Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
Yes, that is what I am asking you to do. You're the one that said it has lasted so long that it is still working. So, how long are we talking here. I can't believe you are so stuck on one insignificant example as a reason why people shouldn't be given an incentive to do the right thing.
You really can't spend $1.64 for a light bulb? Are we really arguing over that? Tell you what, send me your paypal account id and I will pay pal you the $2. Then we can move onto something important.
BOb
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The price of that bulb is not what
I'm arguing about (can't speak for you, obviously). I'm arguing that it makes more sense for me to upgrade bulbs I actually use with some frequency first. Not to mention the larger (in both cost and benefit) upgrades that would make even more difference than switching the less-used bulbs in my house to CFL (since we've long ago switched all the high-use bulbs). Our old fridge is the #1 electricity hog in the house. If I believe the info plate on the back it represents between 1/3 and 1/2 of my electric bill. It's clearly time to take some action!
One of the points I've been trying to make is that prices make a fine guide to priorities for upgrades -- and "taxing the heck" out of one variety of bulb only confuses the issue by adding noise to the signal. (OK, bad analogy -- it's not really noise, it's really a bias added to the signal.) As with most broad changes, that bias would push us towards both smart choices and stupid ones. We could argue over which kind of choice would predominate... but I'd prefer to suggest that educating people about making smarter choices would have FAR greater benefit than would biasing their choice of lightbulbs. And
that's is really the big point I've been trying to make!
I've had the experience of helping a low-income inner city family figure out whether they should buy CFLs or incandescents. When you point out that using the cheapest up-front cost bulbs (incandescents) in the lights they use all the time means that they send an extra $20 or $30 to the electric company every month, you really get their attention! That money represents a large enough fraction of their spare income to
really matter! The time I did the calculation with one of my wife's students, they immediately started looking to see where else they were unwittingly wasting money. Those of you who care primarily about the non-financial kind of green will be glad to hear that they went on to estimate the savings they'd get by turning down the heat in the winter, and by air-conditioning a bit less in the summer. By the time that particular student finished up her GED, the family had sliced well over $100/month out of their energy bills with no significant downside -- but that $100/month made a HUGE difference for a family who were financially on the edge.
And my wife was nearly walking on air the day her student came in and told her she'd figured out that they shouldn't put a CFL in the storage closet (because having the extra $4 for food
now mattered more than the savings they'd get over the next 10 years) but that switching to CFLs for the hallway lights would pay off soon enough to put one more (small) gift under the Christmas tree.
The big miracle here is that this woman realized that she could use math to make better life decisions. And that it wasn't too late for her kids to get their act in gear while still in school.
Getting the change to happen through education might be (heck, probably will be!) a bit harder than doing it through taxes or legislation --
but the benefits that it brings spill over throughout the lives of the people who learn.
Xenophon