7 Overrated Technologies and Their Underrated Low-Tech Alternatives

I disagree. Problems can only be solved with new gadgets. How am I supposed to use less energy and be more environmentally friendly unless I can buy something that tries to do it?

Libraries rule - thanks for pointing that one out. Ereaders are an excellent example of poorly implemented solutions to problems that don't exist. Why does my 'low power' reader need an mp3 player and web browser again? I thought the idea was to make a book like feel in a device. There is no reason to use power unless I'm turning a page (the beauty of e-ink) - they should all be able to be solar powered and have tiny, low power processors since all they need to do is display a page of text. Oh yeah, and most people don't want to read digital books.

great article. we really need to step up the dialogue on these issues.

a lot of people forget that we need to implement 'reduce, reuse, recycle'... in that order.

high-tech can become more efficient, but it will never be as efficient as no-tech.

While I agree with Christopher that ereaders are getting inundated with unneeded bells and whistles, I also have to say that, as-is, libraries are a giant waste. they're free? well, cheaper to me than an e-reader, to be sure, but in considering sustainability, what about the cost to heat, light, and otherwise keep operable something that just over one in ten of the eco-conscious people use, likely a much lower figure if given to the general public. They just don't seem worth it to me, and I am a voracious reader.

There is a reason these solutions have been "sidelined". Because they are inferior solutions. Sure, the people reading treehugger are willing to take these measures, but the other 99.9%of people out there don't want to be inconvenienced. If you truly want to solve our energy cosumption problems, you need to understand how the other "half" live. For the other half, technology will be the answer. Efficiency rather than abstinence.

I reduced the energy use in my house by 40% using technology and my wife barely noticed. I wouldn't have been successful if any of my strategies required a change in her behavior.

Some solutions may sound obvious or just not applicable, but we need to realize most todays behaviours are plain stupid.

Look at how much offices and main street shops keep their door open wasting heating / air conditioning ... this simply wouldn't have been happening 40 years ago ... Did you keep your windows open in the winter as a child ? I bet no, what about your children ?
We need to understand that we can live our happy lifes, enjoy the progress, etc .. just with a bit more attention, avoiding some crazy and really not useful things like 25°C in the house in winter.. etc

I agree we can't buy our way out of problems. We can maximize the returns of existing resources and keep them vibrant. There are many great institutions funded by the public for the public good. Libraries and librarians are wonderful. I've worked as an assistant in an Art & Architecture library and substantiated my education from digging through the stacks and digital resources. All for free, sort of. My school fees contributed to facilities maintenance, staff salaries, student assistants' hourly wages, digital & print subscriptions, and new book purchases. My investment was wholly worth the returns I gained in my independent research and the resources I got to plunder!

We can simply unplug, open the blinds and walk to local resources. So easy!

I agree we can't buy our way out of problems. We can maximize the returns of existing resources and keep them vibrant. There are many great institutions funded by the public for the public good. Libraries and librarians are wonderful. I've worked as an assistant in an Art & Architecture library and substantiated my education from digging through the stacks and digital resources. All for free, sort of. My school fees contributed to facilities maintenance, staff salaries, student assistants' hourly wages, digital & print subscriptions, and new book purchases. My investment was wholly worth the returns I gained in my independent research and the resources I got to plunder!

We can simply unplug, open the blinds and walk to local resources. So easy!

Good Lord, I can't believe some of the comments on this article: "How am I supposed to use less energy and be more environmentally friendly unless I can buy something that tries to do it?" -Is it that hard to ride a bike or turn off a switch? Seriously?

or "I wouldn't have been successful if any of my strategies required a change in her behavior." -Is that really a hardline stance for you and your wife? No behaviour change on your part, it has to be done by a microchip?

I don't mean to polarize, but this really cuts to the core of the problem: we live in a spoiled society that has developed an inflated sense of entitlement. Reduction and sacrifice seems to be a dealbreaker for some- an absolute insistence of maintaining the status quo, this lifestyle that we've become accustomed to. I guess that's why we need these gadgets, but the article is dead-on, thank you for posting it.

Riding a bike is nicer in warm climates, but in places like Ohio that are colder this time of year, a hybrid car, or better yet, an underground electric-powered subway is more ideal.

And how is unplugging stuff inconvenient? It's pretty much my habit now and I don't even think twice about doing it.

Yes, we need technological solutions. Yes, we need social solutions.

Case in point: CFLs use 30%-40% of the power of incandescents. That still holds true if you turn them off when you leave the room. I doubt you could truly use 70% less power (for lighting) just by turning your lights off, unless they were *always on* before. More importantly, efficiency PLUS conservation equals even greater results.

