apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What do I think? I think I moved to California (and away again) with an enormous HD CRT that I bought in 2004. I don't plan to own another television until this one burns out and dies. Is my TV an eyesore? You bet. Is it impossible for me to lift alone? Yup. Is it a "vampire electronic," always plugged in, always leeching a little bit of electricity even while it's off? Yes, it is. Is it any worse for the environment than any other TV? Give me a break.

Cash for Clunkers' primary goal isn't green living, remember. It's to stimulate the economy. The greenest thing you can do is not buy anything.

What is considered a large LCD? I thought LCD's used less power than CRT's, I could be wrong. Plasmas are dying off by themselves.

what's with those being the only 2 choices in the poll? No where does it say anything about jobs, then the option is about how saving electricity doesn't outweigh people losing their jobs...

how about the option of "i am my own person and i will do what i want"

i mean come on, we're not telling car companies they can't make the giant gas guzzling trucks and suvs (how about motorhomes...), they gave people a chance to trade things in and get something else.

what would they limit next? How about the people with fridges that are just are way too big. The people with a second freezer out in their garage. Beer fridges. I mean come on...

You should check out http://www.casmartenergy.com for more information on what these regulations would do in California.

The next measure's rolling blackouts and gas-gallon limits for everyone except huge corporations. lol

"The benefits don't outweigh the losses of jobs."

Huh? What jobs?
Nearly all TV's are made in China and Taiwan these days - so selling more TV's doesn't impact very many US jobs, and just leads to more landfill or illegal exports of e-Waste.

http://www.recyclingbizz.com/glass/LA848672.html

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2008-12-29-environmental-toxic-waste-watchdogs_n.htm

...or do you mean the jobs of the kids who used to work at Circuit City selling broken TV's and extended service warranties for $15/ hour?

wha? How about focusing on their other problems first?

Srsly after paying 3000 bucks for one of those wonderful monstrosities, I doubt they'd care for 30 bucks a month. lol

sorry, A YEAR!

I think its sad that people don't realize that we are in the middle of an energy crisis. Every little unnecessary, energy-sucking equipment that we cling to leaches energy. It may not seem like a problem now but in 20 years when gas is $100 a gallon and electric eats up 90 percent of the pay check then maybe we will understand.

We can't afford to keep doing what we want just because it's the American way. Living without thought for the future of our children or the Earth is a sad testament to the things we value and the things we refuse to "sacrifice" to ensure a better future for all.

P.s. $30 bucks a TV can significantly reduce overall energy needs when you think about the fact that most homes have a TV in every room. Multiply that by millions of homes to see the real advantage to a bill like this.

How nice for the goverment to use any excuse to get more control even is the small pleasures in life.

This is beyond stupid. We should instead require everyone to fart into a plastic baggie and seal it up real fast lest the methane gets into the atmosphere. Remember, methane is 20 times more potent than CO2 in its greenhouse impact! Better yet, we should connect everyone's rear to their nostrils via a tube so that they be required to inhale all the methane they produce. Now that's what I call sustainability!

wow, a lot of defensive comments here, masquerading under the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness theme.
What's the matter?

As a non-tv watcher, I'm off to polish my halo of virtue.

This all just seems to be a bit of posturing. LED TV's are coming on the market now at the same pricepoint LCD's were selling at 3 years ago. This transition is already happening without government action.

And why would you pass a law that might make the resale of existing televisions illegal. It's just going to end up as pricey landfill junk if the well heeled owner of an lcd decides to upgrade but isn't allowed to sell his current tv because it doesn't meet standards.

Our state is facing massive deficits. We really can't afford to spend the money posturing with little or no net improvement. The money allocated to enforce this law should be redirected towards helping homes, businesses, and the state transition to renewable energy sources.

OK, all you green people. Really. I'm a biology major and now I'm a science teacher. This kind of thing drives me cuh-razy. You need to add this to your mantra:

USING OLD STUFF requires less energy and releases less toxic gunk into the environment than MAKING NEW STUFF.

Making new stuff requires energy use during the entire process: mining, extracting, melting, pouring, shaping, molding, shipping, storage, etc., etc., etc..

Making new stuff requires us to use all the copper, iron, aluminum, steel, silicon, glass, plastic, and rubber that will go into the new stuff. (Not to mention arsenic, mercury, and heaven knows what else.)

Making new stuff requires that people take their old, presently-useful, non-biodegradable giant plasma TVs and dump them into the environment.

Using old stuff - clunker cars or clunker TVs - is the best thing for the environment. The stuff is already HERE. It's done most of its damage to the Earth during its early production. Dumping it requires us to produce new stuff that will do similar damage to the Earth.

If you don't look at that, you're not really working to save the Earth - you're looking for an excuse to still keep up with the Joneses while feeling good about your greenness.

This kind of legislation is good for the car companies and the TV manufacturers - who are, indeed, largely based in Asia now! - not for the planet.

Use it up, wear it out. Make it do or do without. That's an old depression saying, and it would be perhaps the best "green" saying we could adopt.

The greens need to understand they can't have it all. The movement will either be widely accessible made easy and neutered or it will remain exclusionary and relegated to the fringes of the population who are willing to change their lives for an impossible ideal.

Once you go into a home or fuck with television you make enemies out of a lot of people.

tpgirl: i'd like to think that in 20 years, solar panels will be a bit more affordable, and even rental units will adopt them :)