Europe may ban 8K TVs because they consume electricity

Europe may ban 8K TVs because they consume electricity Picture 1

The European Union (EU) has a household appliance energy labeling regulation in March 2021 that requires many TV models to use the lowest energy type, the G label. However, from March next year, these Regulations applied to newly manufactured TVs regarding power consumption will become even stricter.

"If that happens, there will be no more 8K TVs," TCL Europe product development manager Marek Maciejewski told FlatpanelsHD. Samsung also said that they will try to make their 8K TV line comply with electricity consumption regulations, but they also said that doing this is not easy. Other TV manufacturers say they will be forced to compromise or abandon production in the short term.

The 8K Association also mentioned in its post that "Unless something changes, from March next year, the 8K industry will be in trouble with EU regulatory regulation. Power consumption on 8K TVs and displays based on microLED technology is set so low, it's essentially impossible for any device to achieve."

Currently, OLED TVs are allowed to consume more electricity than conventional LCD TVs (LED, QLED, miniLED.). MicroLED TVs and the new 8K models are exempt from the maximum power limit, so they can still be sold in the European market.

From March 1, 2023, there will be no exceptions for display technologies. In the EU notification document, there is a paragraph "The EEI of the electronic display must not exceed the maximum EEI according to the limits in the regulation". Where EEI is the energy efficiency index for TVs of different sizes.

Requirements related to the default picture mode that the TV has available. TVs can still offer other, more power-consuming picture modes, but must display an increased power consumption warning when selected by the user.

The EU will also review the 2023 energy efficiency index later this year. However, in the face of the current serious gas shortage, governments around the world are calling on people to save electricity, so it is possible that strict regulations for 8K TVs will be difficult to change.

Jessica Tanner

Update 17 October 2023