Consumers saved about $646 million in energy costs related to set-top boxes over three years, and some 90% of modems, routers and associated broadband devices meet the "rigorous new efficiency standards" set forth in a 2012 voluntary agreement among all the major U.S. multichannel video service providers to reduce energy consumption, according to an audit review released Tuesday (Aug. 9).
In a joint announcement of the audit results, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and the Consumer Technology Association said the independent audit by D+R International found that STB efficiency prevented more than 3.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2015. Overall, set-top improvements resulted in nearly $1.2 billion in energy cost savings.
"The pay TV industry and its suppliers are beginning to make a real dent in the high energy use of cable, satellite and telephone set-top boxes," according to a statement that NCTA/CTA issued from Noah Horowitz, director of the Center for Energy Efficiency Standards at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "New DVRs, the main set-top box in most homes, now use 36 percent less energy annually than in 2012."
The audit of the results of the three-year old "Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of Small Network Equipment" also found that 99.5% of new set-top boxes meet "Energy Star Efficiency Standards" and that participating operators have purchased more than 27 million "thin clients" that can deliver energy-saving DVR service.
Additionally, the audit found that newer modem models used 18% less energy than previously deployed models.
The voluntary agreement,which was updated last month, was recently named "Project of the Year" by Environmental Leader, an energy trade publication.
An STB Voluntary Agreement was signed in 2012; a year later energy-efficiency advocates joined with the pay TV industry in an expanded version of the Voluntary Agreement. Signatories now include all of the major multichannel video service providers representing more than 92 percent of the U.S. multichannel video market: AT&T/DIRECTV, Comcast, Charter/Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks, DISH, Verizon, Cox, Cablevision, and CenturyLink; major manufacturers: ARRIS/Pace, Technicolor, EchoStar Technologies; and energy-efficiency advocates Natural Resources Defense Council, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.
A modem agreement, modeled on the STB plan, features a commitment that, starting this year, 90 percent of the small network equipment purchased by service providers and sold at retail by vendors meets new energy efficiency standards. Signatories to this agreement include service providers AT&T/DIRECTV, Cablevision, CenturyLink, Charter/Time Warner Cable/ Bright House Networks, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Verizon; and manufacturers Actiontec, ARRIS, Cisco, D-Link, EchoStar Technologies, NETGEAR, Pace and Ubee Interactive.
The D+R auditors found that the signatories were successful in early implementation of their modem/home network commitments, with seven of the 11 reporting signatories meeting the 90% commitment, and overall 89.6% of reported units purchased and sold in 2015 meeting the new energy efficiency standards.
D+R also found that the average maximum energy level permitted by the new commitments represent approximately an 18 percent reduction in energy usage from other recently deployed models.
The Voluntary Agreement is expected to continue to achieve additional savings as signatories fully implement their commitments this year, according to the NCTA/CTA announcement.
