Remember, reuse is better than recycle. It would sometimes cost the environment less to keep driving your current gas car till its end of life rather than buying a shiny new electric car.
Have you actually calculated this comparison in the long run? I think, it is more appropriate to say not to always get the newest tech, but just upgrade whenever it actually matters.
The bulk of the carbon footprint in electric cars comes from their manufacturing. Buy used electric cars when able. It costs you less and helps the planet more.
@@hopelesslydull7588 that is true but we do need people to buy the new electric cars so that other people can buy used electric cars, otherwise there will not be enough used electric cars and people will be forced to buy used or new gas cars.
@@paladain55 If that works for you great. My point is that for someone who is willing to buy a new electric car they should not feel that they have to buy a used electric car to save the environment and that a new electric car is also good.
You know younger than me think about climate change Nd polution a political propaganda . How to teach them ... But ur utube coment me about the opportunity to meet with aliean
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The low-flow shower head doesn't save heaps of money, but as someone living in California that actual water savings is HUGE! We're gonna have another record drought to deal with this year and every drop counts!
Yeah, get a low flow toilet and shower so that it now takes twice as long to get enough water for a shower and two to three flushes to properly clean the toilet. How about just getting a product that serves its function before going with a novelty product
@@LG123ABC not to be pessimistic but remember, you might have a lot of water now but its a resource that runs out so using it in a smart way is the way to go.
@@the.annethology water only runs out when people use it faster than it can be replenished. In some places like in the Kentucky area humans are not using water at a higher rate than it is being replenished, so low water flow attachments are not a very big deal.
While I absolutely agree 100% that personal responsibility towards climate change is important, let’s not forget that the best way to save money is through economies of scale. That means getting large corporations and governments to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to large scale, high-impact solutions to climate change. If you really care about the environment, invest just as much of your time and energy pushing for green policies as you do in personal green practices. The planet will thank you.
One of the most powerful things you can do to push green policies is to be selective about where you spend your money. Corporations and governments will follow the money.
No not really. All that happens is that companies put more effort into appearing green, whether the changes are actually green or not (and most often they are no). Also, to really make an I pact you must HAVE money in the first place. Even if you’re middle class, you purchasing choices are hardly gonna have an impact on large companies. The big money already is in the hands of large companies. They already have much more influence than any single person. And if we don’t force them to sell their products in glass bottles instead of plastic bottles for example they will never start doing that themselves
@@hannahlololo8731 Yeah that's what they want you to believe. Nothing terrifies large corporations more than people realising how much power they have just in the decisions they make about where they spend their money. Also, please take a fraction of a second to research sustainability before you comment. Using glass instead of plastic is not more sustainable. It would result in an environmental catastrophe. Broken glass, the enormous energy cost of producing and recycling it, the additional weight and space it takes to transport it, the world is already running out of sand as it is. Not a valid solution. A valid solution is choosing to buy from companies that make an effort to look after the full cradle-to-cradle lifecycle of a product, and then telling everybody you know about it to reward the brand for sustainable practices. And don't rely on advertising to tell you what is sustainable. Do some research, get informed. It's literally the bare minimum you can do, unless you're a lawyer or a good communicator, or have expertise in marketing/public relations, in which case you can use those skills to help the cause by impacting policy and people's votes more directly.
Exactly. I recently started buying some clothes in second hand shops, and I was shocked how cheap they are. I bought a pair of jeans for two euros. Sometimes the clothes still have the original sticker on them, so they weren't even worn, I guess people bought them but never used them or the shops were getting rid of old unsold clothes.
@@pyroman2918 I pretty much only buy used, thrift shops goodwill and rei. I am getting almost to new Patagonia, kuhl, mountain hardware, lululemon and so on for like a couple of bucks
I personally have a mental block against using used clothes, but I use clothes typically until they wear out and buy rarely. Thrift stores do usually help out a charity though. 😅
I invested in solar panels on my house. It was $33,000 but I have no regrets. This video pointed out all the things I really care about. Thank you for making it.
