ENERGY STAR for Set-top Boxes

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ENERGY STAR for Set-top Boxes

• Katharine Kaplan, US EPA
• National Workshop on ENERGY STAR
• Set-top Boxes, Toronto, Canada
• June 25, 2009

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Presentation Overview

• Why are climate issues increasingly important?
• What is ENERGY STAR?
• How can it help address climate issues?
• ENERGY STARs approach for CE/IT products
• Why ENERGY STAR for STBs?
• Goals for the ENERGY STAR set-top box and service
  provider programs
• Requirements intended to deliver on these goals
• General partner commitments, such as labeling and
  reporting
• Service provider purchase/fleet requirements
• Technical specification for boxes 
• Program success to date

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Global Warming Climate Change is Real IPCC
Issues Two Reports in 2007

• Report based on 29,000 sets of data and was
  reached by consensus of 2,500 scientists
• Declare 90 certainty that global warming is
  caused by humans
• Poor countries will suffer from increased hunger
  and water shortages
• North America will see more hurricanes, floods,
  droughts, heat waves, and wildfires
• Africa will be hardest hit Europe will see its
  Alpine glaciers disappear
• 30 of all species face extinction if global
  temperatures rise a predicted 3.6 degrees in the
  next century

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McKinsey, December 2007, U.S. GHG Abatement
Mapping Initiative
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We are facing large transmission generation
investments in an uncertain economic environment
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Future Directions with Climate Change

• New Administration just beginning
• Climate goals of 14 reduction from 2005 by 2020
  and 83 reduction by 2050
• Waxman/Markey Climate and Clean Energy Discussion
  draft
• Linkage of climate and energy issues, along with
  consideration of economic needs
• Interest in a mix of policy approaches
• Cap and Trade
• Other policies targeting renewables, energy
  efficiency, RD, etc.

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What is ENERGY STAR?

• ENERGY STAR is a government-backed program
  dedicated to helping individuals protect the
  environment through superior energy efficiency
• Products that have earned the ENERGY STAR meet
  strict energy-efficiency guidelines set by the US
  Environmental Protection Agency and the US
  Department of Energy
• These products not only cut customers energy
  costs, but also help protect the environment
• Saving energy reduces the burning of fossil
  fuels, which leads to less air pollution and
  ultimately reduces global warming

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Why ENERGY STAR?

• ENERGY STAR is the only environmental brand which
  cuts across all trends and segments, offering a
  consumer platform which fills both pragmatic
  needs for energy savings and environmental
  aspirations of global warming reduction
• ENERGY STAR makes it easy to offer environmental
  products that have an added money savings benefit
  and for customers to find them
• ENERGY STAR increases sales
• Over 500M qualified products were sold in 2007
  alone
• The cumulative number of ENERGY STAR products
  sold since 2000 is more than 2.5 billion
• ENERGY STAR offers expert educational content on
  energy and environmental savings
• ENERGY STAR means products that are feature-rich
  and high performance with lower environmental
  impacts
• ENERGY STAR is a trusted and recognized brand
• 66 of consumers indicate that they are more
  likely to purchase an item due to the presence
  of the ENERGY STAR logo (2007 LOHAS Report)
• 82 of people report having seen the ENERGY STAR
  logo. As a comparison, 86 report having seen the
  recycling chasing arrows (09/08 CEA poll)

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Consumer Interest in Efficient Products

• 98 of consumers agree or strongly agree that it
  is important to save energy in their homes
• 93 of consumers agree or strongly agree that
  saving energy helps the environment
• 79 of consumers agree or strongly agree that
  people should try to use less energy to reduce
  the need to build new power plants

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ENERGY STAR Brand Influence
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ENERGY STAR Recognition Influence

• More than 75 of American households recognize
  the ENERGY STAR label
• More than 75 of households have a high or
  general understanding of the ENERGY STAR label
• More than 35 of US households knowingly
  purchased an ENERGY STAR-labeled product in the
  past year. Of these purchasers
• More than 75 report the label as influential in
  their purchasing decision
• More than 80 report they are likely to recommend
  ENERGY STAR qualified products to friends (35 of
  these households reported they were "extremely"
  likely to recommend ENERGY STAR-labeled products)

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The ENERGY STAR ICT Roadmap

• EPA has a 15-year relationship with the ICT
  industry. ENERGY STAR has grown to meet demands
  of a rapidly-changing market for CE and IT
  products from desktops to notebooks and game
  consoles in the home, and now servers and storage
  in the data center.
• Challenges include revising existing specs to
  keep pace with product development addressing
  more highly-integrated, feature-rich products
  and expanding ENERGY STAR into new product
  categories.
• Current ICT specification updates
• New requirements have recently taken effect for
  Computer Servers and Set Top Boxes
• New requirements are pending for Computers,
  Displays, and Imaging Equipment
• Specifications are under development for
  Audio/Video, Televisions, Computer Servers, and
  Enterprise Storage
• Specifications for Home Networking Equipment and
  Enterprise UPS products are pending
• Expect EPA to
• Refine existing and create new ENERGY STAR
  product specifications
• Encourage globally-harmonized test procedures and
  product specifications
• Raise awareness of nexus between ITs energy
  footprint and whole-building energy performance
• Study the energy savings potential of IT
• More info at www.energystar.gov/productdevelopment

