VIERA television

VIERA Ecology

The sale of Plasma TVs is a huge and growing industry - and Panasonic is the largest worldwide producer. As befits its status as the leading manufacturer of this technology, it is also leading the industry in ensuring that the vast number of Plasma TVs that it produces are as environmentally responsible as possible.

Due to their detrimental effects on health the EU directive Reduction of Hazardous Substances, or "RoHS" as it is known, sets out to gradually restrict the usage of certain materials including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and some specific brominated flame retardants in products sold within the European Union. You may not be aware but all televisions - whether they are traditional Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT), LCDs or Plasmas - contain some of these substances. For instance, an average CRT TV has up to 3.4 Kg of lead inside; the back-lighting in LCDs tend to rely heavily on Mercury, and lead oxide glass is used in the manufacture of Plasma TVs.

For VIERA Plasma TVs, Panasonic has developed a lead alternative substance and eliminated the use of lead in plasma TVs for the first time in the world. This reduces the impact on the environment when recycling or disposing of them in the future.

VIERA Plasma Eco Mode
Looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprints, people are increasingly concerned about the energy consumption of their consumer electronic products. We have introduced a new options “Eco Mode” as standard on most of our TVs which utilises a photo-sensor to measure the ambient light conditions in the room and adjust the panel brightness accordingly - helping to minimise power consumption and reduce your electricity bills.

Ecological Plant
Panasonic has also looked further than just the products and introduced a number of environmentally aware initiatives in its manufacturing process. At the state of the art Amagasaki plant in Japan, improvements have been made to the manufacturing process resulting in a substantial reduction of CO2 emissions per Plasma screen. The plant itself is partially powered using natural energy sources including solar and wind turbines and uses collected rainwater to water its lawns. The outer wall of the Amagasaki plant has also been coated with photo-catalytic material to prevent harmful substances leaking and all waste disposal is tracked.

*2008 models; technologies may differ model to model.
**Only applicable to VIERA Plasma PZ/PY 800 series.