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Old 09-18-20, 03:13 PM   #6
CrankyDoug
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Georgia
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I've never done the numbers or even bothered to google it, but for those of us that work for a living there must be some carbon penalty for earning a living. Petrol comes to mind. Whether the eco in ecorenovator means economy or ecology, they are interconnected.

Every smart appliance has at least one PCB, without which the appliance is dead. And dead is what they become if lightning strikes within ten miles. Every such board I've examined has holes and a silkscreen outline for nonexistant surge devices. As for brownout protection of switching supplies, I have never seen a low voltage dropout on an appliance board. I've lost several devices over the years from brownouts, including top dollar computer power supplies that should have this protection.

What's the carbon penalty for spending $300 + labor to replace these boards? What if the board can't be replaced? As opposed to the carbon penalty for using dumb appliances that last 20 years.

Home automation is fun. Most of what I've seen in that area fails the eco test.
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