[raybbr]

Ran across this during a foray into other things. The comments are interesting.

Here's mine:

"The reason, she thinks, is that given the political polarization of the climate change debate, environmental activism is so frowned upon by those the right that they’ll do anything to keep themselves distanced from it."

Absolutely wrong. The reason is that most conservatives have researched the "green" label and found, in most cases, it is used as a) a sales gimmick b) as a sales gimmick based on erroneous data c) a sales gimmick rooted in the cause of "saving the earth" which has proven to be pure hyperbole d) a sales gimmick that when, in depth analysis is done, most often results in the discovery that the "green" item actually utilizes more energy in its production than the item it's replacing.

None of the above are mutually exclusive and any combination of the above may be true.

I do not automatically believe anything is "green" until I research it. The progressive/liberal is mentally roped to labels and therefore does not bother to find out the truth and blindly follows the label's path to their own self-aggrandizement as a "saver of the earth".

[Thebaddog]

I tried working with green suppliers for work and they were all goofs. It was like they were from Venus and resistant to any competitive urges whatsoever. And they’re all out of business now.

[Maceman]

The answer to the author’s question is simple: “Make a rational argument.”

But a better question is: “How do you get progressive leftists to BUY A FREAKING CLUE?”

[FreedomPoster]

How Do You Get Conservatives to Buy Energy Efficient Products?

Show us a 3-5 year simple payback. This isn’t that hard, and conservatives buy on logic not emotions.

In a previous life, I did energy studies for commercial and institutional buildings. Lighting energy was an important aspect of this, and I know how to run the numbers. I’m a master at figuring out all the screwy stuff electrical utilities do, to make their commercial rates difficult to understand. Figuring payback on a residential rate is a piece of cake.

Back to the issue at hand: I have a number of lights that run very, very few hours a year. As a for-instance, I have a crawl space that gets used for some overflow storage that has four porcelain base screw in fixtures with 100W A19 lamps (regular light bulbs). They *might* be on 10 hours a year. 20 if I have a project that requires stringing wire or running pipe across the crawl space. There is no way a compact fluorescent light bulb pays back in this scenario, let alone an LED light bulb. But yet, all-knowing government has told me I must have the CFL or better, no more 100W A-lamps for you!

Needless to say, I have a good stockpile of them down there.

[yldstrk]

Conservatives know that it is cheaper to buy the gas to keep your old car going than spend 35K on some dopey excuse for a golf cart

[Iron Munro]

It is not by coincidence that the same people who are easily suckered into buying the latest fad “green” product are the same people who helped put Obama in the White House.

[urtax$@work]

We installed fluorescent bulbs throughout abt 2yrs ago
when they stated making the soft white - did not like
the ‘cool white’ .

Installed a digital thermostat last year. Together,
these have cut our power bill by %30 . Another factor
was our change of lifestyle when the youngest moved
away for college. Led to less lights on. We think a
lot more too about shutting off any light not in use
where applicable.

My %30 is a guess it could be more.... some things i cannot calculate because i dont follow it much are our gas rates.. they may have dropped some.

[Yo-Yo]

How Do You Get Conservatives to Buy Energy Efficient Products?

When it no longer carries a "premium" to be green, conservatives will buy energy efficient products. We don't do things 'for the sake of planet Gaia' when we know the science behind it is crap.

[PeterPrinciple]

I put LED lights in my office. They are so hot I can’t touch them. I am guessing they are 12 volt and have to be transformed from 120 volt to 12. They must measure the energy consumption AFTER the transformer!

[Caipirabob]

How Do You Get Conservatives to Buy Energy Efficient Products?

The very essence of conservatism is "Conservation", a minimalist, least intrusive philosophy resulting in the greatest amount of personal freedom and liberty for a society.

So in truth, the left view that seems to lead into the conclusion that conservatives don't want a clean, efficient energy source is farcical and perverse.

The truth is we want a reliable, functional, serviceable clean energy source that meets the needs that originally motivated the purchase of said product. A "fad" simply isn't enough to compel the thinking consumer to engage themselves in a societal movement, there must be viable, tangible benefits resulting from the use of these products.

To date, that has not been overwhelmingly evident. In fact, it's been the opposite. One primary example are the "efficient flow toilets"...a product designed to conserve water. However almost a generation of feedback has shown that in truth, they must be flushed twice for the same performance, therefore actually increasing consumption and associated costs, not reducing them.

Anyone have the newer "efficient" dishwashers and clothes washers? Anyone who has one, do you miss your old one? That's what I hear mostly. Sure, they sound like a whisper of rain when they clean dishes or they sing to you and play Waltzes when your clothes are done, but results? Highly rated, energy efficient, yet it doesn't really perform as well as the old unit. You know what? I want the performance and I am going to pay for performance. If my household uses more energy as a result? Well, only NAZIS are going to complain about it. I'll put their name on a list for later reference.

There's a world of products hailed as "efficient" that in the end, produce similar results. After so many years and so many failures, such marketing has the very same appeal as the typical carpet bagger-fly by night sales gimmick.

"Honey did you remember to plug in the Volt?"

