As for the giving up quality of life... is it really so painful to hang your laundry instead of tossing it in the dryer?
Sure it is. It's a waste of time. Why not give up the microwave and cook food over an open fire? Or why not shave with a straight blade and give up the Remington?
First of all, I'd rather not get hung up on one or the other specific example. In the big picture, there's still a lot of energy wasted in this country that could easily be saved without significantly impacting quality of life.
That said, Guerilla, your counter examples hardly work. A dryer may be invaluable to a big family (lots of laundry) in a cold and moist area where it takes forever to dry clothes in the air. But either way, you can do other stuff in between. The only personal time you save is starting the dryer (20 sec) vs hanging clothes (3-5 min). For such minor saving, it is still a convenience that costs a lot of extra energy. But I highly doubt that a microwave costs a lot of extra energy compared to cooking over an open flame. In fact it probably helps you save.
Disposable place settings are cheaper (in energy) to produce, and they don't require sanitation or cleaning, and they can't be used as weapons, or shatter and cut someone.
IIRC, Brown bags have a higher energy cost to produce than plastic bags.
You do remember correctly about paper bags, but that was never mentioned here.
As for disposable cups etc., a glass becomes more efficient than a paper cup after 15 uses. (Source: University of Victoria study by Prof. Martin B. Hocking, takes in account manufacturing and cleaning costs. I only have it in paper.) Should be no problem for a restaurant. Also, restaurants can use highly efficient dishwashers that use e.g. the hot rinsing water from one cycle for the main wash in the next cycle. Seen myself when I worked as a bartender in Germany. And for safety, I think Americans should stop treating themselves like children. Plastic cups in a classy night club would be unthinkable in Germany and during the 3 years I worked there, I can't remember a single serious injury.
Once we're at that topic, check out this video:
Chris Jordan pictures some shocking stats | Video on TED.com
it will cost each family $2000 extra a year.
... only if you keep going around wasting energy left and right.
Read my first post again. For the avrg American, it should be easy to offset higher energy prices by changing some habits. Get used to flicking the light off when you leave a room and turning it on again when you re-enter. Get a cover for the hot tub in your apartment complex for when it's not in use, rather than having it steam heat into the sky all night long. Hardly an impact on your quality of life. Same with talking an 8-min walk instead of driving. It may even help keeping your girth in check.
Have a look at this:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec11_6.pdf
The US has 4.6% of the world's population, yet consumes over 21% of the worlds energy. Per capita consumption here leaves every other country in the dust, incl the developed countries of Western Europe - not something to be proud of.
Now if you insist that your "quality of life" should include the right to thoughtless waste of energy, let me ask you this: Assuming you'd be fair enough to grant everyone the same right, what do you think would happen when all the developing nations started consuming like we do? Imagine the 1.3 billion in China and the 1.2 bn in India all driving a car to pick up a DVD around the block! And not just any car, but a nice and cushy SUV. They all insisting on dryers to save 5 minutes. Or they all starting to drink bottled water. Did you know
it takes 1/4 bottle oil to bring 1 bottle of water to you? The same oil they make gasoline of? (This is actually a real peeve of mine. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day from tap, which is perfectly fine in most US municipalities, costs you
49 cents a year. The same amount in bottled water costs you 1,400 dollars. How's that for savings?)
Are you going to tell those people they cannot aspire to the same lifestyle we have? You can say you don't give a damn about the Chinese or Indians, but the point is, as they keep developing they will force changes onto us whether we like it or not. There is no inherent right to cheap energy for the US or anyone. There are only so much resources to go around and the US cannot keep consuming 21% of the world's energy with only 4.6% of the world's population. If measures like the one discussed here encourage a more thoughtful use of energy, so be it.
