I found this pretty cool website while I was researching called www.greeneggsandplanet.com which is actually something very similar to this blog here. People go on there and blog about anything "green" so I advise you to check it out.
Anyways, I found a video on this site about a man who's house is completely disconnected from electricity and is powered by solar power only. We've all heard of this kind of house, but as I watched in amazement I realized this kind of house has to be way more expensive then normal. In fact the man had to receive grants in order to pay for it all.There is so much technology going into it, his whole garage wall is covered in monitors and weird boxes that come in fours. There are about 8 huge containers outside of his house which contain all the energy. Now let's all think, what if every house had all this stuff added to it? No wonder it's so hard for people to change! We are comfortable paying what we pay without all the extra work of checking monitors regularly and having our whole front yards looking like a space station.
Here is the video.
What do you think? Does going "green" ultimately mean losing "green"??
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2 comments:
Great point Tyler! I totally understand what you're getting at in this post. I actually did my midterm on the concept of the world going green only if it is profitable and I know that selling the whole green thing is very difficult, especially now, when we're in such a depressed economy.
That being said, I did uncover some research that stated that, despite the slumping economy, the company Clorox, which makes household cleaning supplies, actually beat its net profit from 2007 by 15% due to the launch of their new "green" products line. Also, I think that we have to remember that this is a very drastic (but very effective too) step to save the environment and that really, most people just need to get in the habit of buying less disposable merchandise, consuming more fair trade and organic products, and recycling more and our world will be so much better. Obviously it would be great if we all could convert our living spaces into closed loop stable-state systems, but pragmatically speaking, there are much simpler exchanges we can make.
So yeah, green products and going green usually does cost money, but for most people, that doesn't require grants or high tech gizmos.
An even less extreme than a complete remodel of our houses, would be to start by buying a hybrid vehicle. Unfortunately, people are even worried about how much a hybrid will cost compared to a regular car. A hybrid will cost $3,000-$6,000 more than a conventional vehicle. However, one must consider what the $3000 is up against! Hybrids provide the chance for a drastically significant decrease in the pollution of our environment as with no tailpipe emissions, these vehicles can be up to 99 percent cleaner than gasoline vehicles, even when power plant emissions are included. Fueled by renewable power, battery electrics are truly zero-polluting. When emissions or tailpipe emissions are mentioned in a discussion about cars, the terms refer to the gases released by the burning of gasoline that pollute the atmosphere. These gases are Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides, and Hydrocarbons. These gases, commonly referred to as greenhouse gases, are of particular concern, because of their effect on the earth's climate by trapping heat in the atmosphere that would normally be deflected back to space. Generally, hybrid cars produce 80% less harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases than comparable gasoline cars. So, if we look at the big picture, opposed to the extra $3000, how much is the security of our planet really worth? In my opinion, priceless.
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