As many people start to wind down their holidays, we wanted to share a comic strip cartoon from our friends at Apogee.
We hope everyone has had a great holiday season and look forward to more blogging in 2009!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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4 comments:
Oh the irony... I can't really laugh all that much though, because although I have been using CFL lights for quite some time, however, there are two new flat screens in my home this Christmas.
I'm getting a mixed message here...
Is it useless for me to purchase and use CFL lights if I have also have one or two large size flat screen TVs??? I would think that this cartoon's message is contrary to the intent of this blog...shouldn't we still use CFL lights b/c every little bit helps?
Also, is it the expectation of environmentalists that we NOT purchase / use flat screens?
This cartoon depicts how being conscious of energy and conservation is key. Using CFLs certainly is a great way to conserve energy. But thinking that CFLs alone will help, after you install a flat screen TV, cannot be the case. There is no harm in installing any electronic of your choice. Just know that as you do, there is additional 'plug load' being added to your home. So conserving energy will have to come in other forms (like adjusting thermostat or weatherizing home).
I respectfully disagree with your interpretation of the cartoon. I think that it is making a rather sarcastic statement about the folly of using CFL bulbs to save money (and by the logic of this blog – the environment) while one continues to hog electricity using unnecessarily large TVs (hence the depiction of 50” and 40” flat screens) and also “wasting” electricity using Xmas lights. You cannot tell me that somehow implicit in this cartoon is a statement about winterization of one’s home and proper adjustment of the thermostat. Again, I think the cartoon is intended to be a negative, sarcastic depiction of those who foolishly think they are making a difference.
In this case, however, I don’t understand the “attack” on flat screen TVs. Certainly they use less electricity than old CRT TVs, right? Also, there are no alternative TVs on the market that really promise to reduce electricity costs – I understand that you can compare electrical usage of certain brands, but I’ve yet to see any sort of TV claim to be like the “hybrid car” of TVs (or some "Green" TV). I am left to conclude that the statement made is that we, as Americans, with our huge flat screens and our time-honored tradition of Xmas lights to celebrate the holidays are foolish because we do these things by the light of CFL bulbs.
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