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This is the "Reduce" philosophy. Not all agree with that philosophy - especially in the developing world who feel unfair if development and conveniences that th
by sfifs 7y ago
This is the "Reduce" philosophy. Not all agree with that philosophy - especially in the developing world who feel unfair if development and conveniences that the west got is denied to them. I personally moved from a energy non-intensive use country (India) to an energy intensive use country (Singapore) a few years ago and even though economic strata wise I've likely gone down a few notches, I wouldn't trade-in my current lifestyle & convenience for what I had back in India.
"Reduce" for the sake of reduction is just poor behavioral economics & hence hasn't actually demonstrably made much of a difference to this world.
Reduce as a side effect of a true benefit/efficiency (think how much lesser power is consumed per unit compute today vs. even 5 years ago) makes a lot of sense.
- adwww 7y agoIt's how you plan society as well. Singapore is dense and has great public transport. America conciously builds sprawling suburbs that require private cars to get around. We can choose to build a society that does not need as much car use.
- sfifs 7y agoTrue and Singapore's government has been very systematic about broadening public transport access - not just for energy reasons but also for economic participation & health reasons (people walk a lot more). But Singapore also air conditions everything which is a fairly heavy energy use in tropical climate much like how heating is a massive energy use in northern climates and spends a lot of effort/energy on keeping sidewalks, grounds and pavements manicured, watered & in good repair. As the founder of Singapore argued, the lifestyle gain - though at the cost of consuming more energy is a massive competitive advantage in productivity and in attracting, developing & retaining talent. https://www.vox.com/2015/3/23/8278085/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-air-conditioning https://www.vox.com/2015/3/23/8278085/singapore-lee-kuan-yew...
- komali2 7y agoIs there anything that can be done to keep an office a reasonable temperature in a tropical climate like Singapore? I guess if we were all hanging out under open air roofs with our flip flops and swimsuits on, but other than AC I don't know how they could do "business people" office stuff.
- adwww 7y agoYou could build to passive principles - greater thermal mass and careful management of solar gain. Eg. http://leepenghui.blogspot.com/2016/06/passivhaus-in-tropics.html http://leepenghui.blogspot.com/2016/06/passivhaus-in-tropics...
- sandworm101 7y agoIt is a little more complicated than that. Cars have all sorts of emissions beyond their engines (brake dust, tire rubber, micoplastics etc). The simpler, lighter, not-BMW car will have fewer of these emissions. Keeping and older car on the road longer, reducing the need to generate a shiny new vehicle, can also reduce emissions.