Although televisions do not consume as much electricity as other household appliances, you can save money here too. A simple calculation shows this.
NRW – Energy prices are exploding and consumers should not only save gas but also electricity. In addition to power guzzlers such as refrigerators or washing machines, consumption in the home can also be reduced with consumer electronics. Because the television can also prove to be a real energy guzzler.
| Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection | One of the highest federal authorities in Germany |
| subsidiaries | including Federal Network Agency, Federal Cartel Office |
| Field Office | Berlin |
More and more households do not have a television – younger consumers in particular are doing without it
According to the “Digitalization Report Video 2020” of the 14 state media authorities, every household had 1.57 televisions in 2020. But younger people under the age of 30 are increasingly losing interest in a television set.
Statistically speaking, every sixth person aged 20 to 29 no longer has a television. In households with a television, this makes a significant contribution to the annual electricity costs, reports RUHR24 (more life hacks at RUHR24).
According to the chip , to calculate the actual power consumption, several factors must be considered. On the one hand, the technological status of the television is crucial. After all, plasma TVs and tube TVs are real power guzzlers.
Older televisions are real power guzzlers – it’s better to do without standby mode
According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK), those models that were bought before 2010 “eat electricity even in stand-by mode”. When switched off, they should be “disconnected from the mains as completely as possible”. In contrast, according to the chip , LCD or LED televisions score with “much more moderate power consumption”.
In general, you should not use the standby function, because in this state the television continues to consume electricity, which, according to the chip , “can definitely have an effect over the course of a year”. If you also listen to the radio on the TV, you should switch to a classic radio because of the higher power consumption of the TV.
Screen size also determines energy consumption – LCD displays consume a lot of electricity
On the other hand, the size of the television is also crucial. If you have a particularly large model for a real home cinema experience at home, you should consider buying a smaller and therefore much more energy-efficient television for other programs.
Because the larger the television and the screen resolution, the higher the power consumption. As Chip explains, this is particularly noticeable on the backlit LCD displays.
From the energy label to the size – consumers should be careful when buying a TV
So if you want to save electricity, according to the BMWK, you should pay attention to the size and the energy efficiency label as well as the power consumption, which is specified for 100 hours of use. When choosing the right size, the distance to the television is crucial.
Accordingly, the screen diagonal for HD reception should “correspond to about a third of the distance to the device”. The BMWK recommends buying a device with a screen diagonal of around 50 centimeters (approx. 20 inches) at a distance of 1.5 meters from the television.
When buying a TV, you should “check which additional functions are actually required”.
The BMWK recommends “checking exactly which additional functions are actually required when purchasing”. If, for example, several receivers or a very high refresh rate are not needed, you can safely do without them.
When calculating the power consumption for 1000 hours of operation per year, which corresponds to 2.7 hours per day, the BMWK made the following example calculation:
BMWK calculation: The power consumption of the television differs depending on the screen size
If the screen of a TV set measures 65 inches, low consumption amounts to around 80 kilowatt hours, which would be around 24 euros and, according to the chip , 2.9 cents an hour. The prerequisite is an electricity price of 36 cents per kWh.
If the screen diagonal is 50 to 55 inches, the power consumption is very low at around 60 kilowatt hours, which corresponds to around 18 euros in electricity costs per year. According to Chip , this would end up costing around 2.1 cents per hour.
