Daren’s post reminded me of some thoughts I had recently while recalling this Wall Street Journal article and cruising the Raleigh News and Observer ads for new home appliances. Not only do the next-generation appliances have problems delivering quality for the dollar, they represent a hefty premium in total up-front price over the older, garden variety?though presumably not-so-green ?appliances. And that brings me to my point.

The last time I needed to get an estimate for yet another repair to my 13 year old electric clothes dryer, purchased new for around $300.00, I determined that if the repair was greater than $100.00 I’d just scrap it and get a new one. Not any more. Now that super-duper efficient dryers are going for $700-$1400.00, I’ll probably keep fixing my old inefficient one for quite a number of years to come.

Many thanks to our regulators for forcing manufacturers (and thereby forcing consumers) to update the ‘appliance fleet.’ Can’t wait until I can also afford these resource-saving wonders.

And I thought earned income was a resource–silly me.