i3 - March/April 2019 - 39

By Elliot Grimm

Policy

G R E E N P O L I CY

Altice USA Joins Industry
Voluntary Agreements

Comomolas/Getty Images

s more U.S. homes are watching television and connecting to the internet every year, CTA and the Internet &
Television Association (NCTA) have been working with
pay-TV and broadband service providers to help homes reduce
energy usage and save money. Since 2013, two voluntary agreements for set-top boxes and home internet devices have saved
consumers more than $3.5 billion in electricity costs and avoided
more than 20 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.

And now, millions more consumers will
see those benefits first-hand. Telecom
provider Altice USA has become the
latest signatory to the industry's voluntary agreements, joining a commitment
to make their video and broadband
devices more energy efficient.
As a signatory, Altice will boost the
agreements' coverage by some 1.4 million broadband customers and one million video customers. The increase
pushes the small network equipment
agreement's coverage of the nation's residential broadband internet market to
more than 90 percent. "The addition of
Altice USA means almost every
American home that subscribes to
broadband or pay-TV services will enjoy
more energy efficient devices and lower
energy bills," says Doug Johnson, vice
president of technology policy at CTA.
Last year, independent auditor D+R
International found that home internet
devices such as modems and routers,
were nearly 20 percent more energy
efficient than they were before the voluntary agreement for small network
equipment. D+R also reported the
strongest year yet in achieving savings
under the agreement for set-top boxes.
In total, consumers saved a tremendous
$3.5 billion ($1.4 billion in 2017 alone)
and avoided more than 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions
during the five years since the agreement was launched.
Altice joins several other of the
C TA . t e c h / i 3

nation's largest consumer pay-TV and
broadband service providers and equipment manufacturers already working
under the agreements, including AT&T/
DIRECTV, CenturyLink, Time Warner
Cable, Comcast, Cox Communications,
Frontier and Verizon. When joining, signatories commit to a goal that 90 percent of their annual set-top box and
small network equipment purchases and
retail sales meet rigorous energy-efficiency levels set out in the agreements.
In 2016, the set-top box agreement
was awarded an Environmental Leader
Project of the Year. The judges cited the
initiative's success in establishing a

collaborative effort that significantly
reduced the industry's impact on the
environment while saving consumers
hundreds of millions of dollars.
Beyond set-top boxes and broadband equipment, a new CTA report
found that while the number of tech
devices in our homes has increased,
their share of total energy use is
steadily shrinking. U.S. households'
consumer tech devices consume 25
percent less energy than they did in
2010. The industry's success is attributed to more lightweight materials and
energy efficient technologies, as well
as the convergence of multi-function
devices and continuous innovation.
Last year, CTA and NCTA announced
the renewal of both the set-top box and
small network equipment voluntary
agreements, which include even more
rigorous energy efficiency target levels
for deployed devices. For more information on the energy efficiency voluntary
agreements and a full list of signatories,
go to www.energy-efficiency.us.

MARCH/APRIL 2019

http://www.energy-efficiency.us http://CTA.tech/i3

i3 - March/April 2019

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