7 Crappy Products From the Green Movement
In the good old days, consumers got what they wanted. Supply and demand governed product design and manufacturing, not causes or ideology. That’s why we have great American icons like the 1969 Chevy Camaro, the charcoal burning Weber grill, and DDT.
But things have changed. The Green Movement’s worship of scarcity has changed the consumer landscape for the worse. Instead of big, powerful, and most importantly, effective products, in 2012 consumers must suffer with pansy products. Sure, they are designed to save energy and make you feel good. But they just don’t work as well as the old, and usually cheaper, versions.
Below are seven crappy products we must endure, courtesy of the Green Movement.
1. Low Water Toilets
Any article with the headline above must start with low water toilets. Many of you will remember an age before the government decided water was scarce, when toilets could be counted on. In 1992, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, and President George Bush signed it. It mandated a maximum flush capacity for toilets. Naturally, the 1992 version of the Green Movement was behind the law, and behind the Republican sponsor – Representative Philip Sharp of Indiana. Since Bush signed Sharp’s legislation, plunger sales have sky-rocketed. Sharp’s bad idea has caused some of the most embarrassing moments of people’s lives, especially when they are visiting someone else’s home.
Beware, the freaks next want to eliminate water in your toilet, as well as toilet paper.
2. Mercury-Filled Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
We have learned a number of things in the last few years. First, the new environmentally friendly light bulbs, aren’t. When one breaks, mercury spills into your home environment. And even if they don’t shatter, they still spew out cancer-causing chemicals when you turn them on. They are expensive. The Green Movement tells us they last longer. Poppycock. I started writing down the installation date on the bulbs to see how long they really last. And the longevity is comparable to the old style bulbs, the ones that cost a third as much.
3. The Boeing 787
I love air travel. I flew over 110,000 real miles last year. I couldn’t wait to get on a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Not anymore. A series of mishaps has exposed a frightening problem with the plane – electrical components are catching fire. This is no ordinary glitch that Boeing can easily sort out. Boeing has introduced an entirely new design paradigm which causes the problems on the 787, a paradigm that makes the Green Movement happy. Instead of using mechanical energy to power aircraft systems, the 787 uses stored electricity. Electricity is stored in high-capacity lithium ion batteries, freeing the engines from burning fossil fuel. Boeing jettisoned efficient copper wires, replacing them with lighter aluminum wiring. At the FAA’s urging, it reduced the punch of the batteries because they were known to explode and burn – bringing down at least one 747 that carried them in cargo. The new Boeing design paradigm is a light, electrical, fuel-efficient jet that uses less energy. Sound familiar? Boeing boldly trumpets this new paradigm.
The Boeing engineers are some of the smartest people in the world. So odds are they will sort out the problem, hopefully quickly enough. Until then, I’ll ride on fuel inefficient MD-80s or 737s.
4. Front-Loading Clothes Washers
Here is the dirty secret about energy-efficient front loading clothes washers: they suck. Before I owned one, a friend warned me, “they really don’t get clothes clean.” I didn’t believe her, but she was right. Front loaders utilize a technology still used to clean clothes on the banks of the Ganges in Bangladesh – small amounts of water and soap are used to beat damp clothes on rocks. Instead of rocks, American front loaders use a rough drum. The clothes gently swirl, then rest and thump in a puddle of soapy water. Sure they use less energy, but who cares when clothes stay dirty? And the mandatory “HE” detergent you must buy also costs more. The Green Movement hated the top loaders that cleaned clothes efficiently. In those good old days, clothes sat submerged in several gallons of water filled with detergent. Lots of electricity agitated the clothes to pure, clean beauty. So don’t be fooled by the neighbor or salesman who tells you front loaders are the way to go. Get yourself a big, wasteful, but effective top-loader before the government bans them.
5. The Chevy Volt
What can be said about the Chevy Volt that hasn’t already been said? Just remember back to that first perplexing moment when you learned that this electric car actually had a gasoline engine. Huh?
6. Highly Collapsible Water Bottle
The bottled water industry is feeling the heat from the Green Movement. A nutty documentary called Tapped argues that bottled water is unsafe and environmentally insensitive. Congress even held hearings on bottled water at the behest of the Green Movement. The bottled water companies think they can buy peace by going green. Think again.
Companies like Deer Park have come out with a flimsy, pansy Eco bottle that crushes in your hand like the Hulk would smash a VW Beetle. The “Green Eco-Shape” bottle by Deer Park, boasts it is the “lightest half-liter bottle” on the market. It’s also the most annoying because it spills all over when you open it. It also collapses when you drink from it. Like so many in industry, Deer Park believes that the Green Movement will leave them alone if they make small capitulations. It won’t happen. The Green Movement will continue to demand and devour until bottled water companies vanish from the landscape. That’s what the Green Movement is all about – eliminating consumer products which do not comport with their theology of scarcity and simplicity.
