

Cringely: Sometimes going green hurts more than it helps - ph0rque
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080221_004346.html

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mnemonicsloth
The operating logic of most environmentalists is:

* Something must be done.

* This is something.

* Therefore it must be done.

Most environmental activists (and sadly, even many environmental policy-
makers) tend to see you as standing in the way of progress if you try to get
them to understand the engineering implications of what they want to do.

The key is that they understand "negative environmental externalities" (==
"Destroying The Earth") in emotional rather than engineering terms, so they
have no way to access concepts like "good-enough solution," "necessary evil,"
or "minimal impact." There are only environmental problems they know about
("Nuclear Fuel Comes From Satan's Pooper") and ones they don't ("Several of
the reactants used to make solar cells are toxic enough to use as chemical
weapons").

~~~
frankus
Ah, the old Carpet Bowling fallacy:

“I think a new, different kind of bowling should be ‘carpet bowling.’ It's
just like regular bowling, only the lanes are carpet instead of wood. I don't
know why we should do this, but my God, we've got to try something!”

— Jack Handey

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ph0rque
As someone with a materials science/engineering background, I'm a bit
skeptical of the claim that no-one knows why the whiskers grow. Usually a
given material changes its state/configuration because that's the lowest
thermodynamical configuration for that material to be in given the particular
temperature/pressure. Maybe I'm way off base here, but I think the whiskers
are growing due to elevated temperature caused by resistance heating...?

~~~
mechanical_fish
You are correct as far as you go, but what you're saying is contained in the
first ten pages of any book on device reliability. There is at least one whole
Ph.D. project's worth of additional research between your statement and the
time when you throw up your hands in despair because your Monte Carlo models
just don't seem to work.

If you really want to know, you'll have to read the papers. I'm sure there are
quite a lot of them. The incentive to solve this problem is very, very high.

~~~
ph0rque
Sure, what I'm saying is just the basic stuff. What I was getting at was the
air of mystery in Cringely's column regarding why the whiskers grow.

I guess I want to know as much as you want to look up the papers :~).

~~~
mechanical_fish
I slept through this class once already. Now it is your turn. :)

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jcromartie
The "Green" agenda (or at least the one pushed by marketing departments)
always seems to ignore the fact that money has an environmental cost attached
to it.

That $400 "green" desk lamp? There is probably more environmental cost
associated with buyers working jobs to earn an extra $400 than with just
manufacturing a more traditional $20 lamp in the first place.

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xirium
From the article: "just the cost of changing to lead-free solder stands right
now at $280 BILLION and climbing. That cost is borne by all of us."

Suddenly, getting 20, end of line, lead solder, crystal oscillators for 4.5
pence each doesn't seem like such a bargain.

Surely, adequate ventilation would have been sufficient? Something like a
chemistry extraction chamber?

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frankus
Any idea if the claims of silver and bismuth being more harmful than lead (!)
have any truth to them?

Silver is used in cake toppings and bismuth is what turns Pepto-Bismol pink. I
realize ubiquitous != safe, but c'mon.

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codewhisperer
Completely fascinating rant.

Somewhere there's a counter argument in favor of non-critical systems
achieving planned obsolence through joint failure and the economic benefit of
consumers purchasing replacements. I'm not about to make it myself, but it is
available.

~~~
mhb
It's available, incorrect, and was refuted in 1850 (search for broken window
parable).

~~~
hobbs
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window>

