Saving the world through technology

2002-09-25

Okay, so that title is a little overblown but a few things are going on here. I just saw a commerical today by Sharp that has a new spin on selling LCD TVs which are somewhat popular here in Japan.

The spin is it's good for the environment. According to the commerical LCD TVs use 31% less energy than standard tube TVs. I'm acutally surprised it's only 31% less. Then again, Organic LCDs are supposed to be out soon with brighter images, using less engergy and they are cheaper to make.

The other point they made is that LCD TVs last longer than tube TVs. I don't know what the average life span is for tube TV. The 9 inch color TV I had as a teen still has a great picture. But, the commerical claimed the LCD TVs have a 60,000 hour average life span. That's almost 7 years if left on 24 hours a day all the time. I guess I can see that tube TVs don't last that long just by looking at some of the public ones like the monitors used in Airports etc.

Another thing which I've mentioned before is broadband internet. Here in Japan, all the ADSL providers now offer 12megabit connections for $30 a month. I just got a flyer from Usen that they now offer 100megabit connections in my area for $50 a month. 100megabits!!!

The point is that the more wired we get the less resources we need to use for certain things. Almost none of my family uses film or develops photos anymore. We use digital cameras, e−mail or put hundreds on 1 CD.

None of my friends write letters anymore unless it's to someone without e−mail and I'm sure it will only be 10 or 15 years before pretty much everybody in 1st world countries has e−mail. It's almost to the point that not having e−mail would be as strange as not having a phone.

I mentioned the other day that MD players are now running up to 193 hours on one battery.

Personally I find it encouraging.

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