CEA opposes Energy Department’s proposed STB regulation

USA: The following statement is attributable to Doug Johnson, VP of technology policy, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), following comments filed Monday with the Department of Energy (DOE) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding a test procedure for set-top boxes:

“DOE’s rulemaking for set-top boxes is wasteful and unnecessary in light of industry leadership and accomplishment on energy efficiency in this product category.

“Instead of reinventing the wheel with its own test procedure, DOE should defer to the existing consensus process, where interested industry and non-industry stakeholders are completing the test procedure known as CEA-2043 which properly constitutes the United States testing standard for measuring power consumption in set-top boxes.

“DOE’s rulemaking also ignores a significant energy-saving initiative for set-top boxes now in effect. In December 2012, CEA, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and 15 industry-leading video providers and device manufacturers signed an unprecedented Set-Top Box Energy Conservation Agreement that will result in annual residential electricity savings of $1.5 billion or more.

“CEA and our members have been on the vanguard of energy efficiency initiatives related to the consumer electronics industry. We strongly oppose the DOE’s attempt to trump successful industry solutions with unnecessary government regulations.”