"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:31:37 GMT, "Alan Holmes"
wrote:


"Martin" wrote in message
. ..
On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:18:41 -0000, "Rupert \(W.Yorkshire\)"
wrote:


"Martin" wrote in message
m...
On 25 Jan 2007 03:34:49 -0800, "La Puce" wrote:


If our attitude is to save money, many of us are saving money for the
long run, not for a quick fix. I have never expected anything to be
cheap. I have had this argument with my husband many times when he
finds something cheap and thinks it's a bargain. I hate bargains. I
know that it will break and that we will have no other choice but to
throw away.

Lidl and Aldi electrical goods have a three year guarantee and seem to
be
the
same quality as more expensive stuff.
In a Consumer test the two best ABMs were EUR220 and EUR 30.
Price doesn't necessarily mean quality.

Those of us who have lived in NL too long are constantly looking for
bargains
and finding them. We rarely, if ever pay, the RRP. Almost everything
we
own was
a bargain including our 20 year old Sony TV , which was cheap because
it
had a
small blemish on the screen, but came with a full guarantee. We took
it
back to
the Sony importer who exchanged it for one without any defects. Most
of
our
white goods are "last years models". Who cares about the current
fashion,
when
they last 20 years? BCC rules!
--

Martin

If you believe saving energy is important then I can assure you that
brand
new white goods (Fridges/freezers/washers etc) are considerably more
efficient than 10 year old models.

I don't believe in throwing away things to save small amounts of energy.
The
things thrown away took a lot of energy to make. I don't leave the TV,
VCR, etc.
on standby 24 hours a day.

The energy used for the standby is miniscule compared with the amount of
energy thrown away on motorways which have two Kilowatts of light every
hundred yards, over thousands of miles!

So switch the motorway lights off and have more accidents?

There are a few motorways which do not have lights, do you know that there
are more accidents on those?

And, you may not have noticed, but most cars and other vehicles have things
called lights, which are usually switched on when it's dark, although there
are a number of idiots who seem to think they are needed when the sun is
shining brightly!

And are there many accidents on roads which do not have lighting on them,
which is often the case in the country.

The amount of energy wasted by devices left on standby is not trivial.
How many have you got on standby in your house?

Enlighten me as to how much is not 'trivial'?

I have about three on standy, each using a few milliamps, compared with the
killowatts used on motorways.

And swithing off standby means that the machine has to be reset when you
want to use it again, clocks and programmes.

Nothing to reset on our TV which I always switch off after use.

Have you swicked off your video recorder when you have it set to record
things which are being broadcast either tomorrow or the day after?

Some video recorders need the clocks reset after a mains failiar, like
switching it off!

Alan