Frugality and Going Green. Not if you're Arnold Schwarzenegger!

[Lisa23]

I've been reading a lot on responsible living for a healthier planet, and trying to incorporate a lot of "green" practices in my day to day life. Most of these are frugal friendly. By setting my thermostat a few degrees lower for example, I not only use less fossil fuels, I save a few bucks. The thing that I find difficult is all the fancy gadgets out now. They're expensive! If you're rich it's one thing, but really, they need to get the prices down. It should be less expensive to not pollute not less expensive to pollute! Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. of California (and my fav republican!) Is working on this. He believes we shouldn't have to give up our jacuzzis and hummers, we should just improve the technology so that we aren't ruining the planet any more. As more people adopt the new technology, the cost will eventually come down.

I like the way he thinks! But I'm curious to know what others think about this topic.

PS If you would like to read more about Arnold and the environment, click here

[starshard0]

I for one beleive that by improving the technology of going green we can actually improve our overall standard of living. After all, no one likes breathing in those icky pollutants belched out by cars. Of course it won't be cheap (new technology never is), but surely it will be worth it.

[lucille]

certain things technology wise need to come down in cost so more people can adopt them. Decent electric or hybrid cars, thin film solar panels and urban wind technology come to mind. Something else I noticed was that the energy star appliances now cost quite a bit more than all of the non energy star versions. If the US would force energy star minimums as the minimum they can sell here you would see energy star appliances at those lower price points.

[starshard0]

Originally Posted by lucille

certain things technology wise need to come down in cost so more people can adopt them. Decent electric or hybrid cars, thin film solar panels and urban wind technology come to mind. Something else I noticed was that the energy star appliances now cost quite a bit more than all of the non energy star versions. If the US would force energy star minimums as the minimum they can sell here you would see energy star appliances at those lower price points.

I don't think forcing energy star minimums would lower the price, just force people to pay more to get the minimum.

[Lisa23]

I agree- it seems like labeling anything energy efficient, "green" or organic, you're going to pay premium, whether it costs the company more or not to make it.

[starshard0]

Exactly, until environmental conservation becomes completely mainstream, it makes sense that there will always be a premium.

[lucille]

Originally Posted by starshard0

I don't think forcing energy star minimums would lower the price, just force people to pay more to get the minimum.

The price point for energy star compliant appliances suddenly went up when "green" became the new fad. So there is some artificial inflation that has already happened.
Appliance companies want to sell at multiple price points. If forced to they will put out compliant appliances in the lower price points. 75% of the mainstream appliances used to be energy star labeled in the late 90's. Now it is about 30% of what you find at the big box stores. There is some pretty clear price manipulation.

[purplefdu]

I agree, we have several appliances that were the "low end" appliance when we bought them that are energy star by chance, where now if we were to replace them it might be or might not be. Technology needs to come down in price but there has become a steep curve to getting environmentally friendly and energy efficient things based on as prices and increased living costs. Once we come out the back end of things perhaps they will smooth out and we will go through an enlightenment phase (one can hope) where our standards are re-adjusted but I'm not counting on it.

[Lisa23]

some day maybe it will be less expensive to not pollute then to pollute. Right now, it's backwards!

[Megan]

I think that a combination of improved technology and voluntary reduction is really the best way to save the Earth. There are people who will never give up their Hummers, no matter what. They love those cars. However, if it becomes a status symbol to not only have the latest H3, but an H3 that's got a 50% pollution reduction, well you can bet that there will be a number of people driving those.

I know two different people who bought hybrids not because they wanted to do something good for the environment, but because it was the cool thing to do. While I think that's stupid, in the end, it was something good for the environment, so it's still not a bad thing.