If I turned you off back there

[j4]

"On televisions, for example, we would like to see labels saying 'if you watch it, it will cost x pence per hour, if you leave it on standby, it will cost y pence'. Then you can present the environmental cost in monetary terms"

But that's not actually presenting the environmental cost at all, really, is it? Unless you add "WHICH MEANS that when you sink into drooling oblivion in front of the flickering forms of minor celebrities bonking in a bath of baked beans you are not only wasting the product of several thousand years of human evolution but also SYSTEMATICALLY RAPING THE PLANET and leaving it an UNINHABITABLE WASTE LAND, you selfish cretin." Really. Is it. I mean.

That's before we get to the question of how in the name of -- well, frankly, anything you care to name -- an electric toothbrush can be regarded as "essential".

I think I'm just in a bad mood today.

Comments

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a decent approximation. I don't know how the cost of manufacturing and disposing of a TV compares to that of using it. But environmental inneficiencies transmitted by electricity is surely a major one, and then money is a good measure of that, right?

[j4.livejournal.com]

The point I'm clearly failing to make is that "this costs x pence per hour" does not per se actually tell Joe Average anything at all about "the environment", unless he already knows (as I certainly don't) at least a rule-of-thumb formula for calculating how pence-per-hour translates into meansurable environmental inefficiency and/or damage.

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

There's also the other point, that Joe Average then thinks "That's OK, I can afford y pence per hour, it's nothing really - and besides, nobody can criticise me for what I do with my own bought-and-paid-for electricity." I'm not suggesting that the labels would be actually counterproductive, though being a congenital cynic I wouldn't rule it out entirely.

[j4.livejournal.com]

that Joe Average then thinks "That's OK, I can afford y pence per hour, it's nothing really

Exactly!

Though it would be interesting to know how many pence an hour everything costs to run...

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

I have a vague memory of doing a project along just these lines in physics at school, measuring the wattage of various household items and drawing up tables in three colours of ink. Mind you, that was before the changes to electricity markets (ca. 1992, probably) so the costs will doubtless have gone multidimensional by now.

[brrm.livejournal.com]

Though it would be interesting to know how many pence an hour everything costs to run...

I use one of these. While it doesn't give you the cost directly, it's easy to find out.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

OK, I Want One Of Those (http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/). Reduced price for the next couple of weeks, too!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Since myself and my housemates stopped using the tumble dryer our electric bills have halved, and I rarely used it even before the others stopped.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

besides, nobody can criticise me for what I do with my own bought-and-paid-for electricity.

And just how far is anyone likely to get on a platform of "like hell we can't, it's our environmment being damaged too" ?

[(Anonymous)]

Neither do I. But I have a vague memory that turning monitors off overnight is worth it as a country, which gives me a baseline for which gadgets are worth worrying about.

I'm probably overgeneralising from myself too much. I'm thinking "Well, I can afford £xx. But if I see what I'm wasting then if I don't actually need it I'll not use things completely gratuitously." You're probably right this isn't exactly the best use of their effort, but my first impression was that it's more useful than not.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

But I have a vague memory that turning monitors off overnight is worth it as a country, which gives me a baseline for which gadgets are worth worrying about.

I'm pretty sure that was the case for CRT monitors but am entirely unsure where the appropriate line goes on energy usage for flat-screens.