Are Smart Television Makers Gaming The Energy-Efficiency Tests?

After yesterday's blog post about the settlement agreement by VIZIO with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New Jersey Attorney General, a reader mentioned an Economist article about smart televisions. It seems there is an ongoing investigation into whether or not manufacturers, similar to the Volkswagon emissions scandal, misrepresented the energy-efficiency test results of their televisions.

The Economist reported:

"South Korea’s Samsung and LG, along with Vizio, a Californian firm, stand accused of misrepresenting the energy efficiency of large-screen sets. Together, they sell over half of all TVs in America. In September 2016 the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental group, published research on the energy consumption of TVs, showing that those made by Samsung, LG and Vizio performed far better during short government tests than they did the rest of the time. Some TVs consumed double the amount of energy suggested by manufacturers’ marketing bumpf. America’s Department of Energy (DoE) has also conducted tests of its own that have turned up big inconsistencies.

Not all TV-makers are at fault: the NRDC found no difference in energy-consumption levels for TVs made by Sony and Philips. But class-action lawsuits have already been filed against the three companies highlighted by the tests—the latest was lodged against Samsung in New York on January 30th. The industry is now waiting to see whether regulators will take action... Televisions made by Samsung and LG (but not Vizio) appear to recognize the test clip that the American government uses to rate energy consumption and to advise consumers on how much it will cost to operate the set over a whole year. The DoE’s ten-minute test clip has a lot of motion and scene changes in short succession, with each clip lasting only 2.3 seconds before flashing to a new one (most TV content is made up of scenes that last more than double that length). During these tests the TVs’ backlight dims, resulting in substantial energy savings. For the rest of the time, during typical viewing conditions, the backlight stays bright..."

If true, then those new televisions many consumers bought may cost them a lot more energy and electricity costs. The September 2016 NRDC press release:

"There are flaws in the government’s method for testing the energy use of televisions and three major TV manufacturers representing half of the U.S. market appear to be exploiting them, which could cost owners of recently purchased models an extra $1.2 billion on their utility bills... The global standard video clip on which the DOE test method is based is eight years old and needs a major overhaul. DOE should update its test method with more realistic video content... It appears that some major manufacturers have modified their TV designs to get strong energy-use marks during government testing but they may not perform as well in consumers’ homes. These ‘under the hood’ changes dramatically increase a TV’s energy use and environmental impact, usually without the user’s knowledge. While this may not be illegal, it smacks of bad-faith conduct that falls outside the intent of the government test method designed to accurately measure TV energy use..."

The consequences and impacts go far beyond possible bad-faith conduct:

"The latest version of ultra high-definition (UHD) TVs used approximately 30 to 50 percent more energy when playing content produced with High Dynamic Range (HDR) than conventional UHD content... With millions of televisions purchased annually across America, all of this extra energy use has a major impact on national energy consumption, consumer utility bills, and the environment..."

You can learn more about the DoE test procedures here. What are your opinions of this?