My problem is that the price of solar panels keeps going down so I'm hesitant to jump in because if I wait it might save me a lot of money. Analysis paralysis.
When you realize that 60% of the 20k solar system goes to the sales commission and installation cost, you are not getting something green, you are being ripped off. Needless to say, the efficiency of the panel is only around 25% for the average monocrystalline and 15-19% for the average polycrystalline and the headache to recycle them after 30 years of usage.
@@edwardz5975 hi edward currently i have a small off grid system solar setup that ived done myself. It already covered all my expenses in about 2 years. But i have the technical knowhow ofcourse.
I am so happy to see the return of " RUN THE NUMBERS"! Watching you guys all the time inspired my husband and I a lot. I'm 51 my husband 56 we are both retired with over $3 million in net worth and no debt. Currently living smart and frugal with our money. Saving and lnvesting lifestyle in the solar panel and watching you guys all the tim made it possible for us this early. Thanks to FIRE movement and the Two Cents too
@@victoriaglasston6320 FIRE means - Financial Independence Retire Early It's been a movement teaching people financial Independent and how to retire debt free through solid lnvestment and frugal lifestyle
Thank you so much for making a video like this! People naturally have trouble seeing our impact so far out into the future but breaking up the numbers into months and dollars really makes such a daunting mission feel more achievable. My ears perked up at the cost comparison between two jackets cause I've been attending a lot of webinars concerning fast fashion lately. An individual may be seeing a smaller price tag at check out, but the real cost comes once you follow the trail of where the shirts materials came from and who farmed it, and where it was assembled and who sewed it together. So perhaps in a way, it isn't that the shirt from the sustainable brand was more expenseive, but rather that that's the _real_ cost of making a shirt. It really forces you to cherish every little thing you own and can even test your creativity and perseverance on how to get the most out what you already have.
I'm reeling from the thought of Sam's home with 40 light bulbs on for 5 hours a day. How big is her home? How many people share it? Is she in the Arctic Circle, with low light levels? We just worked out that we might, possibly, maybe reach an equivalent of 4 bulbs for 5 hours - though not all at the same time, and less in summer! When calculating the savings on the showers, we can include the cost of the water, as our water is metered, charged by the cubic metre. (You guessed it - we're in the UK!)
My father told me of a conversation he had with a millionaire acquaintance of his several decades ago. When asked how to make money, the millionaire responded "Making millions of dollars is like breeding rabbits. It's much easier when you start with two."
@@maxwelljoshua7804 I have to make over $3 000 daily to be on the safe side to reach a million dollars a year. If I consistently hit the $3 000 mark daily, I will reach $1 0 95 000.00. But to be precise, you need to make $ 2740.00 daily.
This is a great video! In addition to what you two talked about, reducing general consumption of products will save money and reduce your emissions. Most importantly, reducing your consumption of animal products is the biggest action you can take -- and it will save money (and animals' lives)!
I'm glad you also touched on the other (more important) reasons to go green near the end. Too often people only look at the bottom line and declare something a poor investment.
@Luís Andrade Well, of course, if you can't afford it, don't. But most people I hear saying this could easily afford it but would prefer to invest in Amazon and Shell...
@Luís Andrade Yes, but I was merely talking about LED bulbs as a start. If you're in the U.S. and you "can't afford", what is now, a few dollars at Walmart to save money on electric... then you have bigger problems to solve. 😅
This was such a great video. Very balanced representation of the cost of going green. Personally, i find that some green options are unaffordable. But i try to make small changes where i can: carrying my own water rather than buying,carrying a shopping bag rather than taking plastic bags, reusing plastic packaging whenever i can.
This is honestly just the tip of the iceberg. Living a bit frugally and shopping 2nd hand for example can save hundreds or thousands pretty quickly! Eating plant based (assuming you don't shop all the expensive meat replacements) is also a great way to spend less in the store!
