American's energy gluttony extends to homes

[Mentalic]

Originally Posted by Snax

That's a front loader too isn't it?

It irks me that most of the emphasis on the energy efficient washers centers around them being front loading when the reality is that spin speed is probably the most important factor to saving energy. Sure, a front loader may save several gallons of hot water, but my dryer running for 20-30 minutes vs. 40-60 would certainly save allot more.

I've read nothing but good stuff about the F&P stuff FWIW.

Its a Top loader.

[Snax]

Originally Posted by Mentalic

Its a Top loader.

Oops, that's actually what I meant to say. :P

Awhile back, we were looking at the F&P vs. the Kenmore Oasis top loaders. Ultimately we decided that on a cost basis, it would take a minimum of 5 years for a new washer to payback the added cost - particularly since our current top-loader still works just fine and we line dry half of the time anyway.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by Snax

Nice find Jim.

From the CSM: "One 50-inch plasma high-definition TV (HDTV) was estimated to use 679 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. A 32-inch liquid-crystal display with HDTV capability was pegged at 387 kWh per year. By contrast, an older analog 34-inch TV was estimated to use just 209 kWh per year, NRDC tests found."

Looks like I got the part about CRTs totally wrong! The Cnet review is very enlightening however. Obviously there are huge dispartities in how much a TV uses while on and off. Seems to me that a person would be well advised to bring a watt meter along while shopping.

that may be true about crt,s but think about this: they heat up like a mofo and can turn a cool room hot in a few hours. good in the winter, but bad in the summer. not to mention big, heavy, and isnt the best picture quality.

[Danronian]

I used to live in a suburban-rural area of SE PA. There we used many lights in each room, washed dishes in the dish washer, and dried the majority of the clothing in the drier. Right now I live in Colombia...what a difference in how power is used here.

The majority of houses here have many windows, and very few lights. To make the light of the few light bulbs in the houses here (the ones I've been in are comparable to middle and upper class homes in the US) project farther, they use mostly the florescent screw in bulbs, along with no covers on them.

Even the school I will be working at has very few lights (one of the nicest school in the country), and utilizes natural light for almost every room.

Here people use clothing lines to dry all of their clothing, and dish washers are pretty much unheard of.

The small amount of energy used here must be so different from the average middle class home in the US.

One might simply chalk this up to people in Colombia not having the same things as people in the US, but actually, this is not the case. You can buy electric washing machines for dishes, driers, and elaborate and inefficient hanging lights, but very few people here do. They seem to be born with the idea that they shouldn't use so much electricity in their homes.

Not entirely relevant to this thread, but I thought it is interesting when I thought about applying America's power obsession to this Latin American country.

[GasSavers_roadrunner]

"One might simply chalk this up to people in Colombia not having the same things as people in the US, but actually, this is not the case. You can buy electric washing machines for dishes, driers, and elaborate and inefficient hanging lights, but very few people here do. They seem to be born with the idea that they shouldn't use so much electricity in their homes."

Whoa! Will we ever change in the United States? I doubt it!
Most people in the U.S. don't care, and I really doubt they will ever.

[VetteOwner]

well i think alot of our fancy lighting and lighting uses is moe of a "im better than you" type of thing. it goes along with the old saying: keeping up with the jones. so whoever uses the most lights in the artsy fartsy way "wins" and makes them feel better than the people around them. lol we haev those twisty bulbs in every possible light socket we have. its REALLY nice not havign to replace my ceiling fans lightbulb every 2 months cuz the vibration would blow the bulb... i havent changed it in over 2 years!