TAX PLASMA TVs?
Call
to tax plasma TVs to protect the environment
21/05/2007
Governments
should tax plasma screen televisions because of the large amount of
energy they consume, according to a leading expert on climate change.
Professor
Paul Ekins, who
studies the economics of climate change, said taxing plasma screens
would reflect their "greater climate change burden".
This
would encourage development and take-up of more energy-efficient diode
screens, Professor Ekins said.
He said
government should label energy-hungry appliances as a first step.
Plasma
televisions, which
are 50% bigger than their cathode-ray tube equivalents, consume about
four times more energy, according to the government-funded Energy
Saving Trust.
A
cathode-ray tube TV costs about £25 per year to run and
accounts for
100kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, whereas a plasma TV costs
about £100 per year and accounts for 400kg of CO2.
But
some researchers say
exact comparisons are difficult because of the size difference between
plasmas and other screen types: cathode-ray tube and Liquid Crystal
Display (LCD).
"At the very least you
might think that government would provide some differential incentives
to accelerate the development of more energy-efficient diode screens
and encourage their take-up," said Professor Ekins, co-director of the
UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).
"Once
plasma screens are bought, they are likely to be there for five years
at a minimum - perhaps 10 years, perhaps longer."
Organic
Light-Emitting
Diode (OLED) screens do not require a backlight and thus draw less
power. But observers say the technology needs to overcome several
technological hurdles, such as the limited lifetimes of some of the
materials used in them.
Energy
demand
Professor Ekins was
speaking at a news conference in London held to discuss issues around
the government's forthcoming Energy White Paper, including how to
promote energy efficiency while reducing demand. The White Paper is
expected to be released in the next few weeks.
He
also singled out patio heaters as especially energy-intensive.
The
economist, who is
also professor of sustainable development at the University of
Westminster, said he would personally like to see taxation on
energy-intensive appliances such as these - and added: "The first thing
for government to do is say these kinds of energy-intensive appliances
are very climate-unfriendly.
"They
ought to be
labelled as such and then there needs to be a detailed policy analysis,
which in my experience has not been done, to determine what is the best
way to deter their take-up and to develop more climate-friendly
substitutes."
He added: "Unless we have
policy mechanisms of that kind we will not reduce energy demand
sufficiently to achieve the kinds of reductions in carbon emissions
that currently are the subject of the Climate Change Bill and are going
to be signed into statute if that bill goes through."
But
Robert Gross, head of
technology and policy assessment at UKERC, said debates on energy
efficiency could become too pre-occupied by prices and incentives.
"When
you are looking at
consumer appliances, buildings and vehicles and you are looking at
people not responding very well to price-based incentives - for a
variety of reasons - there's an absolutely fundamental role for
straightforward legislation to improve the efficiency of these
devices," he told journalists.
A survey
of the five most
populous European nations, carried out by the Energy Saving Trust,
found that Britons were the worst energy wasters in Europe, with bad
habits which could cost £11bn by 2010.
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