Agreed! Americans especially eat a LOT of meat. Even just swapping that for a plant-based meal once a week can make a huge difference for the environment and can save you a few dollars each week
We're built to eat meat and it's the healthiest food for humans. The problem is farming meat. We should be eating the billions of deer roaming wild in this country, not wasting land and resources farming meat.
Totally missed the opportunity to address Heat Pumps. AC/Heaters, and Water Heaters. This is the lowest hanging fruit out there next to LEDs for big homeowner savings and climate impact.
Recycling isn't as good as we were all told. Lots of items aren't recyclable/isnt recycled and most of this movement was created by the plastic industry. "Its okay to buy plastics and these materials bc its recyclable, buy more!" Check it out for yourself!
You two inspired and prepared me to start my small home soap business last year and make the focus something I care about. So my husband and I only use cruelty free, sustainably sourced materials and donate a part of each sale to fight climate change! Thanks Two Cents!
i am doing something similar. Not only do i want to make homemade soaps but I want to make them as cheap as possible but also high quality. I can sell homemade soaps which moisturize and make your skin baby soft and can sell them for 50 cents a bar as they cost me 33 cents to make. I like to do business like the Chinese do where I operate on a very low-profit margin.
Bidet saved a chunk when it came to toilet paper, especially when the hoarding started during the beginning of the pandemic. It may increase the water bill, but not by a lot. The heated seat version is an added benefit
A used electric car has been by far our best financial move. In 2017 we bought a 2014 Ford Focus electric for about $11000. The 70 mile range served us well in the Atlanta area, most places were about 35 miles or less from us. We paid about $25/month in charging and very little maintenance was needed. Then it became our only vehicle when we moved to CT. A year and a half in we’ve yet to find charging that costs money. Other than some wiper fluid and a set of snow tires it’s cost nothing but insurance and taxes. I didn’t realize when we bought it that it would be quite so affordable.
Yep. Got a portable air conditioner and some evaporative coolers and my electric bill never goes past $180 . Not going to lie, it's not cool but I stick my face in the portable ac for a minute and I'm good.
@@DiogenesOfCa Really? would you post some context and some evidence of that? How much debt you get into it? How much interest are you paying? Can you upload 3 bills BEFORE and AFTER installation and share the links so we can see them?
Thanks for the video 2 cents! I was surprised by how significant switching to LEDs can be! I would love to see a "part 2" to this video with even more eco-friendly money-saving thoughts!
Some other going green choices that can save you money includes buying smaller homes. Having a smaller home will save you money in heating or cooling costs, since you have a smaller space to heat/cool.
Issue is most municipalities have minimum square footage requirements for new residential construction. Tiny houses aren’t on trailers just for portability.
I promise myself that once I save 100,000 PHP (2000 USD) I will buy myself a bike. Last week I reached my goal and now I am looking at models and types of bikes. This video cemented my belief that riding my bike instead of public transportation will save me money, especially on short commutes
I replaced every bulb in my house (about 35 bulbs) with LED bulbs for about $40 total. I used a combination of sales, rebates, etc. It lowered my electric bill by about $20 a month.
It's great if someone wants to go green in order to help the environment but this job should really fall on the policymakers. It's not our job as everyday people to save the environment and the only way the environment can really be saved is through drastic changes in the way we run our society brought about by policy makers.
True, it's not our job but consumers have the biggest impact on companies. If no one buys an environmentally bad product because they care about being green then the company has to change in order to keep the business afloat.
@@AtoZcrap That's the point though "if everyone". Not everyone can go green. Not everyone has the upfront cost for the measures discussed in this video. A lot of people barely scrape by and we are going to ask them to "go green". The best thing that every citizen of the country can do is to exercise their voting rights and vote for a government that cares for the environment.