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Average Household Electricity Consumption for Key
Products
Residential Miscellaneous Electric Loads Energy
Consumption Characterization and Savings
Potential, TIAX LLC, finalized July 2007.
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Percentage of Households with at Least One Device

• Cable STB 45
• Satellite STB 25

Residential Miscellaneous Electric Loads Energy
Consumption Characterization and Savings
Potential, TIAX LLC, finalized July 2007.
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Goals for ENERGY STAR Set-top Box Program

• Develop a STB program that drives for the
  greatest energy savings practical for this
  category
• Identify appropriate roles and responsibilities
  for all relevant stakeholders
• Develop energy efficiency specifications for STBs
  that are performance-based recognizing leaders
  in the market in terms of energy efficiency
• Make use of existing test procedures and
  harmonize, where technically appropriate, with
  domestic and international partners on both test
  procedures and requirements
• Develop Program Requirements that offer longevity
  as well as fair comparison of products, and
  consideration of feature richness

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Why Service Providers?

• Service providers influence application vendors
• Service providers control much of the behavior of
  devices on their network, affecting energy
  consumption
• Service providers control the network and the
  network protocol definitions through CableLabs

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Roles of Service Providers and OEMs

• ENERGY STAR has chosen to qualify
• Products from OEMs/box manufacturers
• Service providers
• ENERGY STAR
• Provides incentives for OEMs to
• Develop new energy saving technologies
• Decrease the overall energy consumption in
  periods of use and non-use
• Provides incentives for service providers to
• Buy and maintain efficient STBs
• Educate consumers on the benefits of ENERGY STAR
• Ensure those new technologies are utilized

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General Partner Commitments for Service Providers

• Purchase and/or deploy qualified STBs
• Ensure STBs maintain qualification
• Deploy user interface to permit disabling of
  speculative recording
• Maintain labeling arranged by manufacturer
• Install qualified low energy consumption remote
  boxes in multi-room STB installations
• Educate subscribers about energy-saving features
  and partners commitment to efficiency
• Train sales staff/customer service
  representatives
• Share purchase/deployment data with EPA annually

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Service Provider Purchase/Fleet Requirement
Meet or exceed either a purchase or fleet
requirement for each year of partnership

• Purchase requirement 50 of new boxes purchased
  in a calendar year must be qualified
• Refurbishment cannot be counted
• Purchase requirement in 2011 and beyond is TBD
• Fleet requirement 10 of fleet in 2009, 25 in
  2010, and TBD in 2011 and beyond must be
  qualified
• The following may be counted toward the fleet
  requirement newly-purchased qualified boxes put
  into homes, ENERGY STAR refurbished STBs put into
  homes, and STBs upgraded in the field to meet
  ENERGY STAR

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General Partner Commitments for Manufacturers

• Meet energy efficiency and power management
  requirements and qualify products with ENERGY
  STAR
• Label qualified products sold at retail or
  provided to Service Providers participating as
  ENERGY STAR partners as well as collateral
  material (and explain conditions under which
  model meets ENERGY STAR)
• Share unit shipment data with EPA annually

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Principles of Efficiency

• Use power more efficiently during periods of
  activity
• Use as little power as possible when not active
• Components/devices should drop into low power
  modes as often and as deeply as possible
• TEC allows most of these to be rewarded

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Technical Specification Tiers 1 2
Version 2.0 specification employs tiered
requirements to recognize top performers.

• Current Best Practices (Tier 1 Jan 2009)
• Criteria based on most efficient units currently
  available
• Data available Pace and Motorola IEA
  presentations CEA/TIAX NRDC Reports
• Savings from powering down DVRs
• Aims to encourage manufacturer participation and
  service provider deployment of higher-efficiency
  boxes
• Next Generation Technology (Tier 2 Jan 2011)
• Savings from powering down cable and satellite
  tuners
• Savings from reduced on mode power use
• Aims to truly recognize top performers

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Technical Specification Approach

• Total Energy Consumption (TEC) approach
• Criteria specified in kWh/year rather than Watts
• Provides manufacturers flexibility
• Allows for additional functionality allowances
  such as integrated DVRs, extra tuners
• Less likely to result in perverse outcomes
• Guards against products that meet the criteria,
  yet actually use more energy than those that do
  not meet the criteria

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Typical Energy Consumption (TEC) Approach
Hypothetical Perverse Outcome
Sample Device

• Duty Cycle Agnostic Scenario
• On and Standby criteria are required
• Model A passes and Model B fails

Criteria (Watts) Model A Model B
On 14 12 18
Standby 10 10 4
Modal Criteria PASS FAIL

• Duty Cycle/Use Scenario
• On 5 hours/day
• Standby 19 hours/day
• TEC End Result
• Model A 91 kWh/yr
• Model B 61 kWh/yr
• Model A uses more energy than Model B!!!

