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>> Hey everyone, I'm Mark Licea, and this week Green Peace's "Greener Guide to Electronics," Microsoft Hohm gets rolled out, and the eco-friendly OLEDs. The Green Show starts now.
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New OLED TVs are hitting the market soon. LG plans to start shipping a 15-inch model at the end of the year. Aside from making HD look better, they're also pretty green. We got to speak with Janice Mann from the Universal Display Corporation to learn more about the environmental benefits of OLEDs.
>> You start with a substrate, like glass, and you deposit a series of very, very thin, organic films on it. Now, those organic films, when electricity applies, emits light. There was a discovery made a couple of years ago, actually almost a decade ago, called phosphorescent OLEDs. What it did is it completely changed the power efficiency paradigm. It increased the power efficiency of an OLED by a factor of four. So today, with phosphorescence, you can convert, essentially, all the electricity that's applied to an OLED into light. Now, before this discovery, only 25 percent of that electricity was converted into light. The remaining 75 percent was converted into heat. They can be two times more power efficient than an LCD, up to four times more power efficient than an LCD. In lighting, same kind of thing, so an OLED, in the research lab, 10 times more power efficient than an incandescent light bulb. At CES earlier this year, Sony, Samsung, and LG Display were all showing OLED TVs. So as the economy starts to turn around, I think we're gonna continue to see this market grow very rapidly.
>> There you have it. OLEDs are green. Still expensive, though. Regardless of LG's OLED TV, the company did move up two spots in Greenpeace's latest guide to greener electronics. The guide ranks companies based on, well, how green they are. Nokia remains in the top spot for its phone recycling program, and the removal of chemicals from its products. Lenovo and Sony fell several spots for failing on their promise to eliminate dangerous chemicals. And while Apple's new MacBooks claim to be the greenest yet, Greenpeace still dropped them one spot for using chemicals in products that claim to be chemical-free. Nintendo remains in last place thought, although Greenpeace did give the company kudos for eliminating PVC from their gaming consoles. I guess one improvement just is not enough for Greenpeace. They crack the whip.
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Moving right along, Microsoft opened its energy tracking web service called "Hohm." It partners with energy providers in your area and tracks your home power use. Just a few utility companies are participating as the service gets rolled out. Microsoft Hohm can suggest tips of ways to save money based off your data, but if you live in an apartment like me, filling out a profile will not be quick. Hohm asks a lot of detailed questions on your living space, and if you're able to complete the profile in one go, then you're probably pretty serious about your home, h-o-m-e. Or both.
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Now if Hohm is a bit overwhelming for you, there's an open source energy-tracking program called Ecobot, although Ecobot is probably not as specific or thorough as Hohm. The program calculates your carbon footprint automatically and set up is pretty basic.
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>> Once installed, it reads the distance you travel, the power you use, and the paper you print.
>> If you're easing your way into the whole green thing, or if you're the over zealous type, the program works well for both. It's only available for Mac, and you can download at the URL on the screen. And that's it for this week. Send your feedback in to Greenshow@cnet.com. I'm Mark Licea. Thanks for watching.
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