Since I was sorting the kitchen out I, put the telly on. Then, because I don?t like to watch things where the performers have been chosen on racial grounds (because it?s racist) I flicked through the channels until I found a programme where that didn?t seem to be the case. It was ?Good Morning?, with Julia Bradbury talking about her imminent breast cancer operation. Obviously, because of what cancer has done to me and my late wife I was very interested. It turned out to be good, honest, public information. But oh dear! After Julia, a person called Alice Beer was wheeled on to talk about ?saving the planet?. Actually, what she said turned out to be an astonishing farrago of misunderstandings, half-truths, and worse. I just hope the general public isn?t as gullible as this programme seemed to assume. Here?s what we were told.
- We should *always* use the ?economy? mode for the washing machine and the dishwasher. No-one asked why the manufacturers provide programs other than ?economy?. The reason of course is that the ?economy? mode uses less heat and less water, and therefore just isn?t as effective at removing dirt and bacteria as other modes. Dangerous advice there. After all, the word ?economy? implies ?compromise?, or ?worse quality?. I use the 'economy mode' only when it seems safe to do so. Alice said that she?d conducted a straw poll and not one person was using the economy mode. She lamented this, but didn?t enquire further of course, in case she was told something she didn?t want to hear.
- We should only charge our phones for two hours. An unequivocal statement thus: ?All phones will charge fully in two hours.? The fact is that many new models will, but most older ones won?t. As a keen environmentalist (skinflint really) I have always resisted the temptation to destroy the planet by unnecessarily updating my electronic goods. My phone is an iPhone 6 with a new battery and it takes five hours to charge from flat, using a good lead and an Apple charger. After my two-hour evening snooze it typically climbs from 20% to 60%. If I charge it from the PC or laptop, as many people do, it takes much, much longer. Much depends on the age and type of the phone, the battery technology (Nickel charges slower than lithium for instance), the ambient temperature, the type of charger, and the type of lead. So telling people to only charge for two hours is asking them to venture out every morning with a phone that might only be half charged. More dangerous advice! Furthermore, I just rang a pal who has a power meter and asked him to check the consumption of a few phone chargers. When charging a phone they all used about 5 watts. When connected to a fully charged phone they were all between 0.1 and 0.5 watts.
- We shouldn?t leave things on standby. Another unequivocal statement, that ignores the reasons appliances have a standby mode. It?s fair enough with very old TV sets and satellite boxes, which can consume as much as 25 watts in standby mode (and they used to catch fire in the middle of thenight!). But for many years now legislation has limited standby power to 1 watt, and many sets use less than that; just enough to power one chip and the red standby light in fact. If you left a TV set on standby (and never used it at all) for a year it would use a maximum of a quid?s worth of electricity. So, not dangerous advice, just advice designed to make people feel good about themselves whilst actually achieving nothing. A lot of the green propaganda is like that. It spoils the case really.
- Turn down your heating. No thank you. I like to be comfortable. We are at the pinnacle of human progress ? as far as I?m concerned that means that no-one, especially elderly and poorly people, should be cold in the house. Those that want to go back to the miseries of ancient times are free to do so, but count me out.
- Don?t eat meat. But since all the pleasures of the flesh are now denied me except for the actuasl eating of flesh, I think I?ll pass on that one as well. I do have salad now and then, but it doesn?t compare at all well with a nice juicy steak. How come all the exhortations of the environmentalists involve reducing our enjoyment of life and worsening our standards of living?
Bill