TEC Criteria FAIL PASS
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Technical Requirements
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Technical Specification Requirements

• Criteria levels for both Base Functionality
  (tuner) and Additional Functionalities

• Examples
• A standard definition Cable STB with no
  Additional Functionalities under Tier 1 70
  kWh/yr DONE.
• A high definition Satellite STB with DVR under
  Tier 2 Base Allowance is 56 kWh/yr NEED TO
  CONSIDER ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES.

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Technical Spec. Requirements (cont.)

• For STBs with one or more of the Additional
  Functionalities, add the values for each
  applicable functionality below to the Base
  Functionality Allowance

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Other Technical Specification Elements

• External power supplies used with qualified STBs
  must be capable of meeting ENERGY STAR levels
• A multi-room allowance for STBs that can provide
  independent content to more than one display
  device
• Credit given for auto power down if specific
  conditions are met
• Devices that provide for speculative recording
  must have a user-accessible menu option allowing
  the user to disable this feature at will.
  Manufacturers must also include instructions for
  disabling speculative recording in product
  materials.
• Three units tested at random must all fall within
  specification allowance

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Test Procedure

• Based on CSA 380-06
• Modified to be used with TEC-based criteria
• IEC 62087 is in Committee Draft and incorporates
  these changes
• New revisions of ENERGY STAR STB will be able to
  use IEC 62087
• List of Tests
• 5.3 Active Tests
• 5.3.1 Live TV (PTV)
• 5.3.2 Recording Live TV (PRecord) e.g., DVR
• 5.3.3 Playing Back Recorded TV (PPlayback) e.g.,
  DVR
• 5.3.4 Multiple Tuner Test
• 5.3.5 Removable Media Playback Test (PPlayback)
  e.g., DVD
• 5.3.6 Removable Media Record Test (PRecord)
  e.g., DVD
• 5.4 Inactive Tests
• 5.4.1 Standby Test (PStandby)
• 5.4.2 Auto Power Down (P AutoPD)

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Test Procedure (continued)

• To compare to the allowance, apply the average
  power values obtained from the test procedure to
  one of the following
• If the STB includes a DVR or DVD player/recorder,
  one additional step is needed

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Test Procedure (continued)

• For On-Playback and On-Record, use the following
  equation to calculate energy usage employing the
  corresponding duty cycles from the table

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Test Procedure (continued)

• Lastly, calculate the total device usage by
  adding the results for Playback and Record (if
  applicable) to the kWhBase
• If the calculated usage value is less than the
  calculated allowance value, a STB can qualify for
  ENERGY STAR

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Avenues for Savings

• Energy savings opportunities in
• Hardware improvements (die shrink, ASICs, better
  design)
• Design improvements (shutting down sub systems
  when not in use)
• Network improvements (improving network protocols
  to use less energy when underutilized, scale
  power consumption, and use less generally)
• To achieve these savings, everyone needs to be
  involved
• OEMs
• CableLabs
• Service Providers
• Utilities

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Energy Savings in the Network

• The network on both sides of the box continues to
  be the limiting factor
• DOCSIS
• Conditional Access/Cable Card
• MOCA
• Ethernet
• To achieve energy savings in the network,
  everyone needs to be involved going forward
• OEMs
• CableLabs
• Service providers
• Utilities

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Program Success to DateCurrent ENERGY STAR
Partners
Service Providers
ATT
DIRECTV
ECOCYN Energy
EPB
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Program Success to DateCurrent ENERGY STAR
Partners
Manufacturers Number of Qualified Products
Cisco Systems 3
DIRECTV 12
General Instrument Corporation (Motorola) 7
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 1
Pace plc 1
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Program Success

• Manufacturers are reporting they are changing
  their designs as a result of ENERGY STARs
  specification
• Manufacturers are reporting that ENERGY STAR
  compliancy is being specd by a broad spectrum of
  service providers
• If all STBs sold in the US met ENERGY STAR, the
  savings in energy costs will grow to about 2
  billion each year and greenhouse gas emissions
  will be reduced by the equivalent of greenhouse
  gas emissions from about 2.5 million vehicles

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ENERGY STAR Set-top Box Contacts

• Katharine Kaplan, EPA
• kaplan.katharine_at_epa.gov
• 202.343.9120
• Tom Bolioli, Terranovum, LLC
• tbolioli_at_terranovum.com
• 781.334.4074