Buying a New TV? You May Want to Wait Until May

Photo: Dmitry Kutlayev / Istock

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In the market for a new television set? Gearing up for football season, maybe, and all those chili-and-beer parties that go along with football season?

Well, if you're watching your wallet, you may want to delay your purchase until next year's baseball season. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy revised the energy efficiency standards for televisions.

Already, Energy Star-rated televisions are 30% more efficient than comparable models that don't receive the government sticker. That means they'll cost you 30% less to run year after year -- an important consideration, considering that the 275 million televisions in use in America account for a staggering 4% of all electricity consumption, and that many flat-screen televisions will cost you $200 a year just to plug them in (whether you actually watch anything or not, thanks to the phantom load).

But even today's efficient televisions will look more costly after the new government standards take effect May 1, 2010. At that point, Energy Star-labeled televisions will be at least 40% more efficient than comparable models -- a significant savings. (If you can really hold off on your purchase, wait until May 1, 2012, when yet more stringent rules take effect, requiring Energy Star-rated televisions to be 65% more efficient than competitors.)

Finding an Energy Star Television

If you're buying today, look to one of the more than 200 models that have been rated Energy Star-compliant. (Find Energy Star television sets at EnergyStar.gov.)

Qualifying are 19 plasma models (most of them by Panasonic), 199 LCD models and 11 "other" models, like a line of Samsung TVs.

Recycling Old Television Sets

Anytime you're replacing a piece of electronics -- particularly a television set or computer -- make sure you recycle your old set. Recycling is important because television sets include toxic metals and potentially hazardous plastics that could pollute water or air if landfilled or incinerated. Recycling in general, of course, conserves resources since raw materials aren't mined or processed for a new set. The good news is that it's quite a bit easier than it was two years ago to recycle that old set, according to the Electronics Takeback Coalition's 2009 TV Companies Report Card. The report card rates brands on their consumer recycling programs:

• Sony and Samsung scored highest (B-) because both pioneered national takeback programs at retail locations.
• Best Buy and Wal Mart are next on the list (C+) because Best Buy takes back more than its own brand (for $10 a set), and Wal Mart participates in Samsung's takeback program.
• LG, Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba are on the next tier (C) for national takeback programs that lagged behind industry leaders and which are offered at limited locations.
• The following companies scored an F because they have no takeback programs: Funai, Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Philips, Sanyo, Target, Thomson, Vizio and Westinghouse.

The report card noted that consumers in states with takeback or other e-waste laws have much greater access to recycling opportunities than those in states without such laws. Meanwhile, the problem of e-waste being dumped in third-world countries by companies claiming to recycle the toxic trash continues. The Environmental Protection Agency, though, appears to be taking some steps to improve the situation.

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