In my last post, I got pretty excited about energy efficient plasmas. Thanks to some data, and suggestions from Rob McMillin (see comments in previous posts) it is quite clear that LCDs—not plasmas—are the most energy conservative of all. Luckily I ended up choosing an LCD in the end (the LG Electronics 20LS7D 20″ LCD TV). To be honest though, I chose the LCD for the price and style—not because I knew it was more efficient than a plasma. Thanks to Rob and some heavy-duty research I now know—and understand why—LCDs are more efficient. Read more for a summary of my findings . . .

According to the Practical Home Theater guide website, plasma technology consists of thousands of individual pixel cells. Each pixel cell is essentially an individual microscopic florescent light bulb (if you squint closely at a plasma you can actually see the individual blue, red, and green pixel cells). LCDs on the other hand, use a single lamp filtered by electrically charged cells.

In a nutshell, LCDs reproduce colors through subtraction of light, while plasma create a picture through addition of light. Given that plasma’s essentially employ hundred of thousands of microscopic lights, while LCDs only one large light, it makes sense that LCDs consume less power.

Good to know!

Posted on August 8th, 2007 by Olivia Zaleski