Another technological solution: infrared detecting light switches. Then you won't have to think about remembering.

And power monitors vs. unplugging...

Well, the power monitor encourages you to unplug. You don't know how much power you're *saving* by setting your thermostat or replacing your fridge or drying your clothes outside, when you don't even know how much you're *using* in the first place. My utility company only reads my meter once every two months. That's a long time to have to wait to see how much of an effect switching off the TV at the power bar will make. If you want to teach good behaviour to any human being young or old, you have to reward them sooner rather than much, much later.

I'm all about the reduce, reuse, and recycle but this isn't really all that practical to some like myself. I live in a rural area which makes many of these suggestions impractical. I can only assume the same is the case for more Urban area.

I leave two lights on all night but I switched them to CFL's. Why? Because I don't want people thinking I'm not home. Creating a composting pile in the corner of my yard? There are deer, raccoons, and bears in my area, I'm not going to invite them into my yard.

I'd rather own a hybrid then ride my bike 15 miles in the snow to work every day. Also I can't take notes or highlight a library book like I can with many of my E-Books (Tablet PC's rock for returning students). I'm not saying these aren't good ideas but sometimes we aren't just being lazy.

yoshhash, your sarcasm detector is broken...

Another non-evironmental reason to hate e-readers: preservation of literature. If we digitize everything, one EMP blast or sizable blackout and we will have lost much of what is not on paper.

I'm in Ohio as well. Not only is it getting a bit too cold for a bicycle, but I doubt I will be riding 30 miles a day round-trip any time soon. Anyone suggesting public transportation as a response has obviously never been to Columbus.

The reason we have these inventions is not merely a result of our laziness. It is also the urban topography in which we live that dictates the need, particularly with transportation. Nevertheless, electric cars need clean electricity to be clean cars, the environmental unfriendliness of batteries affects electric and hybrids, and alternative fuels require an infrastructure that just isn't there. Right now I think everyone would be better off just buying a Yaris.

Now, as far as unplugging, I already do this with all of my small appliances, but larger appliances with memory and settings do not get unplugged. I am not about to change this practice. However, once I am due for a new appliance, energy efficiency has become a top concern of mine along with reliability which also has environmental implications.

But how about when it is 60degress and not snowing, raining or hailing. Do you ride your bicycle then?
I am guessing not, because its far easier to make excuses for not doing it.

Some of these aren't mutually exclusive

Especially the Unplug vs Monitor

True unplugging will save me power, but how do I know what I should unplug vs what I shouldn't?

Unplug everything? unrealistic

So I use my Kill-a-watt to tell me what is sucking up my power, to then unplug (or stick on a switch)

Learned my JVC receiver in standby used more power than my Tivo did running, so my receiver is on a lightswitch now

Could I have unplugged my receiver anytime? sure, but I'm not going to crawl behind the TV every time I want to watch something and plug it in, as the old saying goes, work smarter not harder

Kill-a-watts are VERY helpful in telling you where you should target on your "unplug" quest, but if you want to work for the Lazy factor, try switches and powerstrips, not Unplugging.

@ Brandon

"I also have to say that, as-is, libraries are a giant waste."

As if E-reader factories don't also need to be lit, heated, or cooled? Libraries are learning institutions that complement schools and universities. Should we get rid of all of them too? Where do you think all these new technological advances will come from, the mass of illiterates?

You can't call something unsustainable simply because it requires energy. Even if only 12% of people use them (highly scientific statistic too by the way), I'd have to say that libraries are still pretty high on the "worth it" scale compared to everything else in this world that uses energy. What percentage of the population do you think regularly visits TreeHugger? Is this "worth it"?

Also modern libraries are some of the most efficiently designed buildings because they incorporate natural light which makes for better reading, and the most advanced climate control devices and techniques.

Thank you Jaymi, for being one of the few TreeHugger writers that actually has meaningful articles that are spot-on with showing what is helpful and what is not. Looking through your recent posts, I think you should just start your own website of this stuff since TreeHugger articles are just going downhill these days.

Keep up the good work!

-Andy

As one of the 12% that uses libraries I am so glad that you gave them some credit and would like to add that they also have DVD's and CD's. By checking all of these things out instead of buying them I consume less and also can have a smaller living space which takes less fuel to heat and then saves energy. Also in a library the lights would have to be on to accomodate the many community programs that occupy the same building.
As for bikes vs. hybrids obviously biking is not for everyone. I recently tried to get into the biking thing and it just didn't work. But maybe some people reading this will open thier minds a little to rexamine the other low tech solutions availible to them, like driving under 2500RPM's or keeping tires inflated, or maybe carpooling.
It is like this story of the truck that was too tall for the tunnel and got stuck. Experts came and tried to move it to no avail when finally a young girl suggested merly letting the air out of the tires. (I think that is from Working Girl). I think we all have our hearts in the right places, but sometimes just make everything so complex that we miss the obvious. Thanks for making us aware of it again.