@@Chrissy3615 you are absolutely right. But not buying unnecessary stuff, shopping 2nd hand, reusing and living frugally is totally for everyone. I just got stuck on the "it's not our job" part because it is each and every one's job. Just do what you can and also vote :)
@0:58 so instead of have a good rail system which can carry tons of cargo with low amount of fuel. We have have thousands of loris each with a fraction of the cargo with slightly less gas. Then * by a few thousands. Great job guys!
Talking about finances is taboo in my area. It's considered an insult to ask what someone makes or how they set up their finances. In school they offered no financial advice or anything, and in my family it was considered dirty to talk about your finances. I'm 24 and I have more debt than I ever imagined I would have, and I never even got a college loan. These videos give me a little hope that I can change my life.
I have to question some of these numbers. I've never seen an incandescent bulb that expensive, nor an LED bulb that cheap. The assumption of having 40 bulbs that are on for 5 hours a day each is also pretty extreme. It's far more likely that there are 40 bulbs, but that you only have a couple on at a time, not all 40. Making the more likely break-even period on the order of years, not months. A much better thing if you wanted to save both money and the environment would be to turn off some of those bulbs. Having that many lights on is pretty much inescusable. For electric vehicles, the maintenance thing is way overblown. sure, no oil changes are needed, but most of what is needed is WAY more expensive than on an internal combustion engine car. 7 year old leafs are starting to need $15000 batteries. You could go with a vehicle that has better battery longevity, like say Tesla, but then your maintenance costs just skyrocket. My Model S is hands down by far the single most expensive vehicle to maintain that I've ever owned ($2000 windshield, $1400 parking brake calliper, $3000 for a suspension component (that's under recall in china, but not here!)) I don't know what jurisdiction they're talking for Solar, but 5kw array saving $100/mo is highly unreasonable. With ideal placement it would generate maybe 850kwh/month, which would be about $100 at the $0.13 quoted earlier, but that would require both ideal placement which is highly unlikely, and that either you consume all that electricity locally (which means you use a lot of daytime electricity, unlikley), or more likely, that your provider is willing to pay you the full $0.13 for it in a full net-metering arrangement. Around here I pay $0.13 for my electricity, but I we have bi-directional metering, not net-metering, so I can only get $0.04 back for electricity sold to the grid. So even with ideal placement (which is unlikely in the real world) I'm only talking about $34/month in savings for a 30 year payback. That same money in a savings account would earn me 2/3 of that much, and properly invested would earn me more than the electricity savings, not to mention that these systems generally have a quoteed lifespan of less than that 30 years. Again, a much better way to save both money, and the environment, would be to turn off some of those 40 lightbulbs. And then we don't even touch on "greenwashing" by companies who often tout things that are actually not at all green as being so. Also, organic farming which is advocated for in this video is an environmental nightmare. it requires vastly more land, which usually means destruction of forests, just to feed the same number of people. If you care about the environment, organics are the last thing you should advocate for.
I appreciate your comment and generally agree with your assessment. Especially the absurdity of basing the LED math on running 40 lights for 5 hours a day! But the Tesla S is not a Nissan Leaf. Nobody should expect a luxury/performance car to be inexpensive to maintain. Also conventional farming is an environmental nightmare too, just for slightly different reasons. Two Cents generally does a good job of encouraging critical thinking, but this video is insulting on that front. Let's recognize that their writers are human and have biases. We do too.
@@tailwinderic I'm not comparing the Tesla only to a Nissan leaf, my Tesla is orders of magnitude more expensive to maintain than my Mercedes S class was. My first year out of warranty cost over $7,000 in maintenance. It doesn't help any that Tesla has the highest shop rates in the industry, the most expensive parts in the industry, and an absolute prohibition on taking the car to anyone else for repairs. But the point is, that the leaf wasn't cheap to maintain either, their battery degradation is high enough that you're spending $15,000 on a battery for a car that's now worth less than that. Electric vehicles promise cheaper maintenance, but I've yet to see any of them that actually deliver on that promise. Don't get me wrong I love my Model S, and I would never want to go back to a gas vehicle, the cost of maintenance is simply not one of the selling points of any electric vehicle at this point, regardless of what the manufacturers claim.
