Schwarzenegger to television makers: Go green or stay out of California

First it was the makers of gas-guzzling autos. Next, the Governator came down hard on coal-fired power plants. Now, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has multinational electronics makers in his executive crosshairs. His mission? To rid the Golden State of big, energy-hogging televisions that suck up so much juice in brown-out prone California. As the Golden State goes, so might go the nation. With what is effectively the eighth-largest economy in the world, California policies can force compliance in consumer electronics manufacturing and drive a green energy agenda like no other state of the union.Written by the California Energy Commission (CEC), the proposed California regulation could pass as early as Nov. 4, according to The Los Angeles Times. It would put in place a set of energy efficiency mandates for large-screen TVs that would effectively ban the current generation of plasma TVs with screens over 40 inches. The law would require a 33 percent improvement in energy efficiency for all TVs sold starting Jan. 1, 2011, and a whopping 50 percent improvement for sets sold starting Jan. 1, 2013. The numbers behind the proposal are eye-opening. According the Commission's website, "In California, televisions (along with DVRs, DVD players, and cable/satellite boxes) now consume about 10 percent of a home's electricity. Increasing sales of flat screen televisions, larger screen sizes, the growing number of TVs per household, and increased daily use of televisions all contribute to greater electricity consumption." There are at present 35 million TVs in California, by most estimates. Surprisingly, a law that could literally tell red-blooded sports fans what type of TV they can buy has caused little public uproar. Perhaps Californians, battered by a 12 percent unemployment rate and massive state budget cuts, aren't feeling like buying a big screen these days? CONTINUE READING...