I've gotten into the habit of advising others about simple technologies. Usually they involve one of two angles - saving money or improving quality of life for yourself and those around you. This is normally a good thing until I realize that certain situations can create competition between these two values. This competition between saving and quality of life (spending) is something I deal with on a case by case basis - but some people have chose to rehash my views without me to make a personal decision. So I figured that it is time to tackle competing value situations by re-hashing some examples.

Home infrastructure, like water heaters, are greatly inefficient and I have advocated alternatives to save money. Saving money is a priority for many people, but a nice warm shower in the morning (or evening) is important to a greater majority. This means you have to choose to either take one of the two extremes or meet in the middle. For example, some solar water heaters are only useful in the warmer six months so you swap back to natural gas or electric heat in the winter. Or use Photovoltaic panels and stay warm electrically all year - a a hit to efficiency due to multiple energy conversions. With this much confusion, some might not find it worth their time and cancel any changes - this part hurts the idealist in me, but that is me and not you. Everyone is responsible for their own choices, even though we are all in this society together.

The grey-scale of environmentalism pops up when we talk about Incandescent, Fluorescent, and Diode lighting sources. The most efficient is the LED technology, but acceptable colours are expensive and need to be spread out rather than using a single light source. Array lighting is new and changes how we need to think about design in order to become efficient. That kind of change tends to kill nostalgia, as every room in our new lighting era is bright in new ways. The grey zone in lighting kinda makes me worried, fluorescent lighting, as it is not the most efficient and carries new dangers. These new dangers can demolish the quality of life benefit to many consumers. Although some of my peers recently celebrated the European Union indefinite injunction on the sale of Incandescents. I think it is a great move for humanity to become more efficient together, but we shouldn't sell ourselves short - if LED bulbs are the most efficient then the EU Parliament should not be hypocritical and add Fluorescents to their ban before we experience mission crawl. (If the mission is to conserve energy, then it is not to protect businesses making fluorescent lighting. But they may use that excuse, which is a great error.) Some people think I am wrong because of the large price tag on quality LED lighting, but I have to admit that I'd rather see a spectrum from Candles, through Gas-torches, to Incandescents, and LEDs - my issue is with governments that pick and choose winners and losers rather than holding a goal and not cutting corners to get to it.

It really does seem like a solidarity movement in my own head between a libertarian and a socialist. Either way people should be able to save money and not introduce poison into their own homes. The libertarian would smile at the poorest finding work in the constant production of candles, distribution of natural gas, and sale of electricity from private vendors - and the technologically progressive people should gravitate toward efficient LED lighting. The socialist would choose the one cleanest power source, subsidize the LED appliances, force standards to ensure quality, and people would live in light. I guess even lighting can have a political spectrum.

I don't stand at one point on the spectrum (as of September 2009) but adapt to life situations developed at different points. Respond to grey development with grey ideas, and to green development with green ideas. I cannot guarantee that anyone will be 100% happy with the outcome on either end of the spectrum. I can guarantee that any barrier to positive human development will fall under the weight of its own burden. Thats when we get some real fun.

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