The Greening of the U.S. Consumer

[RedEarth]

Lisa Goodson, a 38-year-old mother of three children 5 and under, reuses printer paper by flipping every sheet over when she's done using one side. She wears a sweatshirt to keep warm during the day when she dials down the heat in her house in Greenville, S.C. These small gestures are part of Goodson's personal crusade to reduce her carbon footprint. "I think twice before buying anything for the kids, and I've even talked to my parents about holding back on gifts," says Goodson, who thinks her house is already loaded up with too much stuff and has lately been cleaning out toy boxes and donating toys to charity.

Goodson is part of a small, but growing, tide of consumers who have started shifting their spending patterns because of their concern about global warming. They want to contribute in any way they can to help reduce greenhouse gases. This kind of consumer behavior is starting to pick up steam nationwide. Consumers are choosing to drink tap water over bottled water, carrying reusable bags into supermarkets and eschewing plastic grocery bags, and buying locally produced, in-season foods, rather than purchasing fruits and vegetables that have traveled thousands of miles on carbon-emitting trucks.

"You know there's a shift, when drinking tap water is cooler than drinking Pellegrino or Evian," says Faith Popcorn, founder and chief executive of trend forecasting firm.

End of the Sub-Zero Fridge?
All this runs counter to the spending patterns of the last few years. And some economists and retail experts say the trend could exacerbate an already slowing consumer spending outlook. The days of easy credit (the U.S. Federal Reserve cut a key short-term interest ratefrom 6% to 1% in a two-year period after 2001) that freed up cash and engendered high-speed consumption are over for now (BusinessWeek.com, 1/10/08).

And so apparently is the kind of freewheeling spending that saw Americans replace kitchen stoves, refrigerators, and washers and dryers because they wanted to acquire the Viking stove which cost between $3,000 and $10,000, or a brushed-steel Sub-Zero refrigerator for $2,000, though similar appliances were available from mainstream brands like Kenmore or Maytag for a fourth of the price. Kitchen and Bath Business magazine reported the number of home renovations tripled in the last five years to over $100 billion.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db2008024_880607.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_companies

[cbayer]

1. I wish more people would.

I, personally, am trying to leave the smallest footprint I can. And it is truly liberating.

[DCKit]

2. "though similar appliances were available... for a fourth of the price."

I've had to replace two Aman..., er, American made refrigerators in the past five years - and a dishwasher. My next appliance purchases will be better informed. Yeah, I'd spend $2K on appliances that ran for thirty years like the ones I grew up with, but I insist they be energy efficient as well.

A lot of the appliance purchases of the past five years were motivated not by a desire for high-end products, but the new Energy Star appliances which often use a fourth the energy. Unfortunately, in refrigerators, the smaller compressors and motors that allow such dramatic savings are not always up to the job and either wear out or burn out prematurely. Refrigerators should be built with more and better insulation, not smaller, cheaper mechanicals to achieve savings.

The Canadians and Europeans are light-years ahead of the U.S. in durable, energy conserving appliances.

[Demeter]

3. Thanks For Posting This

The refrigerator is still working, but I've had to replace just about everything else in the house (all 30 years old, as far as I can tell). I will know what to look for now...

[DCKit]

5. Bosch is an excellent Euro brand, but the price is high.

Forgot to mention that my (same brand) oven doesn't work (seven years old, same as the rest) so I don't bake much. I've also replaced the pump on the dishwasher, disassembled the non-working timer - it still sticks and has to be advanced manually - and can't figure out if the element is burnt out or if the controls aren't working on the water/drying coil. Given that I never used it more than once a week, I'm a little more than disappointed.

When I bought my new fridge, the yellow energy tag stated it was so low on the American scale that there was nothing to compare it to. However, on the Canadian scale, it was an energy hog and topped out beyond their standard at the time.

Here in DC there are government rebates for Energy Star appliances. Some areas have government and/or utility rebates. Check 'em out.

[diane in sf]

4. I dropped my electrical bills about 40% by buying a new fridge and replacing

4 light bulbs with compact fluorescents--I think the old fridge had really bad seals.