We’ve all heard the concern expressed over the years that Americans were watching too much television. But I was pretty sure that was a commentary on the amount of time people were spending in front of the tube — not an assessment of the size of the television that people were watching. But California’s Energy Commission is going to set everyone straight about what constitutes “too much television.”

For the energy commission, “too much” — at least for the present — is measured in wattage not time. As Wired.com reports,

California’s Energy Commission voted unanimously today to set limits on the energy consumption of televisions.

The new TV efficiency standards, which go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, limit power draw to a certain number of watts based on the total screen area. The bigger the screen, the more power it is allowed to consume. An even tighter standard will go into effect Jan. 1, 2013.

The standards apply only to new televisions sold within California. What’s more, they only apply to TV sets with 1,400 or fewer square inches (equivalent to a 58-inch diagonal screen). In other words, if you still want to buy that 1,700-watt, 150-inch plasma, go right ahead, Mr. Rich Dude! It’ll go very nicely with the polar bear rug in your den.

According to proponents, the standards will not significantly increase the sales price of TVs, and will save the average household $30 per year per TV set, for statewide savings of $8.1 billion per year. Yes, California apparently is home to 27 million TVs.

And who, you might ask, wields such power over an entire state? A commission with five members, who have been appointed by the Governor, confirmed by the Senate and serve in staggered five year terms. According to the commission’s website, the current action which is drawing so much attention is part of their responsibilities because the commission has been granted a very broad mandate.

The California Energy Commission is the state's primary energy policy and planning agency. Created by the Legislature in 1974 and located in Sacramento, the Commission responsibilities include:

• Forecasting future energy needs and keeping historical energy data.
• Licensing thermal power plants 50 megawatts or larger.
• Promoting energy efficiency by setting the state's appliance and building efficiency standards and working with local government to enforce those standards.
• Supporting public interest energy research that advances energy science and technology through research, development, and demonstration programs.
• Supporting renewable energy by providing market support to existing, new, and emerging renewable technologies; providing incentives for small wind and fuel cell electricity systems; and providing incentives for solar electricity systems in new home construction.
• Implementing the state's Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.
• Planning for and directing state response to energy emergencies.

What might seem like innocuous language (“Promoting energy efficiency by setting the state’s appliance and building efficiency standards”) is seen much more clearly in the arbitrary action to restrict the size and power of televisions owned by California residents. Five men and women having decreed that the residents of the entire state have been using televisions which waste too much energy, have decided that this will change.

According to A.C. Nielsen, Americans watch more than four hours of television per day, on average. Perhaps the next step for the commission would be to restrict the amount of time people are watching television? And what about their air conditioning? Surely they could learn to be warmer all summer so that they can “save the Earth.” Armed with the SmartGrid, why not simply allow the commission’s ‘enforcement’ authority to simply turn off those wasteful appliances?

Such speculations are not fanciful. Businessweek.com identifies that this television restriction is simply the shape of things to come:

Still, gadget-loving shoppers should be on notice: Big-screen TVs may just be the start. Gottlieb says regulators could impose new power-consumption rules for digital video recorders, game consoles, Blu-ray players, and other gizmos. The reason, he says, is that electronics are gobbling up an increasing amount of electricity, adding up to as much as 10% of the average home's electric bill. Big-screen televisions, Gottlieb says, are just "the low-hanging fruit."

Unless citizens make sure their voices are heard “loud and clear,” this week’s action may simply be the first step on a very long road.

Rt. Rev. James Heiser has served as Pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Malone, Texas, while maintaining his responsibilities as publisher of Repristination Press, which he established in 1993 to publish academic and popular theological books to serve the Lutheran Church.  Heiser has also served since 2005 as the Dean of Missions for The Augustana Ministerium and in 2006 was called to serve as Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA). An advocate of manned space exploration, Heiser serves on the Steering Committee of the Mars Society. His publications include two books; The Office of the Ministry in N. Hunnius' Epitome Credendorum (1996) and A Shining City on a Higher Hill: Christianity and the Next New World (2006), as well as dozens of journal articles and book reviews.

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DDW said:

I just cannot believe How my once beloved California has been/is being destroyed!!! It is just incredible!!! And to think it's being done by a handful of unelected, power-hungry, greedy bureaucrat parasites is an outrage. Make no mistake, if it isn't stopped it will spread, just like some loathsome fungus, to the rest of these United Sates. I've noticed a very scary thing: it seems that Texas (where I've lived now since December of 2000) follows California in lock step.

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November 19, 2009
Votes: +2

rprew said:

... Maybe the state of Californication should limit the number of television sets per household. Maybe they should set a minimum number of occupants per household. If the minimum household size were, say 10, that would force perhaps a 60-70% reduction in the number of households and a dramatic drop in electrical consumption. I also suggest the ban on black cars be extended to other darker colors. I was going to suggest banning cappuccino machines, but I'm afraid that one definitely wouldn't fly with the elites.

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November 19, 2009
Votes: +3