Ironic that my critique was the price they used for an led was too high I bought one for around 8$ that was a 75w replacement But even then, the 60 and 45 w replacement bulbs are wayy cheaper (3$/ bulb) Add in the fact that they last way longer than incandescent (I have yet to replace an led since I switched 6 years ago) the math turns the decision into a no brainer A better question is whether installing induction is worthwhile (not to be confused with resistive stove, induction is close to the same speed as gas) As not having to pay for gas, or cheaper bills on cooking might make it worthwhile. (though I personally found induction just nice to use) Also I'm annoyed that 2cts didn't even mention the possibility of living car free (though i guess that's not really an option for most of the usa)
One thing to remember especially with the low flow shower heads and low flow toilets is that with showers people tend to then take longer showers and with toilets flush them twice or more vs once which can end up using a considerable amount of more water
I am all for going green but a 10 year return seems very long. For the solar panel example, you are “locking” in $10,000+ for 10 years before you can break even. How are you supposed to quantify the opportunity costs of sinking in $10,000 up front?
*Rich people plays the money game to win.* *Poor people plays the money to not lose.* *The goal of the truly rich people is to have massive wealth and the poor sees a surplus as an opportunity for consumption instead of investing it.* *change your mindset and do what the rich does,* *which is investing,* *investing and investing.*
I have got to understand now that. A lot of Americans don't even think about investlng little of there money and then grow there portfolio instead they wait for NFP every first Friday of every month hoping there are more employment. You guys are getting it all wrong. Start investlng.
You know what would be really cool? A countries 101 series where you go through their basics of saving, investing, spending habits for your non American viewers, like I know you have a large Indian audience, and I’d love a whistle stop tour of British finances!
@@hisomeone8276 I don't recommend Economic Explained, he gets loosy with the facts. I suggest this video to see how ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tW_kw6OPXc0.html
My parents installed 22 solar panels 11 years ago and they, on average, get 1600 euros back per year. I bought a solar panel on a company as a bond and get a return on my investment every single year. I really like it. It was my first ever investment.
One useful rule of thumb is that 1 watt running a full year costs $1 (for the average US electricity rate). So if I use a 75W light bulb for 6 hours a day (25% of the time) and I replace it with a 11W LED, then I'll save 64W for 6 hours a day. The equivalent savings* over a 24 hour period is 16W, so I'll save $16 every year for replacing that light bulb. There is almost no better investment than switching light bulbs to LEDs. *64W over 1/4 of the hours in a day is the same as saving 16W all the time.
Best episode yet. For our family of 5 we used about $200/mo in electricity for the house and car. After going through and upgrading lights, hot water heater, and sealing cracks we were able to reduce our consumption to around 1000kWh/mo. Added tesla solar plus battery for around 15k after rebates and now our electric bill is down to $50/mo. Payback period is about 7 years and it should make us $30-40k over the life of the system. Easiest investment I've ever made.
PBS pushing an agenda instead of acknowledging the top 100 companies produce over 70% of emissions. Typical gaslighting to deflect from the green washing these companies do
@@WhosFaulty this is a show about personal finance. PBS Terra covers climate change in depth. While you're not wrong that the people who are primarily responsible for profiting off the ecological collapse of our world have names and addresses and need to face consequences appropriate to the scale of the destruction they have wrought upon the world, I don't think this particular show is the venue for that
I lived in an efficiency apartment years ago. It was an old tool shed that was converted into an apartment in my land lords back yard. It had a tankless water heater one of the first a small stove and one mid sized window unit that cooled the entire apartment. There was 3 florescent lights and the outside security lights were led set on a time. The window was connected to a timer as well and i had it set to turn on an hour and a half before i got home and to turn off at 7 in the morning. The apartment was so well insulated and the high efficiency windows allowed the apartment remain cool most if the day in the brutal south Texas summers. My light bill averaged 49 dollars a month. The electric company changed out the meter multiple times because they couldn't believe thats all i was paying. I had the light shut off because they accused me of tampering with the meter and sent out an investigator. He was surprised at how energy efficient the apartment was. I had to eventually switch companies due to ongoing nonsense with the electric company and constant meter changes. It was one the best places I lived at.
