Looking for the greenest television set? We sort through a complex set of resources for you to help you buy that green TV.

Greenpeace's Green Electronics Search (Jan 09) evaluates televisions on 20+ criteria in chemicals, energy use, lifecycle and other categories publishes its final rankings on a 10-point scale. Top units were the Sharp LC-52GX5 (5.92), the Sony KDL32JE1 (5.84), and the Panasonic TH-42PZ80U (4.96). Greenpeace does not appear to publish its entire listing of evaluated products.

Greererone.com appears to use a combination of crowd-sourcing and criteria based on materials, manufacturing process, usage, and disposal to rank products on a 10-point scale. The site does not appear to publish a product's score for each criterion like Greenpeace does. Three models currently score 8/10, all Philips: 19PFL3403D/27, 15MF227B/27, 19MF337B/27. About 65 models from various manufacturers get a score of 7. The good news is that the entire database is online, but there are no review dates. Performance is sluggish; the site has labeled "beta" for at least four months.

Pcmag.com's "The Greenest HDTVs" (Jul 09) lists 7 models from 7 manufacturers as "some of the greenest TVs we've seen." Two score 4 out of 5 bullets and are rated as Editors' Choice: Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U and Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8. No indication as to how many models were evaluated in total.

Greenopia.com rates televisions on a scale using 1-4 "leaf" icons: "Four-Leaf Rated listings meet our most stringent criteria while One-Leaf Rated listings meet our minimum qualifying standards." No television gets 4 or 3 leafs. The Sony 32" BRAVIA LCD (JE1 series) and the Vizio 32" ECO Friendly 720p LCD each get a Two-Leaf rating. Greenopia provides more detail on their rating system in the comment, below.

EU EcoLabel (Eco Flower) lists lots of TV models from LG (12), Philips (49), Samsung (29), Sharp (34), and Sony (50) The Nordic Swan ecolabel lists 9 Samsung models.

Some listings use model numbers while others use model names: I had to do some research to verify that Greenpeace and Greenopia are both referencing the same Sony unit. Model numbers vary from country to country, as well: EcoLabel lists 7 Sony Bravia KDL series units, but none of the models match the above references.

You can also search ENERGY STAR®'s database of almost 1000 qualified models.

Another approach is to shop by brand, but this can be equally perplexing. Greenopia.com currently ranks Samsung and Sony as tops in is list of 15 HDTV brands, but the Greenpeaceranks them as #2 and #8 (respectively) on its list of 18 consumer electronics brands (Sep 09).

We can be greener by being attentive to our specs before we start shopping. LCD displays generally consume less energy per square inch than plasma displays; smaller displays generally consume less power than larger ones. And don't forget to check how much energy a planned purchase consumes when it is turned 'off' - standby (vampire) power consumption varies among brands and models.

The bottom line is that green buying in this category is still very difficult. Please post a comment if you know of any other good listings of television displays.

Update 2010.03.07
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is proposing to require consumer television sets to carry the EnergyGuide label. "The familiar yellow-and-black rectangular labels currently are required on many consumer appliances, such as washing machines and refrigerators, and provide useful information such as the estimated yearly cost of operating the appliance and the cost range compared to other similar models." The FTC rule-making process has just opened to public comment and implementation in 2010 is unlikely.