Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The cost of diversions

Surveys over the past few years have shown that Australians would prefer to purchase a wide screen TV to a holiday trip. I guess that could be signalling some sort of shift in a country with a reputation for mobility and travel.

A recent survey of consumer credit, ratcheting at an alarming rate, shows people going into major debt to purchase plasma TV sets. My disclaimer here is that if TV disappeared I would probably not notice for a while.

So big TV screens are the big demand now and the big news these popular items; “would be banned from sale in Australia as early as October next year under onerous mandatory energy requirements…”

“The consulting firm Digital CEnergy, which prepared the report for the Government's Australian Greenhouse Office, also recommends a second tier of even tougher restrictions that would then ban almost all current LCD models from the market in April 2011.” SMH

It strikes me as amusing that in this age of miniaturisation people are so concerned to turn their homes into mini cinemas. The swing to being entertained, and the ensuing energy waste is far from amusing.

In a country of sunshine, wonderful outdoor recreation – not to mention a real world to explore – the thought of coming generations glued to big, energy hungry screens is appalling. A society of spectators is not really my vision for the future.

4 comments:

D.K. Raed said...

not personally being in the market for a bigscreen TV, I had no idea the price would be comparable to a vacation trip. or maybe I've been spending too much on vacations.

The other night, out walking our dogs, we saw yet another neighbor had succumbed to a huge plasma monster. The thing took up his whole wall, I'm guessing 108" wide, but get this, his couch is less than 10-ft away. Now, we were out at the street, probably 50-ft away & I swear I could see the Harrison Ford's nostril hair.

I cannot explain people's fascination with these things & think your country is on the right track to consider their excessive energy use.

Cartledge said...

DK, congratulations on entering the blog world; I don’t walk the dog or watch TV all that much, but having an opinion seems to dominate.
I was surprised that these TV things use so much energy, the viewers don’t. Originally I was just following the household economics and how much people will pay for the homeplex. As for the cost of holidays, I generally just let my mind wander…

Dada said...

Haha! Mind wandering is the cheapest vacation one can take, I suppose. (Excellent idea, BTW.) Thanks for the heads-up on plasmas...I had no idea. Not that I'm in the market, mind you.

Cartledge said...

dada, I'm still trying to justify the 16 tonnes of fuel the plane uses, just taking off to get me back to North America. But I'm not a tourist per se. Maybe when I get back there this time I'll just settle in.
On the wide screens, I'm just in the process of digging up more info.