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>> Hey, I'm Mark Licea, and this week, Samsung's new green screens, appliances of the future, and the super computer that computes and pollutes. The Green Show starts now.
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Breaking news. Green is big. Samsung announced that the company is investing billions on a new green initiative. Our own Molly Wood was at the event. Take a look.
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>> I'm Molly Wood, here in San Francisco, reporting from a Samsung luncheon, where the company is announcing a brand new commitment to going green with its technology. Basically, they did some consumer research and internal research and discovered that green is a really big thing. No, actually, the company is making a serious commitment. They say they've pledged 4.3 billion dollars to creating more energy efficient products and building their products in a more energy efficient way. They say they're going to include less packaging, less hazardous materials, and be more committed to recycling across the board.
>> -- Some 200 locations throughout the U.S. where consumers can bring back Samsung brown electronics for recycling.
>> Now, obviously, Samsung touted their super-thin and highly energy efficient OLED TVs. They also showed off some interesting, new display technology called PenTile, which is used in displays for mobile devices. It's supposed to create brighter but more energy efficient LCDs and OLED displays, and they say it can be up to 30 percent more efficient. Basically, it just rearranges the way that the pixels and the colors of the pixels are all put together. It's complicated, and they won't say what devices are using the technology yet, but we'll be watching for more of that in the future. Now, Samsung also said it's making a big commitment to solid-state drives, which are much more efficient than hard drives. For the Green Show, reporting from San Francisco, I'm Molly Wood. Back to you, Mark.
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>> Thanks, Molly. And speaking of investing billions to go green, how about spending millions on technology that is definitely not green? A 30-million dollar supercomputer in the U.K. is one of Britain's worst polluters. And get this; the computer's main function is to predict climate change, not create climate change. The machine can perform one thousand, one thousand billion calculations each second, although the "Daily Mail" reports that it won't reach peak performance until 2011. The supercomputer is installed in the U.K.'s Met Office headquarters, and the spokesman basically said something along the lines of, "Yes, it pollutes and all, but we need it, so what are you going to do?" Ah, the irony. Considering that it took two months to fully boot up, I'm guessing there's no sleep mode function.
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Moving right along, Cash for Clunkers was a huge success. So huge, in fact, that the program exhausted its budget very quickly. Now the Department of Energy is sponsoring a similar program for appliances. The idea is to give consumers a rebate on an Energy Star rated appliance, but unlike the cash for clunkers program, you won't need to exchange your old appliance, and the program's standards are designed by individual states. The 300 million dollars put towards the program is expected to cover appliances that consume the most energy, like air conditioners, washing machines, dryers, and refrigerators. Martin LaMonica from CNET News says final funding applications from the states are due back to the Energy Department by October, so we could see rebates available as soon as the end of the year. We were able to look at a few Energy Star rated appliances when the Living Zero Home landed here in New York. Take a look.
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I see the standard water heater here, and I see something that looks very different. Can you tell us what this is?
>> The idea -- this is called a tankless water heater. The beauty of tankless water heater is it heats on demand, so you're not paying to heat 80 gallons of water at all times. You're paying to heat it -- it runs through heating coils -- as soon as you need it. So you're saving a lot of money and energy by not paying this whole thing at all times. An easy way to save energy, as well, is if you have one of these, and you're not gonna replace it anytime soon, go to the thermostat on it and turn it down to 120 degrees compared to 125 degrees. So it's very easy savings on that.
>> So can you just quickly talk about some of the tax credit benefits that you get with purchasing a water heater like this?
>> Absolutely. The government offers, right now, 30 percent up to $1500.00 on a lot of Energy Star rated appliances, including water heaters.
>> Well, speaking of saving money and energy, I see a washing machine here, and I see it's front loading. Can you tell us a little bit about why it saves more water and energy?
>> Absolutely. The way that this thing works it's a spin cycle. So it uses 15 gallons compared to 40 gallons of a normal washer, and it's much easier on your clothes, the way that it shoots the water through, instead of a top loading that just jams your clothes around in a circle. This is way more efficient, and it saves you a lot of water.
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>> A refrigerator that teleports food, and a waterless washing machine, these are just two of the eight finalists in the Electrolux Design Lab contest.
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Industrial Design students from around the world submitted their ideas for appliances of the future. Winners of the seventh annual competition will be announced later this month in London. The first prize winner receives 5,000 Euro and a six-month paid internship at an Electrolux Global Design center. Other appliance concept finalists include a robotic greenhouse and a wall-mounted double dishwasher. Be sure to check out all the finalists and vote for favorite at Electroluxdesignlab.com.
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That's it for this week. Write to us, Greenshow@cnet.com. I'm Mark Licea. Thanks for watching.
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