Samsung Promotes Green HDTVs

Did you know that getting new TVs can help save the environment? Well, Samsung executives seem to believe so in promoting new energy-saving technology. This technology allows next-generation HDTVs, notebooks, and mobile devices to consume less power, therefore cutting electric bills down.

Scott Birnbaum, vice president of Samsung’s LCD business, said that this technology is already in place in Samsung’s LED-backlit HDTVs. LED sets contains no mercury and can consume 40 percent less energy than comparable LCD sets. If this is already being done on televisions, imagine this technology on laptops, mobile phones, and netbooks. In fact, it is even more practical to use in mobile/portable devices that gets its juice from stored power. One technology called Local Dimming analyzes images and dynamically reduces power to dark areas. It adjust the screen’s brightness as appropriate.

Samsung also gave reporters a preview of a newer technology called Adaptive Luminance, which reduces a screen’s baseline brightness but kicks the intensity up in bright spots to make them pop. Samsung originally demonstrated the technology this spring at the Society of Information Display’s show, so it is probably still a year or two away from appearing in a commercial product.

Of course, new technology means that its much more expensive than market standards. LED panels are still expensive and no doubt, many consumers would still prefer to buy cheaper LCD TVs. But once this technology saturates the market, prices will go down and soon, everybody will adopt this new technology.