The purchase of residential wind turbines is proving popular, but as this story highlights, this may not be the best way to be green.
Except if all you’re interested in is looking green then it may be the right thing to do. As with supporting a charity, for many people it’s which charity they support, and how visible their support is, which is why there’s a great deal of inefficiency in the charitable sector. If you’re more interested in letting people know you care about the environment, rather than really caring for it, then you’d plump for the most obvious, salient action likely to draw attention.
Switching to energy saving lightbulbs or turning off appliances, though probably better for the environment, are behaviours more likely to send your dinner party guests into torpor, compared to buying a hot new gadget. They are actions which also require continuous effort. So when you hear of a politician who has adopted the latest fad, ask how much cost are they really bearing to change their lifestyle, and is their action the best response given the facts.
