Readers React: More efficient cable boxes are in the works

To the editor: Your recent article on the energy efficiency of set-top boxes claims the devices are the second-biggest energy users in many homes. Actually, the total energy use by set-top boxes ranks below many other home energy uses, including heating, air conditioning, lighting and water heating. (“Cable TV boxes become 2nd biggest energy users in many homes,” June 16)

The story also fails to recognize the important advances being made through the voluntary Set-Top Box Energy Conservation Agreement, which is a joint effortof industry and energy advocates to make set-top boxes more efficient. After one year of operation, we are already ahead of schedule, with 85% of new set-top boxes meeting Energy Star 3 standards, and many models offering even greater savings through “light sleep” modes and whole-home solutions.

The voluntary agreement also assures that energy-efficiency requirements will not impede the innovation and competition that have long characterized the pay-TV and consumer electronics industries.

All of this is, in part, why Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, among others, have publicly and enthusiastically supported our program. We believe that praise is well deserved.

Neal Goldberg, Washington

Noah Horowitz, San Francisco

Doug Johnson, Arlington, Va.

Goldberg is vice president and general counsel at the National Cable and Telecommunications Assn.; Horowitz is senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council; Johnson is vice president of technology policy for the Consumer Electronics Assn.