The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative launched the first SEAD Global Efficiency Medal Competition for televisions in 2012, a global competition that enables the market to move toward higher efficiency by spurring innovation among manufacturers and increasing the market share of efficient products.

The first SEAD Global Efficiency Medals were awarded to the most energy efficient flat-panel televisions. This competition encouraged the production and sale of super-efficient TVs in three different size categories and four geographical regions (Australia, Europe, India, and North America), and recognized an overall global winner for each size category and for the most efficient emerging technology product. Global award-winning TVs are 33-44% more efficient than TVs with similar technology. 

As the only global mark of energy efficiency, the Global Efficiency Medal has the potential to make a significant impact on energy savings. The competition also helps consumers easily identify the most efficient products across a region, and recognize these products as global leaders in energy efficiency. Through the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition, policymakers and utilities can identify industrial potential on energy efficiency improvement in selected product groups and design appropriate policy measures to drive the market towards greater efficiency.

The Assessment of SEAD Global Efficiency Medals for Televisions report is a study conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to determine whether the objectives of the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition were met. This report details the policy implications of the competition including the following findings:

• SEAD award-winning TVs present significant efficiency improvement potential 
  The award-winning models are 22-59% more efficient than TVs with comparable technology, and 32-71% more efficient than TVs with conventional technology.
• The Global Efficiency Medal competition can accelerate manufacturers’ on-going efforts in efficiency improvement and cost reduction throughout the production year.
• The Global Efficiency Medal helps realize energy savings potential 
  If all TVs sold were as efficient as the SEAD award-winning models, more than 84 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity would be saved worldwide in 2020. That’s equivalent to taking nearly 12.3 million cars off the road for a full year.
• SEAD drives energy efficiency, cost effectively 
  The commercially available winning TV models in the U.S. were found to be cost effective to consumers.

For more information, please visit superefficient.org.