Flat screen TVs: giving the world's climate a roasting?

Stephen Withers
Friday, 04 July 2008 07:10

Science - Climate

"I'd like to measure it in the atmosphere first," research paper lead author Michael Prather said on the same program. "If I really trusted these guys that nothing leaks, then maybe it's not necessary [to include NF3 in the next Kyoto round]."

Or as Ronald Reagan put it, "trust... but verify."

If NF3 really is the danger Prather implied in his paper, Toshiba Matsushita has already shown how it can be replaced with fluorine so use of yet another potentially dangerous gas could quickly be relegated to the history books.

The good news is that the TV manufacturers are creating new models that use half the energy while maintaining or even increasing brightness, making them much more environmentally friendly – and less energy expensive – for consumers to use.

But Prather has highlighted that every step of the manufacturing and consumption chain must continue being scrutinised to ensure the most efficient and environmentally processes are being used.

It's not easy being green, and there's no guarantee it's inexpensive, either. That's why we can't rely on the 'free market' to take care of environmental issues, as it won't always deliver the right signals to consumers.

But the 'greening' of electronics is necessary - one nature program that none of us want to see on our flat-screen TV is the one showing our planet turning irreversibly brown.