The association says that it is “outraged” by the California Energy Commission’s adoption of a new TV energy efficiency standard. According to CEDIA, the regulation will have a “significant negative impact” on the sale and installation of flat-panel displays and companies working in the residential electronic systems sector.
In conjunction with the Californians for Smart Energy coalition and other industry stakeholders, CEDIA provided information to the CEC regarding the efforts being made by electronic systems contractors to realise customers’ desires for more energy-efficient solutions. They also sought to convey the possible repercussions for the State of California and “hundreds of businesses”.
Professing the association to be “dismayed and frustrated” by the CEC decision, CEDIA chief executive officer Utz Baldwin (pictured) noted that “from the beginning of the hearings it was evident that the CEC had already determined the outcome before they started and had no intentions of factoring in any other viewpoints”.
Moving forward, Baldwin fears the decision regarding TVs will minimise the ability of CEDIA members to provide more wide-ranging solutions. “The television is often the first point of entry into the home for CEDIA members. By placing a mandate on the energy usage of TVs in the home, this ruling is ultimately preventing small business owners’ ability to provide enhanced energy-saving technologies that go above and beyond the television.”
Nonetheless, Baldwin said that the association would “continue to invest time and resources in this issue not only in the State of California, but as the issue is brought up in other states.”
