To continue marketing cars
>to the US market, Euro companies in the 1970s and perhaps
>1980s (I'm too lazy to check exact dates) in certain cases
>had separate production lines. The much more stringent
>emission laws here, which mandated use of 3-way catalytic
>converters, electronic engine management, lead-free
>gasoline, not to mention the 5 mph barrier crash test, made
>some very odd cars for this market. Years later, Europe
>adopted some of these same measures, and were able to avoid
>a lot of the early not-so-good designs that we had to put
>with.
>
>The moral of that story is that companies can and do go to
>great lengths to meet the requirements of different markets.
>
>
>
>>If that doesn't do it for you, here's an example closer to
>>your personal experience. You ever notice that computer
>>equipment sold worldwide is basically the same, with minor
>>changes to accommodate local power requirements?
>>
>>
>
>This proves nothing. Shampoo and dishwashing liquid might
>also be identical for all markets. That does not mean that
>all products sold must be identical. Clearly, TVs have NEVER
>been, and it looks like now digital radio too has caught
>this bug.
>
>The very simple fact is, John, that companies like ST and
>Micronas have already developed chip sets that can be used
>to produce TVs for all markets. The same MPEG decoders are
>married to ATSC or DVB-T front ends. So no big shakes here.
>Nothing at all to prevent cost effective production.
>
>So again, this idea that somehow all we need to do is adopt
>DVB-T just sounds, how to put it, delusional. To me.
>
>Bert
>
>
>
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--
><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
Regards,
Mark A. Aitken
Director, Advanced Technology
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
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