Headliner: Houses
Sidelined: Caves

Headliner: Organic clothes
Sidelined: Big leaves

I am a pretty hardcore library user. At any given time I have at least 5 books checked out. One of the things that makes the library attractive to me is using the online card catalog, which allows me to find books and order them from the whole county library system, not just my local library. That being said, the libraries are really missing the boat as far as taking advantage of IT. If you compare the experience of looking at a book on Amazon vs the library, the library comes up short by a mile. Amazon suggests related books and other books bought by people who bought this book, has customer reviews, and lets you look inside the book. They also keep track of what you have looked at so it is easy to revisit it. Libraries sites are far more spartan and much less inviting.

I think libraries should do a deal with Amazon and have links to buy books and products on their sites in exchange for a cut of the sales and help in updating the libraries sites.
This would be good for both enterprises, providing another onramp for Amazon as well as more funding for libraries.

Amazon could also help libraries to make the transition to digital media, and maybe the libraries could lend out Kindles to get people familiar with them as well as increasing the books available without increasing the size of the library.

I actually think the Internet is more competition for the library than electronic books.

I like this re-editted version of the article. Some activities are obviously more green than others, but I think it is important to embrace even the lighter shades of green as stepping stones to increasing levels of more sustainable living.

In 20 years when we look back at what was done that had the greatest impact on reducing our energy and enviromental impact, the stuff on the "headlined" side will be what we are talking about as most successful. These are the things that make green accessible to the most people. Sure, riding a bike uses less energy than driving a hybrid, but you need to do more than compare energy use. You need to compare energy use times adoption rate. Far more people ride in hybrids for far more miles than do bikes.

Thank you for this post! My main qualm with TH is its focus on new, hip "green" products and technologies (afterall, that's where the money and advertisers are) when so little attention is given towards common sense, accessible solutions that don't require a new factory to be built.

Your post does a great job of pointing out that while there is value in these new technologies, but the real impact can come in a much less sexy package. I hope the other TH contributers read this article and re-think that post they were planning on pseudo-recycled fake fur jackets and instead tout the benefits of reassessing your fashion needs.

Thanks again for this great post!

One problem with "unplugging stuff" is that some of my stuff has settings that are maintained by the power. I know that the actual amount of power needed to retain settings is negligible, but the VCR and TV are designed that way.

Since the interface for creating those settings is so clumsy, it is a real pain to reset them.

I'd really welcome appliances that are designed to retain settings for a couple of days off the mains via a rechargeable battery, or by holding the data in Flash RAM. Then I could shut down an entire bank of devices and turn them on only when I am actually using them.

RE: the need to adjust energy usage without changing behavior: It was once said by a fitness/exercise person that the best form of exercise is the one you will do. Except in times of emergency, it is hard to get large numbers of people to tighten their belts. On the other hand, effective and thoughtful design and new technologies (e.g. LED lighting, hybrid electric vehicles) can achieve many important goals without having to create large societal change.

The last point made about CFL vs using traditional lighting sparingly is not well informed.

The CFL bulbs should never be left on for more than about 3 hours. They produce an incredible amount of heat in the circuitry which controls/limits the power flow. So, while we should always use lights sparingly, the newer generation lights will set on fire if you leave them on for too long ... forget power savings, think about fire insurance.

Dont tell me a hybrid car = a bike.

Wow, I think you hit the nail on thehead.

jess
www.anolite.echoz.com

Every time I see e-book I think "failed technology". My paper books never need charging and the DRM works no matter if the supplier goes belly up.

RE jaymz and the fire risk of CFLs on for 3+ hrs:

Please provide a legitimate source for your claims.
It sounds like you are applying an anecdotal case of a faulty bulb to the entire range of all CFLs.

There are hallway lights in my apartment building that are CFLs which are never turned off. I'd guess they have been on a few years, and there have been no fires. You need proof for claims like that.

I like this article. The greenie movement is nice and all but in some ways some of the products do more harm than good, with all the consumers rushing to buy them and waste generated. This isn't true of all green products I realize but take for example my friend who dumped all her "eco unfriendly" shampoo to replace it with high end, eco friendly shampoo made in Fiji. Now she's "green".

Especially distasteful to me are these "eco friendly" products from Target that come with a barrage of plastic packaging wrapped all around it that you have to use a swiss army knife to open. Then the recycling places won't take them, which is wasteful.

