There are those who, for selfish, near-term interests, work hard to obscure the truth and only pretend to be part of the solution. When it comes to products and information, buyer beware.
First, the bad news: LG has been caught cheating by rigging it’s refrigerators to pass an energy efficiency test. It’s not the first time for LG (see Watts In Your Kitchen? ). Seems some people in the company not only cheat, but cheat poorly. On the bright side, the CEO of PG&E and a well-respected environmental scientist have collaborated on a very readable white paper on the science of global climate change and a response that will have a minimum negative effect on the U.S. economy in the short term, and very positive effects for the long term.
As reported in The Sydney Morning Harold, LG was caught with an illegal device in its model L197NFS and P197WFS refrigerators. The illegal device kicks the refrigerators into low power mode when it detects the temperature at which the refrigerators are tested in the lab (typically 22°C). So it shows Energy Star-level efficiency in the test, but costs more than $250 (Australian) to operate over a 10 year period than it would if it was energy efficient in the home. LG advertises that the fridges uses 738 kWh per year, when they actually use 876 kWh. There is another problem. The refrigerators can shut off when opened—putting your food at risk of spoiling.
Peter A. Darbee is the Chairman of the Board, CEO, and President of PG&E Corporation. His coauthor of the paper, Climate Change for Policymakers and Business Leaders, is Christopher B. Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C. For Darbee, global climate change is a business challenge; for Field, it’s pure science. Among other things, this is what they agree on.
- Global climate change will increase the severity of extreme weather events (including snow storms on the east coast); severely disrupt agricultural growing seasons and therefore create food shortages; increase scarcity of water for drinking, irrigation, and energy production; and make populated coastal areas vulnerable because of rising sea levels.
- Combating climate change through carbon cap and trade mechanisms, improved energy efficiency, and increased renewable energy will, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office, minimally impact U.S. economic output through 2050, while the positive economic effects of investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and a cleaner, healthier and more stable planetary climate will dwarf these negative effects.
I believe that, given the right information, more than 50% of us will see an environmental problem clearly and do what we can to fix it. But getting to 50% requires leadership—the kind that Darbee, a businessman, and Field, a scientist, are trying to provide through their white paper. Then there are those who, for selfish, near-term interests, work hard to obscure the truth and only pretend to be part of the solution. When it comes to products and information, buyer beware.