Al Gore take note: Word from across the pond that a British retailer, Dixons, soon will begin to offer what is called the “Tree-V,” made by Swedish manufacturer Swedx. A Tree-V represents the green movement perhaps taken to extremes, consisting of television sets “built with natural ash, sapele or beechwood from sustainable forest sources,” according to Dixons.
Still, the idea is not as new as it may seem, depending on your age. Long before the advent of digital TV (when “green” was only a color), many of the earliest and most costly analog TV sets came in polished dark-wood furniture cabinets (often with front door-panels to hide the screen when not in use).
Nonetheless, Dixons (a chain in the midst of rebranding itself in the United Kingdom as Currys) speaks about the products in terms rarely heard in relation to DTV products, saying the Tree-V units represent “high specification televisions with the added advantage of being constructed within frames from all-natural, renewable, sustainable, recyclable resources. Owning a Tree-V is a great way of making a small contribution to planet Earth, while watching it on the telly at the same time.”
The various Tree-V models come with 19-inch LCD screens within their wooden cabinets and currently go for about $750.
