The Best Environmentally Friendly Products Are Cheaper and Last Longer by Wayne Conrad
Green buildings, hybrid cars, solar panels, organic food, fair trade goods and more - living an eco-friendly lifestyle is now easier than ever! Environmental awareness and social responsibility associated with product purchases is now becoming an important part of the decision-making process for many of us.
In choosing a sustainable lifestyle, remember that the cost of goods is primarily driven by the cost of energy. Most goods are primarily based upon the cost of materials, other than software, books, etc wherein labor is a significant factor. Increasingly consumers, employees, shareholders, government, non-government organizations and service groups, like insurance companies and banks, are considering social and environmental responsibility as an important part of their operating practices.
However, many purchases made to "benefit the environment" are misguided in that they involve paying for an item with a long payback period compared to the operational life of the product. Therefore, products with a long payback are fundamentally not "sustainable" and do not represent a good use of resources to make. When you look at a purchase, consider the energy savings and potential pollution reduction or avoidance, and consider the payback and the projected useful life of a product.
Products with the MOST environmental benefits will have a pay back period of less than 4 years, and ideally they should pay back in 1-2 years and the useful life of the item should be at least 3-10x greater than the payback period. The shorter the payback period and the longer the useful life, the greater the benefit of the item.
This means that when we use energy to make a product, we can have the greatest impact on climate change, pollution and the associated ill health, by choosing products with a quick payback and a long useful life so that the energy and pollution savings become ever greater.
Also, if you have an environmentally good product you no longer want, give it away to someone who will use it to ensure that the full environmental benefits of an energy saving product are realized. If a product is discarded before its useful life is finished, a portion of the benefits of making the energy efficient and/or environmentally friendly item are lost.
Once a product has reached its useful end of life, reuse the parts or recycle it to ensure that we have a truly sustainable future.
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