If you have a backyard, you don't need an energy hogging compost machine. If you have access to a library, you don't need an e-book. If you have a short, easy commute you can ride your bike instead of buying a plug in (not truly green anyway if you think about it).

Being green is all about simplifying your lifestyle, not buying the trendiest eco-friendly products. The focus needs to change from what's trendy and cool to simplicity and efficiency.

E-books aren't a "failed" technology, just because someone hasn't developed a dedicated e-book reader that has taken the world by storm.

Remember, e-books can be read on all kinds of electronic equipment, including devices most people already have, like computers, PDAs, cellphones, etc. And they do not all have DRM to deal with.

There's also no reason why literature cannot be electronically stored in "hardened" storage devices that can survive an EMP.

I'm not saying e-books should not be on this list... but e-books are much more useful and valuable than most people give them credit for.

with the 30 comments here, i feel as if i might just be pissing in to an ocean of piss, but i highly agree with your entire post, mostly the library. A library can hold many people who share electricity burdens, like lighting while individually these people at home would be using a lot more energy. it's a nice quiet, clean place to concentrate. I do think that public libraries need some restructuring, however the library at my university is amazing. the lights are all attached to motion sensors, and the energy invested in the books stays there for a long long time. I cannot understand it when people complain that paper is wasted on books. Energy and paper is well spent on books in my opinion, I was never a fan of ruthless efficiency.

Yes, these are some great ideas. I would like to see more elaboration on each one of these items in a separate article. Over the years, I have started riding my bike a lot more. I found the infrastructure in Wisconsin (except in Madison) particularly hostile to biking. I’ve been threatened many times (flipped off, honked at, and yelled at) and struck twice, once buy a car and once by a pickup truck. The winters are particularly brutal and I have purchased a recumbent tadpole trike. The trike is great on the snow and ice, and with mountain bike tires it handles great. It is a little bit too low to the ground so I have mounted two safety flags on it. But if I had the money, I’d buy an enclosed trike.

JCE
http://johnceberhardt.wordpress.com/

Spot on Jaymi!

Over the years advertising has told us that it can transform our lives, make us fitter, healthier, more attractive, cure our problems, and now 'Greenwash' is telling us that the cure is available for Global Warming and all we have to do is to buy the latest new (usually plastic) gadget...

OK, some of them work but the big problem is that when people buy these items they imagine this is all they need to do and that they are 'saving the planet'. The simple solution is, as you pointed out, often available already but for many the problem is they have been brainwashed into avoiding it.

What is more socially acceptable for society in general, to turn up for a meeting on a bike or in a brand new expensive hybrid? To have a book or the latest E reader? To say you have an energy monitor or to simply turn things off, even if the switch/plug is out of easy reach? To have the heat turned up indoors or to lower it and put a sweater on?

I'm not suggesting that we ride a bike in the cold or don't have new technology where it is really required or that we freeze indoors but that we think laterally when we look at any problem. A book doesn't need power, will not crash, is usually 100% portable and its information is fully retrievable.

Think twice before you listen to claims about the New Technology, after all, it did promise us the Paperless Office didn't it...

It's technological advances that have allowed us to mess up the planet. We can all see that. The question is do we get out of the mess with more technology or by rejecting technology in favour of the less sexy solution of a simplified, localised, more self-sufficient lifestyle.

To me, that's a key question for the green movement. You'd have to say Treehugger generally seems to prefer a technological solution.

#8.

Headlined: GPS
Sidelined: Maps

Besides the obvious environmental and social benefits to many low-tech 'inventions', they can also be a source of great relief. How refreshing, for example, to know that you can just stick a folded map into your back pocket, hop on your bike, and head to the public library. Everyday life is much easier to swallow when it's less complicated.

Should I be embarrassed that my little hand calculator is powered by a tiny battery that I've never replaced instead of solar? If so, you do the math!

It was 5-below here in Chicago this morning with 20 mph gusts, and we're expecting 4 more inches of snow later on. You gotta be kidding if you're expecting me to ride my bike (or enclosed Sterno-heated trike like they have in Madison) to work instead of that "overrated" hybrid car. I would've been blown off the road.

Get reasonable, please: Motor vehicles, however powered (and heated), are here to stay--unless we all move to Oregon or Northern California, where it's 60 degrees all year-round. The govt-regulated marketplace will either find ways to make personal vehicles more efficient and environmentally acceptable or find a suitable replacement.

People gotta travel; they've been doing it since the Dark Ages and before. Still, some might say that our dive into the world of globalism, exploitation, and ecological irresponsibility started with the invention of a reliable compass.

In my case, I commuted into the Loop the way many have been doing it for the past 120+ years (take that, tech-haters). I rode the train.