Summary:
With oil at around $145 a barrel and electricity costs jumping, consumers are becoming preoccupied with keeping down their power bills. Electronics makers that develop energy efficient product lines and market them effectively to customers may get an edge in a gloomy global economy. Going green is not only eco-friendly but crucial for business, going beyond just products, extending throughout the development and manufacturing process, according to LG Electronics. These energy-efficient products, however, carry a hefty price premium to reflect the cost of developing new technologies, which in turn hampers faster adoption. A survey has found that found that green consumers are more brand-loyal than average consumers. A green-technology product that establishes new benchmarks and appeals to concerned consumers will have an iconic market presence if done right, according to Forrester Research. (Published: 05/07/08)
Notes:
- With oil at around $145 a barrel and electricity costs jumping, consumers are becoming preoccupied with keeping down their power bills.
- Electronics makers that develop energy efficient product lines and market them effectively to customers may get an edge in a gloomy global economy
- Kim Jik-soo, a spokesman at LG Electronics Inc.
- "Going green is not only eco-friendly but crucial for business. This goes beyond just products, extending throughout the development and manufacturing process."
- electronics firms are furiously developing energy efficient products and heavily promoting lines already on the market that use less electricity than competitors' brands
- from washing machines that use steam instead of hot water, to fridges that use low energy compressors, to low power computer screens
- using steam instead of hot water, cuts water and power use by more than 70 percent compared with some top-load models
- LG Electronics Inc and Whirlpool Corp
- refrigerators
- consume 30 percent of overall power in a typical home
- traditional compressors are giving way to linear compressors that use up to 40 percent less power and make less noise
- computing industry
- replacing screens lit by conventional cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) with light emitting diode (LED) displays
- "LED saves up to 40 percent of the power used in traditional backlights. Next year they will be commonly found in notebook screens, and will be increasingly used in TV panels from 2010."
- Market researcher DisplaySearch expects LED-backlit displays to account for 50 percent of notebook panels in 2010, up from 12 percent this year.
- By 2015, all laptop displays will use LEDs, generating sales of $6 billion.
- building and street lighting
- Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co recently replaced lighting in the South Korean parliament building with new LED products and reported LED consumed just one sixth the power of incandescent bulbs.
- these energy-efficient products carry a hefty price premium to reflect the cost of developing new technologies
- in turn hampers faster adoption
- e.g. Whirlpool's washing machines with steam feature are sold at $1,300-$1,500, compared with a traditional machine priced at $700.
- makers argue that the lifetime savings from green products could amount to the price of the appliance itself
- Sometimes a little incentive helps.
- Japanese electronics retailer Bic Camera Inc is running a campaign in which buyers of eco-friendly products get extra credit points that can be used for future purchases
- U.S. survey by Forrester Research, 2007
- found that green consumers, who agree to pay extra for electronics that use less energy or come from an environmentally friendly maker, are more brand-loyal than average consumers.
- Christopher Mines, Forrester analyst:
- "More than 25 million U.S. adults fall into this segment, enough for even the largest consumer electronics marketers to target,"
- "Green-targeted PCs and other electronics will evolve as part of the consumer electronics industry's move to go beyond 'beige box' design," he said. "Apple certainly leads the way here."
- "A green-technology product that establishes new benchmarks and appeals to concerned consumers will have an iconic market presence if done right."
