Everyone who moans over the attempt to regulate TV power consumption overlooks the past successful effort at limiting power use by other home appliances such as washers, dryers, refrigerators, and air conditioners. If it worked for them, why can't it work for TVs?
Similarly, if you are old enough to remember the late 60s or early 70s when cars were first required to meet emissions controls, a lot of people complained how it would ruin cars forever. It didn't, but it did stimulate the development of fuel injectors to replace carburetors and electronic ignition to replace those old distributors.