7. Quiet High-Efficiency Dishwashers
The reason new high-efficiency dishwashers are so quiet is that they don’t clean dishes. Like the ineffective front-loading clothes washer, saving energy and water is more important to the Green Movement than clean dishes. Try opening one of these quiet dishwashers mid-cycle and take a peek at what is going on. Compare it to your old dishwashers. New high efficiency washers use less water, gently and quietly squirted, over the course of sometimes six quiet hours. Open up your old dishwasher and it was aqua-violence. Blasts of hot, steaming water, noise, and energy-devouring mayhem got dishes clean. The new quiet energy efficient dishwashers, like the new water-efficient toilets, sometimes require a second cycle.
The Green Movement deserves most of the blame for bringing us these products that make life worse. But so do the Republicans and captains of industry who think capitulation to the environmental Left buys them peace. Fred Upton hasn’t earned their friendship because he brought us compact fluorescent bulbs. The anti-bottled water movement still has Deer Park in their cross-hairs, despite their awful eco-bottle. The Green Movement knows no compromise, until such time as toilets are not only smaller, but also lack water, or even go away. Theirs is a substitute theology, intolerant and primitive.
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Related at PJ Lifestyle from Walter Hudson:
Are You Grateful for the Products That Make Your Life Better?
6 Green Lies Threatening to Starve You
More at PJ Lifestyle from J. Christian Adams:
With all due respect, your Chevy Volt comment shows a lack of objective judgement of a new technology. These are facts:
1. The Chevy Volt is a product of the “George W Bush $7500 EV Tax Credit of 2007.” The car was launched nationally on 11.01.2011, a full four years later.
The purpose of the car is much more a product of reducing dependence on foreign oil and creating a new market segment than reducing greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The Champion of the Volt was conservative, loyal Republican, Robert Lutz, who does not even think that humans have caused global warming.
2. Despite the unprecedented campaign against it, the Chevy Volt is outselling almost 1/2 of the cars on the market… Including the Escalade and the Corvette.
Its first full year reaped higher revenue ($1,000,000,000… nine zeros, not a typo) than year one of the Toyota Prius. The Prius which was mocked for years, is now a cash cow and the #3 selling nameplate worldwide. Not a bad template to follow.
3. The Chevy Volt is #1 in Customer Satisfaction for its segment for BOTH JD Powers and Consumer Reports. Its 92% “buy again” rating is the highest of ANY car, regardless of class or price. Can you name any other
4. GM reported selling over 1M cars over 30MPG. Technology of the Volt has clearly been leveraged in products such as the eAssist which has boosted MPG in large, high volume cars by 35% in one year. Derivative technologies of the Volt are likely to generate another $5,000,000,000/year in revenue for GM.
5. Because it has a gasoline generator, the car can go 360 miles without stopping, but still get over 120MPG for the average driver. It also gets 273ft-lbs of instant torque and a top speed of 100MPH. Number of other cars that can match those stats: 0. There are absolutely no compromises by getting a Volt, unlike a gasoline engine car (frequent, costly visits to the pump) or an typical EV (limited range, poor performance).
Regular PJ readers… on your mark, get set…
Ooooh 273 ft lbs of torque..
No compromises in getting a Chevy Volt? Capitulate to the evil that has taken over our country, that has taken money from me to give to union (thugs) to get paid for doing nothing, to lay off non-union middle management and to cause dealers to sell off (I know one of these fine folks who had a Caddy dealership.)
100 mph in a volt? You, my friend, are full of baloney. You are a huckster.
Where to start: ridiculous price bracket; huge battery packs are an incredible pollution nightmare, both in the mining and production of materials, manufacture and especially disposal; said battery pack will fail sooner or later, incurring about $6K to replace at a time in the life of the vehicle that will give it an intense negative ROI or resale value. (Recent article in PJM re: no resale value on volts) Instant candidate for Cash for Clunkers, the Hybrid Version.
COLD WEATHER: electrics s l o w d o w n i n f r i d g i d temps, battery life gets short… who do you know wants to have a vehicle that does that.
I heard that a regular gas powered vehicle, allowed to sit for hundreds of years “at the end of civilization” will create a little lode of iron oxide and the oils and fuels will be broken down by the environment: a Prius or Volt will still leave a puddle of highly toxic heavy-metal sludge from it’s massive battery. (But without the catchy licks, questionable lyrics and crazy groupies)
Even I thought the Volt was all-electric for many months before I saw an extensive advertorial on a “How it’s Made” show. I think there was much purposeful misinformation.
The progressives want us to think the laws of physics can be disobeyed as easily as the constitution.
CHEVY and GM now remind me of everything that is wrong with our current governances.
Dark Cutter
Good one, Bobbleheadguru. very smooth. You had me going for a minute. An accomplished parody. Thanks!
I’m still laughing . . .
Dark Cutter, your piece is terrific, too!
Are you both one and the same maybe . . . ?
