Which monitor type is most energy efficient?

Coincidentally, while reading my colleague Simon Cohen’s interesting blog post on being mindful about how much power our gadgets consume, I received an email from a reader asking which monitor type is the more energy efficient.

Coincidentally, while reading my colleague Simon Cohen’s interesting blog post on being mindful about how much power our gadgets consume, I received an email from a reader asking which monitor type is the more energy efficient.

My immediate reaction was that flat-panel LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors were more energy efficient than the old CRT (cathode ray tube) models.

Turns out my gut was right – but I didn’t realize by how much.

According to the folks at Energy Star — a U.S. government program created to promote energy efficient consumer products — LCD monitors use on average 50 to 70 percent less energy in on-mode than conventional CRT monitors.

If the sleep-mode and off-mode, power consumption is comparable between the two at about 2 watts.

In all, at 8 working hours a day, the energy saving of a LCD over an equal size CRT could be well over 100 kWh/year.

Keep in mind, however, when it comes to power consumption, there are good CRT and LCD monitors and bad ones. Naturally, look for Energy Star-compliant models.

Filed Under: Computers & Software