SAMSUNG 55 INCH FLAT PANEL TV
Flat screen televisions are a “must-have” in many households today but are blacklisted by environmentalist for their heavy consumption of power. Samsung Electronics’ claim that the Samsung UN55B6000 LED 55 inch TV uses less power in standard mode than conventional LCD televisions. (Samsung_Electronics, 2009) One of the current environmental impacts of this TV is its lower usage and reliance on electricity compared to conventional old-style cathoderay tube TVs and plasma screens, thereby contributing less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are causing climate change. According to the government funded Energy Saving Trust (EST), “plasma televisions which are 50% bigger than their cathoderay tube equivalents consume about four times more energy.”
In today’s world a product design principle that affects most products is ‘minimise environmental impact’. A product that has been designed to use this principle will improve its sales and reduce the product’s negative impact on the environment, both in its construction and end-of-life. In the development of the UN55B6000 television, Samsung have used this design principle to set some design objectives.
The environmental impact of this TV in terms of energy consumption is clearly one of the product design objectives. Samsung Electronics’ policy of reducing the amount of power compared to conventional television. With around 8% of the total UK televisions’ energy consumption coming from standby mode, it is essential to turn the set off, however, this TV’s standby mode is considerable lower when not in use over a period of time. (Energy_Saving_Trust, 2009) Samsung state that this TV uses 40% less power than conventional televisions. (Samsung_Electronics, 2009) The table below shows TV comparisons between this Samsung UN55B6000, a rival Sony 55” TV, an older Samsung TV and a smaller TV.
(Richardson, 2009)
The results from the above table clearly show that Samsungs objective was to reduce their energy consumption. Reducing their energy consumption has reduced their environmental impact.
Another design principle that may have been used in the design of this TV is ‘Maintain Independence of functionality’. The electronics involved in the stand by of the TV may be a separate unit so that the rest of the TV uses no power when it is off.
Another impact on the environment is the amount of harmful chemicals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs.) found in televisions. The LED Samsung TV contains less of the harmful chemicals and no lead, mercury or VOCs. Lead is a toxic heavy metal that can contaminate the environment particularly if it gets into the soil and subsequently into the food chain causing devastating results. (Reaserch_Labs, nd) Likewise mercury, which is highly toxic to humans and wildlife, and VOCs, include chemicals such as methane, benzene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are all equally toxic resulting in serious damage to the humans and the environment. (Green_Facts, nd)
A relevant supply chain principle that could improve the environmental impact is Samsung Electronics’ policy in recycling end-of-life products. This is particularly relevant in the UK when the country switches to digital television as there will be an anticipated 8 million TV sets to be dumped immediately after. (BBC_News, 2007) The Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive ensures that at the end of its life, the television can be returned to Samsung Electronics for breaking down and recycling rather than being dumped with household rubbish in overstretched landfill sites like many television sets are.
Samsung use a European company called “ERP” to take back their end- of-life products. ERP are responsible for the take back and recycling of all Samsung products in the UK and five other European countries. Samsung’s products can be returned to the retailer at the end of their life where ERP will collect them or they can be taken to or collected by ERP directly. (Legislation_News , 2007)(About ERP UK, nd) In the United States, Samsung have established their own recycling centre collection points in 50 states and a scheme known as ‘Take back and recycling of Samsung goods (TB&R)’. TB&R organises collection day events all over America and have negotiated a collection system with many retailers. Samsung and their TB&R scheme have direct links with many of the USA’s biggest recyclers. (Enviromental_Expert, 2008) Samsung have many policies like these worldwide.
Samsung Electronics makes an effort to develop environmentally friendly products throughout the whole of the supply chain principle, in particular, with the design of this television in its reduction in power and its use of harmful chemicals. The whole process of the supply chain from sourcing raw materials, design and production, transportation, usage and end-of-life disposal is subject to Samsungs’ Life Cycle Assessment (LCA ) and Design for Assembly/Disassembly/Recycle Service that supports product development. More importantly, the television has been evaluated using the Eco-Design Evaluation System 2004, which was introduced to classify and evaluate the impact of the product on the environment in three general evaluation categories to include, resource efficiency, environmental hazardousness and energy efficiency. Another part of the end of life chain principle is to ensure that the product is labelled with a ‘crossed out wheelie-bin’ symbol which means that the TV should not be disposed of with household rubbish but is sent for reuse or recycling. Facilities are also available for products to be returned to the retailer when purchasing a new set.
A design principle that Samsung could adopt to help reduce the environmental impact of power for televisions, would be to include a digital TV tuner within the product similar to the TOSHIBA 55ZV635DB. (Dixons, nd) Ann integrated digital television has the capacity to receive digital signals without the need for a separate set-top box so only one amount of power is used instead of two. According to Energy Saving Trust, each year using this method as opposed to separate units can save 20 kilograms of CO2. (Energy_Saving_Trust, 2009) This would further make the internal features of the product into a modular system thus using the design principle of 'maintain independence of functionality'.
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