i3 - September/October 2019 - 41

By Elliot Grimm

Policy

G R E E N P O L I CY

Energy Savings on the Rise from
Industry Set-Top Box Initiative
energy costs as a result of the voluntary
agreement - up from $950 million in 2017
- and reduced their energy consumption as
significantly. According to independent
auditor D+R International, consumers
have avoided a total of 28.6 million metric
tons of CO2 emissions and reduced
national set-top box annual energy consumption by 39% in the six years since
launching. The energy saved during this
period is enough to power all homes in the
state of Pennsylvania for one year.
D+R also found 97.8% of service providers' set-top box purchases in 2018 met
the Agreement's "Tier 2" levels established in 2017, exceeding its goal of 90%
of new purchases meeting those levels.
And even with more rigorous "Tier 3"
levels scheduled to take effect in 2020,
78% of the signatories' 2018 purchases
have already met these levels.

 T 

his year, consumers are
expected to spend $17.7
billion on video software
and streaming services - a 25%
growth over last year - according to
CTA's U.S. Consumer Technology
Sales & Forecasts report. But even
with multiple of ways to watch
video content, whether on smartphones, tablets or laptops, millions
of consumers still watch many of
their favorite shows and movies
through set-top boxes provided by
pay TV service providers.
With televisions continuing to be the most
owned tech product in U.S. homes with
95% of households owning one, according
to another recent study, CTA and NCTA The Internet & Television Association have
worked closely with the pay TV industry to
help consumers save money and reduce
carbon emissions. First launched in 2012,
the voluntary set-top box energy conservation agreement has now saved consumers more than $5 billion in electricity
costs and avoided 28.6 million metric
tons of carbon emissions. According to its
recent annual report, the money and
energy savings earned through the agreement occurred even as these devices
gained more features and capabilities.

New Options to Watch Video

$1.6B

consumers saved
in energy

Media Production/Getty Images

Significant Savings

In discussing the impact of the agreement's increased savings, Doug
Johnson, CTA's vice president of technology policy, says, "A 40% decline in
the entire energy footprint of a category
in only six years is a remarkable
achievement that demonstrates the
effectiveness of voluntary agreements."
In 2018, the report's most recent year,
consumers saved roughly $1.6 billion in
C TA . t e c h / i 3

i3_0919_POLICY_Green_Policy.indd 41

40%
decline in the entire
energy footprint

Now consumers often watch video content through sources other than an operator supplied set-top box - resulting in
agreement signatories purchasing only
half as many new set-top boxes in 2018
compared to 2014. According to the independent report, consumers used more
than 36 million customer owned devices
such as smart TVs, smartphones, tablets,
personal computers and streaming
devices such as Apple TV, Roku, Google
Chromecast and Amazon Fire to access
the providers' video services via apps in
2018 - up by 33% (27 million) from 2017.
According to Noah Horowitz, senior
scientist at the Natural Resources
Defense Council, "The voluntary agreement accelerated a nationwide shift to
more energy efficient set top boxes, and
consumers and the environment are
seeing big benefits."
To learn more about the industry's voluntary agreements and energy efficiency
efforts, visit www.energy-efficiency.us.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

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9/9/19 8:17 PM
http://www.CTA.tech/salesandforecast http://www.CTA.tech/salesandforecast https://www.energy-efficiency.us/ https://cta.tech/News/i3.aspx?Page=1
i3 - September/October 2019

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