At 86 kilowatt hours per year (kWh/year), it’s being billed by Sony as the most energy efficient 32-inch LCD-TV on the planet and perhaps represents the future direction of consumer display technology going forward.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

Arguably, Sony is the most influential consumer TV manufacturer here in the USA. Some makers may sell more, but no one can influence the consumer or claim the iconic cachet in the living room that Sony can. Now the company is taking the low energy initiative to heart launching its 32-inch Bravia LCD-TV (KDL-32JE1), a follow on to the ground-breaking 32J1 Bravia set. The new panel boasts an annual power consumption of 86kWh/year or 232% under the Japanese energy conservation standard, the company said.

To improve energy performance, Sony boosted the efficiency of the light source, by first using a high emission efficient fluorescent tube that maintains the same brightness levels with fewer tubes. This reduced the required voltage for light emission. Sony combined this with specialized filters that enhance light efficiency, resulting in higher light transmission rates. This allows the new Bravia set to maintain the same high quality image with a 232% energy efficiency rating.

Sony’s current "Bravia" KDL-32J1 is already among the most energy-efficient 32 inch LCD-TVs on the market, with a five-star "Energy Saving Label" and an energy efficiency rate of 173% under the Japanese conservation standard. It consumes 115kWh/year, while the new KDL-32JE1 further reduces annual capability consumption to 86kWh/year, pushing the new panel to the energy efficiency rate of 232% below he Japanese conservation standard.

Sony said they will release the KDL-32JE1 in Japan on July 30 and expects it to retail for around $1400. It will later adopt the same panel for a wide range of other LCD TV sizes and also begin sales outside Japan. The low energy consumption product didn’t skimp on features, with a cinema mode suitable for viewing movie content with a "24p True Cinema" that reproduces the texture of motion picture images at the same speed (24 frames per second) as film projectors. The unit is also capable of reproducing images optimized for each specific scene, utilizing Sony’s proprietary "Bravia Engine 2" picture processing technology.

By targeting the light source — the component power hog in LCDs — Sony has significantly reduced the energy foot-print of the popular 32-inch LCD-TV without sacrificing display quality. But there is still plenty more they can do to get further reductions. We previously reported at SID this past May, that the ENERGYSTAR program (EPA), Green TV Logo program (LCD TV Association) and EPEAT are all targeting low power consumption strategies like the use of ambient light sensors in sets that automatically lower set brightness in darkened rooms.

But it’s the manufacturers like Sony and NEC (they now have two EPEAT Gold rated monitors) that will drive the market toward higher levels of energy efficiency by taking a leadership role in new product offerings. The market will respond in kind to these higher value propositions and who knows, perhaps the next big feature driving display sales this Christmas won’t be display size, but the kWh/year power efficiency rating of that flat panel display.