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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Macro micro and something in between.
Let's stop the bleeding AND stop the violence. I think the
question that has been raised is if stopping the bleeding is
perpetuating the violence -- sorry, loaded analogy, how about food
banks, or appliances. Without the very impressive efficiency gains
in appliances, our comparatively slowly rising household energy
consumption would have been through the roof. Are we better off
for what that efficiency has enabled, or rather what we have done
with that efficiency? Whether or not we believe in that
Armageddon? [these are actually questions not just rhetoric on my
part] <br>
<br>
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Sounds like a classic "the perfect is the enemy of the good"<br>
Eg Since hanging clothes outside to dry is perfect all efficient
clothes driers are bad and should not be encouraged. <br>
<br>
When and if (big if) outside forces make the 90 million driers
"non viable" we won't have to tell people to somehow dry their
clothes outside. On the other hand, while we wait for this
Armageddon to come, having efficient clothes driers (like the
Danes and Japanese) that use 1/4 as much energy per load would be
better than not having these. <br>
Seems to me people survived $4 gas, and folks in Europe live well
with $8 gas, so there may be a bit of life left in the system that
makes people want the convenience of clothes driers. <br>
I am not an apologist for the fuels we burn and how many we do,
but I am a realist about what makes a substantive difference.
Increased standards for appliances (which start with Energy Star)
have saved a huge amount in the last 20 years or so. <br>
<br>
<div>Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell
network.<br>
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau
de Bell.</div>
<hr>
<div><b>From: </b> Reuben Deumling <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:9watts@gmail.com"><9watts@gmail.com></a>
</div>
<div><b>Sender: </b>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">"greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org"</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org"><greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org></a>
</div>
<div><b>Date: </b>Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:38:46 +0000</div>
<div><b>To: </b>Green
Building<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org"><greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org></a></div>
<div><b>ReplyTo: </b> Green Building
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org"><greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org></a>
</div>
<div><b>Subject: </b>Re: [Greenbuilding] ENERGY STAR Clothes
Dryers Program Launch</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 5:36 AM, Paul
Eldridge <span dir="ltr">
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:paul.eldridge@ns.sympatico.ca" target="_blank">paul.eldridge@ns.sympatico.ca</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
There are roughly 90 million tumble dryers in the United
States alone and no matter how much we collectively hold our
breath and stomp our feet (or pontificate), they're not going
to magically disappear.<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
This is the kind of argument I hear in discussions of when
cars may no longer be ubiquitous. Invariably someone will say
'You're trying to take my car away!' These kinds of
statements betray an understandable anxiety about the kinds of
changes that might be afoot, but also a misunderstanding of
who's in charge. I'm not trying to take anyone's car or
clothes dryer away. Personalizing this is absurd. The people
who argue that we can't afford clothes dryers powered by
fossil fuel or the grid, or that cars have no future aren't
saying this because they want to ruin other people's fun or
convenience. I believe we say this because it is our best
guess as to what will come to pass, whether we want it or not.
Pretending that this doesn't concern us, that consumers rule,
that we're somehow exempt from all the limits others take
seriously is ridiculous. In the US we have gotten used to
thinking we're in charge, that if we want clothes dryers well
then we're damn well going to get (to keep our) clothes
dryers. But what if one day we discover that we no longer call
the shots, hold all the cards? <br>
Dryers aren't going to 'magically disappear,' but they might
cease to be viable. Public opinion I think could easily shift
when we realize the absurdity of thinking we need power plants
and a complex grid and ancient sunlight to accomplish a task
as simple as drying our clothes. <br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
According to Natural Resources Canada, electric dryers sold in
2008 consume, on average, 916 kWh a year. That number is
based on eight loads a week, which works out to be some 2.2
kWh per use. As a two person household, we typically run two
loads of laundry a week -- 229 kWh/year. A TV set-top box
(and there are reportedly 160 million of them in US
households) or digital video recorder could consume upwards of
twice that over the course of the year. Where are the
pitchforks and torches?<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
The whole thing is ridiculous. Just because we keep thinking
of new ways to use electricity doesn't mean older ways aren't
discretionary, aren't something we can un-learn.
<br>
</div>
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