How much energy does a TV use?

When television was first invented in the 20th century, little did anyone know, how great its impact on future generations would be. Nowadays, there is a TV set, and often more than one, in almost every household.

An average person spends as long as 4 hours daily in front of a TV screen. With such an intensive use of TV sets being a fact of modern life, it’s worth knowing how much energy they are going to consume.

Although television doesn’t use as much energy as white goods, you can still save some money by choosing an energy-efficient variant of a TV screen.

The table below presents average energy use per hour depending on the type of a screen. Plasma screens are generally the most energy-consuming while LED screens are the most economical, with their considerably lower energy draw.

	LED	LCD	Plasma
32’’	45	125	125
42’’	50	176	270
50’’	80	260	340

Did you know?

In the past decade, there has been much talk about the harmful effects of the, so called, background TV on young kids and babies. Backround TV means leaving television on when no one is actively watching but is exposed to the background noise. It exerts a negative impact on everybody but young children are especially vulnerable. Exposition to background TV has been proven to cause learning difficulties, problems with social interactions, behaviour, and concentration span not to mention obesity and increased tendency towards violence.

What about you? How many hours a day do you think you watch TV? How much telly time do you allow for your children?