I Don't See Much Hope

Public indifferent to green overtures at IFA fair
By Georgina Prodhan and Amanda Bensen
Mon Sep 3, 1:47 PM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - Manufacturers at Europe's biggest consumer electronics touted their green credentials in vain to customers more interested in bigger and brighter screens.

Exhibitors at IFA including Philips (PHG.AS), Sharp (6753.T) and Fujitsu-Siemens (6702.T)(SIEGn.DE) tried to entice consumers with lower power use, more environmentally friendly production methods and recyclability.

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But most visitors to whom Reuters spoke at IFA seemed uninterested or even confused when asked what importance green concerns had in their buying choices.

Richard Lee, a 35-year-old electronics engineer, shrugged when asked whether he preferred green products. "I prefer Japanese products," he said, prying the back off a high-definition TV monitor to peer at the inner components.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070903/tc_nm/electronics_fair_environment_dc;_ylt=ApOAAZxFB0ywomMIT1YHRHes0NUE

Look at places where energy costs are high. There is a direct correlation between energy cost and efficiency. As costs rise people and businesses begin to look for ways to lower costs. For example, a Prius may not make sense to someone paying $1 a gallon for gas, but let's say gas is $5 a gallon. That changes things a bit.

The reason you see so many Prius(es) in CA isn't so much because we're more environmentally aware, it's because we've been paying much higher gas prices than the rest of the country for a loooooong time.

I think the same argument holds up for other forms of energy as well. During the fake power crises we had a few summers back millions of people switched out their old incandescent bulbs for CF's. Cities switched their traffic lights for new LED models as well. Overall, we cut back energy consumption by something like 10% in a few months.

Anyway, just wanted to say that while things may look discouraging now (on a number of fronts - not just the environment) there is hope. Hang in there.

and that it doesn't happen too late.