And yes, there are some decent products out there. They are doing quite well in sales and there are more and more people compelled to pay the premium price to get a hold of said products.

However for the most part, for every truly remarkable "efficient" product out there, there is an ocean of fraud and false claims.

This movement has been going on nearly a generation now and so far, we have the Toyota Prius that stands out as a winner, but I am hard pressed to name anything else that stands out as a marketing success on it's own merit and does not rely on slew of pathetic endorsements by government and Hollywood "royalty".

So keep trying, if we run into a truly great product that yields the benefits promised, the free market will reward the producer. Until then, the left can shove their piety right up their keister.

[tomkat]

When they're the best value for money, of course !

             

For anyone wanting 100w output, 'Rough Service Bulbs' are what to look for.

Part of my calculation of 'best value for money' is the extent to which a given purchase pisses on econazi corn flakes .. ymmv

[VRW Conspirator]

...calling "sustainability" the gateway into a dystopic, Big Brother-patrolled liberal hellscape.

Worth repeating. We are letting the enviro-bullies decide where we should shut them down.

[Pan_Yan]

At work I’m responsible for utility bills of about $50k per month. When a vendor sends me proposals for quality products with an immediate cost savings with low pay back time I’m interested. Unfortunately most of the time their proposals also have a column telling me how many tons of green house gas emissions I’ll save over time. I have to resist the urge to drag it right to the ironically named recycle bin on my desktop.

[bigbob]

I buy lots of energy efficient products, I just don’t buy their crap science.

[outofsalt]

I would flush this article but it would take two or three flushes to get rid of it.

[Right Wing Assault]

Here’s a perfect example of “green” out of control.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2013/05/02/Obama-Spending-121-Million-To-Enclose-Building-With%20-Glass-And-Create-60-Jobs

The obama feds are going to spend $121,000,000 dollars to build a glass skin around a 32-story federal building in Cleveland to save $700,000 in energy costs per year. The payback would take over 170 years at current costs.

The building is already 46 years old. Odds are it will be torn down in a few years and replaced with another stimulus project fed building that will only cost a billion or so dollars.

Another “benefit” of the $121 million project is the creation of 60 short-term construction jobs.

[ModelBreaker]

“Last week, Energy Department researchers found that rules requiring utilities to use renewable energy were under attack in over half the states they exist in; such laws might have better luck fending off Bachmann-esque fusillades if they re-focus their rhetoric around their cost-savings, energy independence, or other benefits,...”

LOL. The problem is that message would have to be focused on explaining to conservatives how requiring utilities to use renewables is a “cost saving measure” for which consumers will have to pay about 25% more.

[iacovatx]

The researchers are falling short in their conduct of research if they haven’t done a pre-experiment study of samples from the populations of interest in the study. That pre-experiment work should have sought potential explanations, unless there was a specific theory being tested and that does not seem to be the case in this report.

If you slap a label on a product that signals the product is being sold by your enemies, that is, people who have in the past and who are actively working to reduce your quality of life and do so by insulting you with hateful stereotyping, you will reduce your interest in that product. It doesn’t have anything to do with conservative/liberal or energy efficiency. It has to do with the purchase of the product also funding your enemy. If that fact is hidden, the likelihood of purchasing the product is unaffected.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

And “green” products don’t work properly. Anyone purchase a washing machine recently?

[Wyatt's Torch]

Stop trying to shove it down our throats. Conservatives are smarter and if the value is there then we will buy this stuff on our own not because you force us to at the point of a government gun.

[Pontiac]

This isn’t just a problem for businesses trying to push energy-efficient products, but also for environmentalists and policymakers pushing to write efficiency or other climate-friendly policies into law, said Jessica Goodheart, director of RePower LA, which advocates for energy-saving practices in the Los Angeles power utility.

Goodheart said while tackling climate change is driving force behind her lobbying, she more often finds herself talking about jobs and the economy, especially when addressing small business owners.

The first love of any Conservative worth his salt is TRUTH.

Conservatives learned many years ago the environmentalist movement is based on lies. If it has one of those Green labels on it I know there is a lie somewhere beneath the surface. From Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” to the present the environmentalist have been lying to the public about the damage that mankind is doing to nature. So for me they have to be doubly convincing to sway be to their side.

The CFL is a good example. It may save you money in the long run but its utility is limited by a number of factors. Many of the bulbs can only be used when mounted in the upright direction or their life is greatly reduced. All CFLs (to my knowledge) are temperature sensitive. If they are below 40 degrees F they will take a few minutes to brighten up. They can’t be used out doors unless in a water tight enclosure. If you have children in your house you don’t want these things where a child might break them because they contain mercury. In any of these environments an incandescent light bulb would be superior.

I could go on and come up with similar list for just about any Green product you could name. So why not let the consumers make their own choices? Let the citizen choose whether they want to be Green. Not everyone’s circumstances are the same. Not everyone’s needs are the same. These Green products are not necessarily the best product for every application. Why do we need Congress and the president make these choices for us? If it takes laws to make us be Green obviously those who want us to choose a Green product haven’t made their case sufficiently convincing to sway us to their side.