On August 31st 2012, the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition recognized Samsung and LG for producing the most energy efficient televisions in Europe.

In its first year, the SEAD Global Awards competition is encouraging the production and sale of super-efficient televisions by identifying the most efficient TVs in three different size categories and four geographical regions.

The governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom announced the European regional winners at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin. For information on the awarded products, please visit the full press release on the SEAD website.

“The point is not only to award a laboratory product, but a TV that actually can be bought by consumers on the European market”, says Mr. Per-Anders Widell, Head of Section at the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications in Sweden. “However, we are also interested in promoting emerging technologies with the potential to make TVs even more energy efficient in the near future.”

Electricity savings would amount to 18 billion kilowatt hours per year if all televisions sold on the European market were as efficient as the ones recognized by this award, according to estimates by the Swedish Energy Agency.

Globally, savings would be more than 70 billion kilowatt hours yearly. “This is equivalent to the combined national electricity use of Denmark and New Zealand”, says Mr. Peter Bennich of the Swedish Energy Agency. “We have seen drastic improvements in TV energy efficiency over the last years, but the winning manufacturers demonstrate that the potential for improvement remains large.”

SEAD will announce corresponding winners in North America, India, and Australia in October 2012, and the best performer in each size category among all of the regions will be declared an “International Winner” for the respective size category. SEAD will host an international awards ceremony in connection with the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in early 2013 to distinguish the international winning product models.

SEAD member governments will be working with manufacturers and retailers to make it easy for consumers to identify these award winning products.

The first SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition focuses on flat-panel televisions. The next round of SEAD Global Efficiency Medals will be awarded to computer displays and electric motors, two product categories with large global energy consumption.

Read more about the SEAD Global Efficiency Medal competition.