I have some sad news for you concerning #4:
The ban has happened — while new top-loaders are in appearance the same as those you remember, the water capacity of the tub is greatly reduced, as is the cleaning performance. I naively purchased a brand-new top-loader recently, and am quite happy that I was able to unload it and replace it with a 20-year old machine that actually cleans clothes. Running it with reduced-size loads and elevated water levels also worked, but sometimes I like to launder something like a king-size duvet cover.
Also, concerning both #4 and #7, I wonder if your complaints have more to do with the reformulation of the detergents than with the performance of the machines.
My repairman today (another visit while on warranty) said my old washer fills with about 30 gallons of water, the new ones with 3 to 7! I am keeping it until I die and then bequeathing it to a lucky heir.
He said the companies are ORDERED to comply with water and energy standards set by the government. They hate it because customers are complaining and suing, and it’s an engineering impossibility to accomplish. When mine goes off warranty, I’m doing my own damn dishes, as are my friends. Will Obama bail out an industry he helped destroy UAW?
Please, someone needs to write a book, “How the EPA Ruined the Appliance Industry and Is Trying to Ruin the Auto Industry.”
Sorry Christian. I’ve used front loaders for years including a now 60 year old GE. They get clothes cleaner than top loaders and don’t ruin the clothes. Gotcha!
If you are using a 60 year old front loader, you don’t know what I am writing about.
Great article. My simple rule is: Everything the government touches turns to sh!%.
I will tell you that front loading machines have been around for a long time in Europe (Miele and Bosch brands). Having owned one myself for the past 12 years I can tell you they are very effective at cleaning clothes (I don’t care if they are more water efficient, but great if they are).
There is a difference between the old front loaders and the modern ones.
Mr. Adams,
Fred Upton’s grandfather founded Whirlpool, so my bet is the same bill that produced the mercury lightbulbs had goodies in the form of tax credits for his family company. So he benefited from the front-loading washers AND the weaker dishwashers, making him 3 for 7 on your list. He does have a hot niece, though.
The clothes washer complaint probably has a much to do with the dramatic reduction/banning of phosphates in detergent as it does the water reduction. You left phosphates off your list.
I have tampered with the governor on my washer to put more water into the front-loading system. I’d tell you how but then I might get into trouble with your great friend Mr. Eric Holder. Good piece–thanks.
Boeing engineers aimed for light weight and energy efficiency in designing the 787 just to please the Greens? The way that the price of oil has settled at or just above $100 per barrel had nothing to do with that, of course! What a weak argument.
Pay attention to the marketing my friend. “Lower emmissions” has nothing to do with the price of oil. You dropped the word “just” in your comment. The article said no such thing. If you dispute that they aren’t trying to make the Greens happy in part, then you aren’t reading their website and marketing.
I agree with most of your article, but I have to take issue with your call on front-loading high-efficiency washers. I’ve owned a Samsung front load washer and dryer set for about 3 years now, and I find it does an excellent job. Mine were toward the cheaper end of the available models. I’m a mechanic, so I often have some pretty filthy laundry, and I find my new washer has done a much better job than any of the older ones I’ve used. Maybe it has to do with the manufacturer or model?
Re: dishwashers
Another reasons ALL dishwashers suck nowadays is that the use of phosphates in detergent has been mostly regulated out of existence. None of the substitutes are worth a plug nickel compared to the old phosphate variety. What makes it even more galling is that the vast majority of phosphate water “pollution” is due to agricultural fertilizer use (not banned). Banning effective dishwasher detergent addressed maybe 0.5% of the hypothetical “problem”. Thanks a lot, environmentalists.
“The reason new high-efficiency dishwashers are so quiet is that they don’t clean dishes.”
THANK YOU for writing about this! My new dishwasher has had major repairs 3 times already in the first six months and does not clean the dishes. My new range already has bad burners (pilot lights are evil) and my furnace blows cold air for a minute before it heats up (again, pilot lights are evil). The repairman says the computer consoles are just toys that fool the govt into giving them a Energy Star rating. I’m keeping my old washing machine for the rest of my life!
Don’t forget the burst water mains in L.A. because of conservation. Everyone turned on their sprinklers at 6 p.m. and busted them. And the sewers that are deteriorating b/c low flow toilets don’t wash the waste away as well.
You being very anecdotal, and I don’t know why your experience should be more “pertinent” than anybody else’s. I put compact florescents into a house moved into five years ago, and they’re all still burning.
As to the rest of it, I’ve been making some sad observations. Americans is spoiled. Americans don’t want to 1) pay attention and 2) exert themselves, either intellectually or physically, at all, in any way.
Nobody needs a dishwasher, and them as insist that they do, are going to be completely traumatized by the composting toilet. But the way things are going, i.e., if your three kids have three kids, you will live to see it.
Chortle.
Ah! A malthusian comes to PJ from the Church of Scarcity.