You do realise that the colossal waste and landfill generated by disposing of perfectly servicable goods is doing far more damage to the planet than the miniscule additional power consumption ever will, right?
All the mining, smelting, manufacture, shipping and packaging is extraordinary. And usually with toxic chemicals/elements too.
And the expense generated is creating payback periods exceeding any reasonable life of the product.
My HVAC system was at the end of its life cycle. The AC units and my main furnace were becoming problematic. The materials were recycled.
Now my new system is not just reliable and a lot more efficient, but it is QUIET !!!! The blowers and compressors are variable speed. You can't hear the AC units outside unless you are very close to them and I almost never hear my blowers. They are frequently running very efficiently at low rpms.
For lighting incandescent bulbs have a fairly short lifespan. LED bulbs are forever in many applications. In addition in my office I have changed to brighter Daylight bulbs.
Also in my theater room the dimmable bulbs are now silent where the incandescent bulbs made noise.
So I've reduced the time to deal with the maintenance of replacing bulbs and the inconvenience of dealing with my furnace or AC being down. Last year my main furnace went out 4 times!
The Refrigerator in the basement is probably costing me an extra $150 a year in electricity, but it is perfectly servicable. I wasn't planning to put it in the land fill. I was planning to find a home for it.
The same goes for my spare 24" 1920x1200 monitors. I'll find a tech guy who will give them a good home.
BTW I did the math and my LED lighting breaks even in 6 years well before the end of life. My HVAC system may not pay for itself, but I needed to buy a new one anyway and I paid a little more to not waste energy.
I understand your points though and there are many decisions made in the name of being eco-friendly that taken as a whole basically backfire.
FYI, the new refrigerator in my basement would pay for itself in about 3.5 years and as long as I give it a new home instead of putting it in the landfill, I don't think there is any harm done.
So what are your thought on replacing carpets in 80% of my home with hardwood or engineered hardwood flooring. Does the permanence of hardwood offset needing to tear the carpet up and replace it periodically? BTW I have 4 cats who are helping to wear the carpet out pretty quickly.
