Sharp Tries Taking TV Off Grid with Solar Powered 52-inch LCD Screen
by Jaymi Heimbuch, Central Coast, California on 10. 7.08
Photo via Aving
It doesn’t look promising – at least not right away.
Back in July of this year, Sharp showed off a 26” solar powered TV, which utilizes a similar sized solar panel to be placed outdoors. At that time, a larger version was in the works. They’ve now shown off their newest solar-powered display – a 52-incher with a behemoth solar panel traipsing along beside it.
Much to many a viewers’ dismay, there are quite a few issues that’ll need to be addressed before this thing is marketable.
First, where on earth do you put a solar panel that big, especially if you’re an apartment dweller? Though I suppose if you live in an apartment, you’re not likely going to need a massive 52” television.
The solar panel generates 220kWh, which is exactly how much the TV uses up - pretty low energy for TVs, including energy efficient LCDs. But should you want to use the TV when the sun is down, without tapping into the grid, just how will you be able to access energy? The answer to that isn’t quite clear yet. I’ve scanned the various coverage and no one seems to know about batteries for energy storage.
It seems that this TV is much more of a concept display – the idea of using solar cells to power all of our gadgets, rather than the grid, is at the heart of Sharp creating the TV.
Folks looking for the actual solar-powered TV in stores will have to wait awhile until the above issues, as well as many others, are addressed. Though hopefully that won’t be long.
Props to Sharp for heading in a renewable direction both with off-grid power capabilities and energy efficiency.
More on Sharp:
Sharp Invests $725 Million in 480 MW Thin-Film Solar Plant
Sharp and Borrego Help Thank SoCo Firefighters with a Big Green Solar-Powered Gifts
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Come on guys, a 52 inch TV is no where near being sustainable even if it is powered by solar. Don't forget the resources and energy required to build the TV and solar panels. We need smaller TV's, houses and pretty much everything else.
Just more greenwashing.
I dunno about the assumption between apartment size and TV size. I have a projector I use for movies that is GINORMOUS precisely because I live in a studio apartment.
More to the point - I would strongly disagree about this being greenwashing. While it is definitely at the concept stage, I applaud Sharp for making the connection between their solar panel and consumer electronics businesses.
It is a win-win-win for renewable energy, for business, and for lazy Americans who watch too much tv (said with affection).
"Shut up hippie. I like my huge TV" Thats what you are going to hear. Trying to get people to size down their tv is a seriously bad idea. This is the upper bound of large TVs. You need to sit like 15 feet away for optimal viewing. Few has that size living room.
The move from CRT to LCD is a positive one. Why alienate people. Its better to keep them indoors watching tv, than driving around anyways.
I agree, Eric, and the move from LCD to LED or OLED will be just as good.
And I have to ask, what good is it to tell us the solar panel associated with this TV produces 220 kWh of energy unless you give us a timescale. Is that per year? Per month?
Bottom line is the market for BS TVs was based on cheap credit financed by people borrowing against the "value" of their homes in the housing bubble. BS TVs is just one of the many things to go now that people have to finally pay off their debt and live with in their means. BS TVs are neither environmentally or financially sustainable.
It is greenwashing because you can't buy such a TV and likely never will be able to. "Much to many a viewers’ dismay, there are quite a few issues that’ll need to be addressed before this thing is marketable."
The point is to make people feel good about Sharp and BS TVs.
Anthony: 225 kWh includes a timescale. The solar panel produces 225 kilowatts (kw) per hour (h).
That said, this is obviously intended for homes. I, as an apartment dweller, am happy to leave myself out of a scenario involving haggling with a landlord and a property owner over the proper placement on their roof for my solar panel for my big-screen tv.
If marketing can come up with a way to sell equally-efficient smaller-screen tvs, and to maybe sell the panels and the tv sets separately, then i'll bite.
Josh you are way off for two reasons. kWh is kilowatts times hours, not kW divided by hours. Second, please show me the solar panel that produces 225kW per hour.
225 kW or kW hours, I assume either is wrong for a small PV.
lets say you get 300 Watts per square meters of solar energy on an average 24 hour day (including nights and cloudy weather) and have an about 20% effective PV system.
s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy#Applications_of_solar_energy_technology
"Insolation for most people is from 150 to 300 W/m^2 or 3.5 to 7.0 kWh/m^2/day."
that would mean you would need 5 square meters to produce 7kWh each 24hours, if you are located in a sunny region, and more than 160 sq meters (225/7 times 5) to produce 225 kWh each 24hours.
Josh, you got that wrong, 220kWh is the energy produced over a time period such as a month, a year etc, just like Antony pointed out. When specifying energy output, it must always be specified within a time period, such as 220kWh per year. besides, the panel is clearly not 220kW in size, a panel that size would be around 2000 square metres! I suspect that this is a 150 or 175 watt panel and the 220kWh is per year.
Having said that, large screens really are a ridiculous extravagance in many cases. If you make a screen larger you have to sit further back from it and the apparent size is the same as sitting closer to a smaller screen. A larger screen still has the same number of pixels as a smaller screen, they are just bigger. In short, giant screens are really only for people with large rooms who will have several people watching at once. If you live on your own, a large screen is pointless.
As resolution increases you should sit closer to the TVs for "optimal viewing", making apartment living with a big screen more optimal than a big screen in a home with very large rooms.
http://www.carltonbale.com/2006/11/1080p-does-matter/
For full disclosure I live in an apartment and have a 65" DLP (WD-65734), we sit between 10-11.5 feet from the screen.