Buying new electric cars isn't as great for the environment as using used cars all the way up. So while they are "better" than new non electric cars, they aren't as good as using those old used cars :) The cost on the environment to produce new cars (or anything really) is vast! Look it up! Awesome video, great coverage with a focus on the financial piece and impact to people.
Very true! 50% of the environnemental cost in gas car is in it production alone. This pourcentage is even greater in electric cars. This logic applies to pretty much every consumer product, not only cars. So, the good environnemental choice is buy used, not new.
There's actually a podcast that disproves this - which is what I thought to - and it's here: gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/n8h249g/encore-are-electric-cars-really-better
No mention (probably no statistical data to look at yet) at the increased selling price of a house with a solar array. While most people don't stay in a house for the 10 years for the breaking point, they make it back when they sell the house and the new owner benefits as well as the long term reduction of resources demanded from power companies. Also while 25 years is the "life" they still work well after 25 years, just not at the same efficiency.
Really wish you wouldn't lump "Organic" farming in with other green activities. Buying organic is largely more damaging to the environment, takes up more land, and produces more waste than other conventional farming technics. It still uses pesticides and fertilizers which can be just as damaging to the neighboring environment and for the most part is just a marketing ploy.
"organic" means different things in different countries, and many countries are much stricter than the USA, but yeah, I get your point that in the USA "organic" is mostly a marketing ploy.
Solar engineer here at a now large corporate company. In general there are also alot of additional fees with solar that aren't represented just by the cost of the panels. This can include redoing the electrical of the house and structural if the shingles are worn down or wood is rotted. Most power companies don't like solar even being put on houses like "alliant" in iowa who have built their own solar farm just to not have to pay back consumers for solar, as they met the federal guidelines already because of their Solar farm. Also solar panels lose efficiency if you don't take care of them, such as if a bird poops on them it can nock off an entire panel that's getting you energy back.
Well, last Fall I replaced all the bulbs inside and outside my home and garage with LEDs. I also cut back on hot water usage and my 30+ year old furnace died so there's a new one of those as well. I also retired then so I'm home an additional 50+ hours a week using energy. The end result is the Winter of 2019-2020 my utility bill was averaging @ $170/month. This last Winter it's @ $110/month. So there's savings in there somewhere.
You guys gave me the chills at the end of this video!! Way to stick to the real point of trying to save our planet one small decision at a time. In my opinion there won't be some new technology that fixes all of our environmental woes. It will be the cumulative effect of many people, technologies, economies, communities, and governments to make a real impact.
I recall an article or video somewhere that mentioned the best thing you could do with your car is drive it “until it dies” for the environment. I wouldn’t want to be riding around in a Nissan (thank Scotty Kilmer for that opinion) but it is interesting to hear that the savings might actually be beneficial to the environment since you’d be using less gas with an electric car.
@@IJoeAceJRI Gotta love savage Scotty! You're absolutely right that it's always the transmissions with Nissan, but if they're okay with poor quality on their ICE vehicles, they'll probably have something wrong with their electric vehicles too.
It's important to remember that manufacturing electric cars and their batteries create tons of emissions, too. Better to not own a car or at the very least, exclusively buy used
You’re right, I don’t get nearly as good a workout but it’s a pedal assist bike so I probably get half the work out in. Just enough but not enough to sweat. It’s a nice hybrid approach. Or you can decrease the pedal assist on the way home and get a sweaty workout and shower at home.
Sam could own a solar system: First she needs a house. So thats pretty much it if you want to do it in a big city. All these tips are nice and well, but it shows one big thing: If you have little money to begin with, you can not afford "investing" in larger purches.
