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

[j4.livejournal.com]

I didn't miss that point, and I do think it's worth reminding people that if you leave electrical stuff switched on then it's using up electricity (though you'd think that'd be quite obvious), I just didn't think it was relevant to the environmental question! I certainly wasn't trying to cover every aspect of the debate. But I do think that what the chap said -- or at least what the Beeb reported -- is rubbish, and that appealing to people's desire to save cash is a significantly different issue from appealing to their environmental conscience (whether or not it has a knock-on benefit for the environment and/or is a useful thing in and of itself).

if British people turned their TVs off rather than putting them on standby we'd need one fewer power station

You may like some of these energy efficiency posters (http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/estates/environment/energyandw.shtml). I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to ask my SUV-driving, jet-setting, yacht-sailing boss if I can put some up at work.

However I do not like the electric toothbrush. Horrid vibraty thing like nails on blackboard. Can I stop using it on environmental grounds?

Err, if you don't like it, you can surely stop using it on the grounds that you're (presumably -- don't actually know who you are) an adult, and as such you're basically in charge of what you put in your mouth.

Personally I cannot imagine finding the task of brushing one's teeth so wearisome that one feels the need to get a machine to do it, but then I suppose I have fairly good arm muscles, and fewer than the full adult complement of teeth (four permanent teeth removed, no wisdom teeth yet), so maybe it does get tiring, who knows.

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

Err, if you don't like it, you can surely stop using it on the grounds that you're (presumably -- don't actually know who you are) an adult, and as such you're basically in charge of what you put in your mouth.

Ah but you see, this is a present from Duncan's mother, who likes to take charge of what we ought to be doing. The point is that it cleans your teeth much much better (apparently). But the task is in fact more wearisome, for it is so horridly vibratiouis that you have to nerve yourself up to it. But do you not feel obliged to give such Christmas presents a go, at least for a week or so? Actually I haven't tried the reflective jackety thing for night cycling yet. But then I haven't cycled very far at night yet.

[j4.livejournal.com]

do you not feel obliged to give such Christmas presents a go, at least for a week or so?

Not really, no, if it was something I really didn't/couldn't use! If somebody gave me a pair of shoes that didn't fit, I wouldn't feel the need to damage my feet by wearing them for a week or so. If the giver of the gift is close enough to me that they're going to notice if I don't use it then I'm probably on good enough terms with them that I can tactfully say "It doesn't really fit / work for me / etc. but it was a really nice thought and I'm sorry I couldn't really make use of it".

To be honest, I also wouldn't have much time for in-laws who wanted to "take charge of what [I] ought to be doing" to the extent that they'd tell me how to brush my teeth.

[lnr]

I keep wondering every time I see those posters if the soundbyte about PC monitors left on is true for modern energy saving ones which power themselves down automatically. And what about LCDs?

LCDs in standby appear to use 1 - 4 watts. Overnight (16 hours) this would amount to 43 - 173 Kj of energy. Or enough to power a 900 watt microwave for 64 - 256 seconds, or 1 - 4 minutes. About enough to heat *one* microwave meal.

Still, probably worth me hitting the extra button on the front.

The biggest figure I can find for CRTs in standby is about 15 watts, which would give about 16 minutes in a 900 watt microwave. Which might *just* heat 6 small plates of spaghetti warm enough to eat. Don't forget to stir halfway through.

(Energy star list 63 CRT monitors, which use 0.6 - 11 watts in sleep mode, and 0.0 to 7 watts in standby mode. And 672 LCDs using 0 - 7 watts in sleep and 0 to 4.2 watts in standby)

Um, sorry, I got a bit carried away there.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

Yes, leaving an LCD on for a night only wastes enough electricity to microwave two cups of milk for hot chocolate, but you leave the LCD on every night, and it's an unusually miserable day if I have to have two cups of cheering hot chocolate.

[my colleagues leave all their LCDs on every night; the argument there is that this is a serviced office and turning them off would save no money, but I turn them off anyway]

[lnr]

I'm not denying it's worth it, just arguing with a poster. Of the putting on your wall type.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's definitely worth switching the things off anyway; but it also doesn't really help the environmentalists' cause if they say "Switch off yr monitor because it uses up an area of electricity the size of Wales!" and when asked "Is that true?" they have to say "Actually... no. Not really."

I mean, if I wanted a punchy slogan containing no verifiable facts I'd ask OICCU.

[pjc50.livejournal.com]

Does hitting the button on the front actually reduce the power consumption or does it stay around the 1W mark?

I miss the old days when computer PSUs had mains outputs that switched off when the PC was off. That would solve this problem nicely.

[aldabra]

OTOH, the task of getting one's small child to brush her teeth *is* so wearisome that getting her an electric toothbrush instead is life-enhancing for all concerned. Still fun several months later (though I haven't been able to bring myself to try it on MY teeth yet)...