Waste of Energy Dept: Silly Appliances
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 10.21.07
My favourite Talmudic aphorism is from the Rabbi who said "My life has been blessed, because I never knew I needed anything until I had it.". I do wonder how I ever got by without these two appliances. I mean, who could live without a marshmallow toaster? Modern Mechanics said in 1930:
"THE latest thing in electrical household appliances is an electrical marshmallow toaster which toasts both sides of the confection at once. Ladies will find this little device useful for entertaining at bridge parties, as they permit the preparation of dainty desserts on the dining table. Six marshmallows may be toasted at once, and enough of the tid-bits for a large party may be toasted in a very few minutes."::Modern Mechanix
Then there is the Garlic Express....
The health benefits of eating garlic range from boosting your immune system, purifying blood, increasing resistance to allergies, colds, anaemia and asthma and are all well documented over thousands of years.With the Roasted Garlic Express, you can now treat yourself to roasted garlic in just 27 minutes. Turn garlic into a creamy spread for bread, an addition to sauces, pizza, mashed potatoes or use it to dress up your favourite recipe or on salads. Simply place full garlic bud or buds into the roasting chamber then press the start button for automatic roasting and shut-off. Features a removable roasting cup with detachable lift-out handle, non-stick coating for easy clean-up and loads of convenience.
Right. And how often does one do this that they need a specific appliance for it? And 27 minutes? As Homer said, "I want it now!" I won't even link to this, someone might buy it.
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an american iconic product .. just like applepie and chevrolet
:D
I don't know. Relative to heating up an entire oven to roast my garlic this seems like at least an ok idea. Not sure what the big deal is.
I don't know, i'm still thinking the Digital Photo Frame is the most useless, energy-wasting invention ever.
It's just wasteful. You can cook garlic in a pan.
There are so many stupid products like this that make me cringe at their wastefulness. A few:
*Cappuccino machines
*Cereal Dispensers
*Electric can openers
*Nearly anything on an infomercial
I'm glad someone out there shares my pain.
LA: Only some of your pain; you will have to drag my gaggia capuccino machine from my cold dead hands.
ditto what the first anonymous dude(tte) said. Other than not roasting garlic, is there a green(er) solution? Maybe an all purpose toaster oven?
I was surprised when I measured the power draw from my George Foreman grill to find it was comparatively small. The problem with small appliances is the power and material it takes to manufacture them. In the duplication of services department, the garlic thing, Foreman grill, etc. are high on the list of expendables. It all depends on how often you use them whether you can environmentally justify them. Or how picky you are about your marshmallows and garlic.
I use my Foreman Grill all the time because it can cook many things unlike a hot dog bun warmer or marshmallow toaster.
I have to disagree about the digital picture frame. It's not practical for me, but it would be a great gift for the mom with all those kid pictures instead of going to Wal-Mart every week and using myriad paper goods for scrap booking.
The thing about a Foreman grill is that you can cook a lot of different foods on it -- I've had friends without built-in kitchens who've done all their cooking on a Foreman and an electric kettle (or rice cooker, or stock pot, or what-have-you).
The thing about an electric garlic roaster is that pretty much the only use it has is for roasting garlic. And I don't know anyone who uses so much roast garlic that they need a whole separate appliance for it.
Re: Ross' comment: True, you can cook garlic in a pan, but roasting it has a completely different result - it becomes very sweet and soft, nothing like what you'd get on the stove.
I do it - and not infrequently! - in the oven which I'm sure is wasteful, but at least it's not an extra manufacturing process for an appliance that's going into a landfill long before my oven does, so I think it's the right choice...
I would have to do the math and a lot of research to compare the efficiency of specialized appliances to bigger, generalized ones like ovens. (unfortunately, I'm comfortable in my assumption that the author did no such research before condemning them.)
On the other hand - you don't have to do any research to realize that the goal of electronic picture frames, newspapers, and books leads to an environmental ideal. We may not have refined appliances yet, but we will sure never get there unless we start.
I wouldn't want to see what happens if we end up with 12 Billion industrialized people who all want to print new disposable paper products each day!
@Solarium
LOL You mean like Apple Pie and the Ford Mustang... :P
@others
I think the most important measure of any product is how effective a product is at meeting the needs of it's target market.
Things like the Digital Photo frame would be great for people who love taking pictures and change them often. You can't exactly run slide shows with conventional photo frames. Even the ones that don't do slide shows are much more convenient than the traditional ones.
Things like hot plates and the Foreman grill (which I have and love to death) are exceptional examples of things that are so versatile and efficient, that they can replace traditional cooking tools.
The problem with things like the marshmallow and garlic roasters, are that it is not particularly versatile. It is too specific, and therefore too limiting. The people for whom this would actually make sense, like a professional confectioner or cook, probably have much more convenient ways of roasting garlic/mallows.
Like a toaster oven. Or a real oven. You could do a gazillion of either all at once. The products above are so specific that they actually restrict what you can do with them, therefore limiting their usefulness.
I have a battery operated elastic band winder for winding the elastic band that propells a balsa wood aeroplane, Remember them? my son was given it last christmas, of course the little plane didn`t last very long but I suspect the winder will be with us for ever and I can`t think of anything else I can do with it. I hate christmas.
Roasted Garlic Express - I thought it was a photoshop creation of a twisted mind; to check I Googled it and to my shock and horror found out that an even more twisted mind had created it as a reality!
Now, I want stats - how many were made; how many are sold; is there a Roasted Garlic Express Club that meet up and talk garlic...
Ross:
Exactly how is a cappuccino machine the most wasteful machine?
Is there anything more unnecessary or energy wasting than a towel warmer? Do people really need to waste energy heating up a towel that will remain warm for perhaps two minutes? And after taking a hot shower, isn't that totally redundant?
Ed-
Places that have a high usage of towel warmers are also places that tend to have very low installation of central air systems. So what is more economical? Warming your towel to be a nice a toasty temperature, or warming the entire room?
You have obviously never lived in England.
Which takes more energy, warming a towel, or warming a room, or even the house. If you get out of a warm bath/shower into a frigid bathroom, your body temperature will drop, and before you get your clothes on, you are in need of warming up. Those two minutes are probabally the most exposed minutes of the day. Why heat a room or house if you can heat a towel.