UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYWASHINGTON, D.C. 20460

OFFICE OF
AIR AND RADIATION

May 17, 2016
Dear ENERGY STAR Television Brand Owner Partner:
With this letter, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing additional guidance
concerning ENERGY STAR® certification of televisions (TVs) with features that adjust screenluminance.
Automatic Brightness Control
Automatic Brightness Control (ABC), which adjusts screen luminance depending on ambient
light conditions, is a special function that can deliver significant energy savings and isaccommodated by the ENERGY STAR television specification. TVs that ship with ABC,
defaulted on may be tested with this special function enabled for purposes of ENERGY STAR
certification as long as the user is not subsequently prompted to disable it (see Section 5.5 of theENERGY STAR Test Method). EPA’s intention is that ABC remain engaged, although
ENERGY STAR recognizes the need to preserve means for the consumers to disable thefunction if they choose to. Further, it is EPA’s expectation that consumers be notified of theenergy implications of their choices as stated in Section 3.2.4 of the ENERGY STAR television
specification, which requires that if consumers have the option of changing picture settings, theproduct will display on-screen information making clear the default picture setting is the setting
under which the product qualified for ENERGY STAR.
Accordingly, for televisions certified with ABC or an equivalent energy saving function, it is not
acceptable for the product to automatically disable the function under any circumstance. That is,
no matter the consumer-selected deviation from the default tested mode or picture setting, ABC
must remain enabled unless the consumer actively seeks to disable it without prompting from theTV. This disabling restriction applies to small changes to individual picture settings likebacklight, brightness, and contrast or changes from one display mode (standard, sports, movie,dynamic, etc.) to another.
To ensure televisions certified with ABC perform consistently with the intent of the ENERGYSTAR specification, ENERGY STAR certification bodies (CBs) will be asked, going forward, toconfirm that ABC remains engaged when changes to picture settings (either at the master settingor the sub-setting level) are made. This will include changes from home/default mode to
dynamic mode, for example, or adjustments to the brightness or other settings.
Other Screen Luminance Dimming Features
Since the last ENERGY STAR television specification revision, EPA has learned of a newfeature that can temporarily reduce screen luminance in response to frequent scene changes orrapid motion in video content. This feature can be known as "motion lighting" or "motion eye
care" or by other names, and is distinct from the techniques many high-refresh-rate televisions
use to reduce blur in moving images or to interpolate content between frames. Until the energy
implications of this type of feature are better understood, EPA is requiring that it be disabled in
setup menus for purposes of ENERGY STAR certification testing.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact Katharine Kaplan at
Kaplan.Katharine@epa.gov.
Thank you for your continued support of ENERGY STAR.

Sincerely,

Ann Bailey, Chief
ENERGY STAR Labeling Branch
US Environmental Protection Agency