Pace sets the standard for green set-top boxes
August 26 2008
Pace plc, the leading developer of digital TV technologies, today sets out its goal to be the world-leader in low environmental impact (LEI) set-top boxes.
Neil Gaydon, Chief Executive Officer at Pace plc, comments: “We are taking action to reduce our environmental impact across all aspects of our business – from products to our operations and supply chain.
“Product development is where we have the greatest impact on the environment. Growing demand for our products across the world, which increasingly include more advanced and power hungry applications, means this is at the heart of our strategy.”
Pace is targeting the three key areas where its products have the highest environmental impact. These, together with Pace’s environmental initiatives are:
1) Power consumption – the hardware design of every Pace product from this point onwards will comply with or exceed the EU Code of Conduct, EnergyStar and MEPS guidelines1. In regions where no guidelines exist, Pace will apply the closest guidelines to these areas2. Pace will work with its key partners to drive compliance across all aspects of the final product, including software.
2) Packaging – all materials used in the packaging of Pace products will be 100% recyclable. Pace is setting a minimum standard of 50% of all materials used in packaging to be sourced from recycled materials.
3) Hazardous substances – Pace is going beyond current legislation with its own extensive ‘Restricted Substances’ list. Pace will phase out these additional hazardous substances from all future products going forwards.
To achieve these goals, Pace will be launching its ‘Design for Environment’ standard at IBC. This will be introduced to all new product developments going forward. Pace product innovations that will move the industry towards an LEI future will be demonstrated at IBC.
Neil adds: “It is essential that we work with our partners and customers to minimise energy demands through innovative product design. By working together the industry can significantly reduce the amount of power consumed worldwide.”
Support for Pace’s Environmental Targets
“It is truly exciting to see an electronics company establishing energy-smart products as the rule, not the exception,” said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Energy-efficient set-top boxes are precisely the kind of innovation that is needed to cut consumers’ electric bills and help reduce global warming pollution. Pace’s leadership is a welcome development in the quest for a greener, cleaner consumer electronics industry.”
Bob Harrison, Principal Scientific Consultant to the UK Government Market Transformation Programme, Consumer Electronics, and independent UK expert commented: “I am delighted to see Pace formalising a role in promoting energy efficiency in STB products, that they have effectively carried since 1998.
“Pace STB products have been the International energy efficiency benchmark for both the horizontal and vertical STB markets for many years. Pace has always supported the energy efficiency criteria it argued, often as a lone voice, as being technically and commercially practicable by annually delivering product meeting and surpassing the European Commission Code of Conduct STB criteria and other International energy efficiency endorsement standards.
“I am pleased that Pace intends to continue its energy efficiency policy for product design – a strong leader is needed to meet the imminent new challenges of European and other National legislation for mandatory standby power limits and on-mode power efficiency for Consumer Electronic products.”
Background information
Power consumption levels more than anything else affect a product’s impact on the environment. With analogue switch-off taking place around the world, every TV household will have some form of digital TV receiver. These are typically left either on or in stand-by for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Meanwhile, the increasing complexity of the technology in our products demand higher power consumptions.
Pace was a founding member of the EU Code of Conduct Committee on set-top box energy efficiency in 1997 and is currently involved in the latest revision of the Code of Conduct for complex set-top boxes (i.e. those involving conditional access).
Pace was the first set-top box signatory of the EnergyStar programme in the United States in 2000 (and the only manufacturer to have all US products comply with the EnergyStar standard) and will soon be launching new products into this market that meet the new EnergyStar criteria.
Supply Chain
Pace is driving its key suppliers (which represent over 50% of all components used in Pace products) to match Pace’s approach to reduce their impact on the environment. Two key measures will be the requirement of all key suppliers to adopt the ISO14001 standard and to pledge to reduce their CO2 emissions year on year.
Pace is working with its partners, including conditional access, silicon and middleware providers, to enable Pace’s hardware innovations to be implemented through the required software processes. “It is essential that all parts of the set-top box industry come together to make low environmental impact (LEI) set-top boxes a reality,” Neil added.
Site operations
Pace has been reporting on the environmental performance of its site operations for the past six years. In this time Pace has reduced CO2 emissions per person by 10%, against a backdrop of increased product shipments and headcounts.
Further information on Pace’s environmental initiatives will be unveiled at the Pace Press Conference at IBC – 11.00am Sunday 14th September, Room T, IBC. To attend please contact julia.ruane@pace.com.
Ends
Notes to editors
1 EU Code of Conduct applies to all products sold in the European Union. EnergyStar relates to all products sold in the United States. MEPS (Minimum Energy Performance Standard) applies to products sold in Australia and New Zealand.
2 For information on these guidelines visit
http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/html/standby_initiative_digital%20tv%20services.htm
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=revisions.settop_box_spec
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=dta.pr_dta
http://www.energyrating.gov.au/considered.html#electronics
About Pace plc
Pace plc (pic.l) is a leading technology developer for the global payTV industry. Pace's main focus is on creating intelligent and innovative products and services that benefit our customers and fuel the development of digital TV. Over the last 25 years, Pace has developed one of the world's most experienced specialist engineering teams and is now the partner of choice for leading payTV operators across the globe.
Pace's international headquarters are in Saltaire, West Yorkshire, UK, with further offices in France, USA, India and Hong Kong. For more information on Pace, please visit www.pace.com.
About NRDC
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing
For further information, contact:
Julia Ruane
Pace plc
T: +44 1274 537093
M: +44 7770 827923
E: Julia.ruane@pace.com
