My wife recently pulled out electrical, and natural gas bills....from the past decade, and from the previous house (1994 to 2013). We went to a new refrigerator, new washer, and new dryer upon the move. Two years ago, we went to an entire new furnace for the heating situation. The freezer in the basement? Highest grade and lowest wattage of any that they had on display. The windows and doors in the place now? All renovated and 'sealed'.
Here's the thing....we use around 70-percent of the electricity that we did in the 1990s. If you tried to suggest further cuts....I have doubts that you'd have much of anything to pursue.
On natural gas? We use around 50-to-60 percent of the required heat that we did in the 1990s.
Lights? With one exception, every light in the house is LED.
The only real electrical consumption in the house? The stove/oven, and the dryer. That's it.
On fuel usage? If you calculated the cars we had in the 1990s (on average), and the use of one vehicle today....we are probably using one-third less on gas consumption.
Drying clothing? From April through late summer.....clothing are hung on the balcony. It's strictly winter months that we use the dryer.
If you gaze around the German community I live in, I'd say more than three-quarters of society have gone down the same path. With the savings, they all go off to the airport, and fly to various exotic locations to reward themselves. The airlines? They've all gone to newer planes which get better mileage.
The idea of using the train to get to Amsterdam, Vienna or Hamburg? No thanks....by the time you figure in the Bahn 'problems' and occasional plan 'B' situations....no one really trusts the Bahn to get you there.
I hate to say it....but the youthful activists don't see the vast landscape. The idea that we MUST accomplish X, Y and Z....in quick fashion, and it's their solution which probably needs more review and open discussion....which is now on a pointed stick.
Almost every ten years, there's an entire new technology era. You can see it in travel options, medical situations, logistics, communications, and farming.
Public TV or 'normal' TV? Streaming video from a dozen different sources....offer more variety. I have a radio in the kitchen which I can set to a Irish station and get streaming music.
The 9-Euro Bahn/bus ticket that the 'Last Generation' get hyped-up about? Well...it's not supportable unless the government taxes the general public to a greater extent, and pays for services out of their pocket. The 9-Euro ticket only benefits Germans in highly urbanized areas. Those other 30-percent of society.....living in rural regions? They get virtually nothing much out of the 9-Euro deal.
The speed limit discussion by the 'Last Generation'? Well...we are within ten years of self-driving cars being delivered. They will speed along at what they (the car's computer) considers as a safe speed......whether in sunlight, rain, mist, or snow. The safety discussion at that point is rendered useless by the car's thinking and logic patterns. In that same time period, new gas/diesel cars will no longer be sold....so it'll only be battery power (NOT gas) that run the vehicles.
I'm of the group that believes that general society should just stand out of the way of development, and let technology take its time to make things improved on their own.
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