Sharp Demonstrates a Carbon-Neutral Way to Watch TV

If you own a big-screen TV, you may have some inkling about the amount of energy that goes into powering it. And while LCD TV’s use significantly less energy than plasma screens, these power-suckers are still nothing to scoff at.

Fortunately, television manufacturers are beginning to realize that rising energy costs mean they have to address this problem. Sharp is presenting their environmentally-friendly way of watching TV at the IFA electronics show in Berlin. The company is also one of the biggest solar panel manufacturers in the world, and it believes that a single panel can provide enough energy to power an LCD TV for four and a half hours a day with no extra electricity from the grid.

Sharp’s stand at the IFA show shows a polycrystalline panel capable of generating 200 KWh— the same amount of energy used by a 52-inch Sharp LCD TV used for four and a half hours each day.

However, the company isn’t suggesting that consumers buy a single solar panel and call it a day. Sharp simply wants to demonstrate the real-world applications of putting solar panels on rooftops— and perhaps show how individuals can do their part to lighten the load on the electrical grid while still enjoying “Lost” on the big-screen.

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