Absolutely correct. But the first thing they pointed out were a couple of examples of things that cost nothing upfront, like recycling or turning lights off. We could continue with closing the tap while lathering with soap, stop buying things you don’t need, using your library for entertainment, cooking at home from scratch, buying in farmes markets, getting items you need second hand, using bio degradable cleaning products, stacking errands to save gas, air drying your clothes.... all frugal and more sustainable than the alternatives, no upfront costs involved
Sure, *sometimes* cars are so laughably inefficient that you save money by owning one but not actually driving it, but the *real* savings happen when you ditch the car entirely. Or at least become a single-car household with one vehicle shared among multiple drivers. No car payments. No insurance fees. No parking fees. No inspection fees. No oil changes. No getting stuck in traffic jams. No scraping ice off your windshield in the winter. Sure, rain can suck on a bike or on foot, but bikes and pedestrians are actually a lot better at snow than cars are.
Actually, buying less things is more green than improving the efficiency of some products. Climate change is real. Here in our country, we have a strong typhoon which is in the middle of summer
Hey guys! I just wanted to say that I’m in high school right now and I’m in a financial planning class. My teacher likes to show your videos to us quite often and I wanted to say how much I like your energy in your videos! I appreciate the effort that goes into each video and the excitement you bring to the sometimes boring topic of finances and investing!!! Thank you again!!❤️😀
The US has a very high rate of cancer and heart disease, eating the more expensive and locally grown foods will certainly save you in the long run financially and physically, not to mention fast food and eating out usually costs much more anyways.
Don't forget about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. That's why it's in that order. 😉 An eco friendly consumer product doesn't save the environment if it's replacing something that still has use. Replace it when it breaks, becomes useless or is a gross poluter. Keeping perfectly good car out of the landfill longer has value too. Especially if it is an 11 year old Honda sedan vs a V8 SUV of the same age.
I wonder if the carbon footprint of making a Nissan electric car exceeds the carbon footprint of driving your existing car. If that is the case then doesn’t it make “cents” to drive your existing car until you are ready for another? That way it’s easier on your wallet and better for the environment.
In college we mostly talked about the federal costs of global change. Moving populations, natural disasters, updating structures and farmlands for new climate needs and it was always “pay now to save later!” so I never bothered to do the personal math but u save more than I thought.
I've found lots of cheap LED bulbs for $1 each. I don't know if something is wrong with them, but they have been working well for the last 6 months or more. (Wal-Mart/Sam's Club) (some are dimmable, those were a little more expensive, but much less than $5 each)
I found $2 LEDs that I don't think lasted as long as we should expect them to. I buy the slightly expensive LEDs now, not the cheapo ones. I have the room in my budget to be able to spend $15 on a 4 pack once a year.
Always exciting to see a new video! I like how they just casually say "bike to work" when it would be 20 miles round trip. I mean, doable, but not exactly something most people would be able to just jump into. Maybe get an e-bike? -A bike commuter
Low flow fixtures require high pressure systems. Replacing those will be expensive. And although batteries have improved, their life cycle of 5 years means unexpected expense if you don't anticipate the costs of replacement.
I feel like the solar panel example, while valid, does not take into account what will happen to that panel after the end of its useful life. I think we need to start balancing out thoughts we have on the environment as well as the climate. Climate and environment, while we all use them synonymously, are two separate things.
The first mainstream in solar panels started in 2008 when China started producing very cheap solar panels due to a energy crisis. These solar panels and the ones after them are still working almost entirely because the lifespan of these panels aren't over yet. While there are many poisonous and environmentally harming materials used in the solar panels, like gallium arsenide or cadmium telluride, most of the materials can be recycled either again for the semiconductors of solar panels, where they were used in the first place, or other uses in the solar panels or electronics. So the important thing here is correct disposal. These panels could be very devastating to the environment if they are thrown freely into the environment. However, if correct disposal is followed by recycling, the solar panels are not dangerous to the environment.
