Environmental impact of our hobby

[don'ttrustauthority]

I've been thinking for some time about the environmental impact of our hobby. Specifically thinking about the tubes and Class A and A/B amps that we use (and dacs that need to stay on 24/7 Iggy). If you don't know about climate change I am not trying to debate you, I am asking those of us who are aware of climate change how we reconcile a love of music with a love of life.

I have a class D integrated and I was originally using it as a comparison with my Schiit Vidar but Im thinking now of keeping it because Florida is hot enough and i have to run the AC more when the Vidar is running.

Should we be selling off our high energy consumption gear, and should reviewers like Amir include as part of an evaluation of gear how much power it consumes.

 

[Juhazi]

Electric power consumption of hifi gear is minimal. Hundreds of Watts only when listening to disco levels, and for how long?

Much more impact if you skip some coffee cups daily! Or regarding hifi, stop buying "better" new gadgets. Anyway,tube or class A amps should only be used during wintertime, above lat 40 North

 

[Jimbob54]

Electric power consumption of hifi gear is minimal. Hundreds of Watts only when listening to disco levels, and for how long?

Much more impact if you skip some coffee cups daily! Or regarding hifi, stop buying "better" new gadgets. Anyway,tube or class A amps should only be used during wintertime, above lat 40 North

I agree. We need far bigger cultural shifts than worrying about the topography of our hifi. That's somewhere near the bottom of the list for me.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

I agree. We need far bigger cultural shifts than worrying about the topography of our hifi. That's somewhere near the bottom of the list for me.

I agree as well. But cultural shifts simply won't happen if we ignore our own behaviors. It's like my neighbor who keeps a fancy lawn but makes donations to the environmental lobby. It's not that the lawn matters, it's the message we send ourselves and our society by keep lawns and tube amps.f

Keep in mind I'm the kind of idiot that will walk across the room to recycle rather than discard a piece of paper.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Washing your socks have larger environmental impact I guess. All the power I use is hydroelectric and green anyway.

Buying more stuff has an environmental impact of course, but most of my gear in second hand anyway.

 

[Hipper]

Everything has an environmental impact and I see it as a good thing if we assess all aspects of our lives in order to reduce the damage we are doing.

I was always brought up to turn lights off when leaving the room so I've never liked the idea of leaving gear on all the time and never have, although I was told by a shop that my gear benefited from that. My guess is the benefits would be minimal.

I would think, apart from the sonic qualities, you could calculate what the savings in energy use would be for you as an individual. I suspect it's not much and wouldn't justify swapping gear just for that purpose.

It's different for goods like washing machines. I replaced my twenty five year old machine and found I was saving one fifth of my total water usage.

Far better to look at your sources of energy, transport etc..

 

[diddley]

What's wrong with a fancy lawn?
I think this is a non issue the watts spilled by hifi is at a level thats hardly seeable on the energy bill.

 

[Harmonie]

Any idea of power consumption of a single simple email ?

 

[diddley]

Any idea of power consumption of a single simple email ?

or the storage on the servers for one single youtube video?

 

[JeffS7444]

Reducing one's carbon footprint requires rethinking of a lot of things: For instance, you bought yourself a new energy-saving amplifier which is great. But how much carbon went into the manufacturing and logistics of delivering that new amplifier to you, and how long before you crave something else?

I'm not overly concerned about power useage of my A/V gear because when not in use, it draws 0 watts by virtue of being plugged into switched power strips, and even the cable modem and wifi are switched off overnight (minimal reliance on "smart" type devices here).

But speaking of which, so-called "smart" devices are their own can of worms: Besides the potential for privacy issues, their useful lifespan is usually decided by someone else. Ditto any products which rely on apps to provide key functionality.

 

[mhardy6647]

I don't feel great environmentally about using Class A amplification, with direct heated triodes, no less.
On the other hand, it's fleapowered (about 3 watts per channel at reasonable output THD levels), so, the power consumption's not really that bad (about 120 watts, IIRC).
And, of course, when it's switched off -- it is off.

DSC_0124 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

On the other, other hand , we make most of our own juice, so that makes me feel incementally less bad, too.

Plus, there's all of the vintage hifi here that's been kept out of the landfills of the northeast for lo these many decades.

All in all -- I can sleep at night, so far!

 

[pozz]

I always turn everything off when I'm not using it. A few watts is no big deal. A few watts in a few million households is.

 

[decoRyder]

I've been thinking for some time about the environmental impact of our hobby. Specifically thinking about the tubes and Class A and A/B amps that we use (and dacs that need to stay on 24/7 Iggy). If you don't know about climate change I am not trying to debate you, I am asking those of us who are aware of climate change how we reconcile a love of music with a love of life.

I have a class D integrated and I was originally using it as a comparison with my Schiit Vidar but Im thinking now of keeping it because Florida is hot enough and i have to run the AC more when the Vidar is running.

Should we be selling off our high energy consumption gear, and should reviewers like Amir include as part of an evaluation of gear how much power it consumes.

While your attitude is commendable, contrast that with the enormous needs in terms of electrical capacity we need and currently don't have for the purpose of electrifying even a fraction of our vehicles on the road, as we move from oil based to electric vehicles. HiFi gear won't make a difference, more clean power sources will.

 

[Ron Texas]

The big deal around here in amplification is Hypex and Purifi Class D which is highly efficient. Tubes and hot running Class A amplifiers are relatively rare. Most consumer gear has a standby mode. Years ago my Dynaco 410 needed 70 Watts at idle. My Crown XLS 1502 draws 18 Watts these days.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I've been thinking for some time about the environmental impact of our hobby. Specifically thinking about the tubes and Class A and A/B amps that we use (and dacs that need to stay on 24/7 Iggy). If you don't know about climate change I am not trying to debate you, I am asking those of us who are aware of climate change how we reconcile a love of music with a love of life.

I have a class D integrated and I was originally using it as a comparison with my Schiit Vidar but Im thinking now of keeping it because Florida is hot enough and i have to run the AC more when the Vidar is running.

Should we be selling off our high energy consumption gear, and should reviewers like Amir include as part of an evaluation of gear how much power it consumes.

I did have a preamp without an on switch but generally only have stuff on when I am using it.
Overnight, and until I want to use it the next day my hifi and TV are switched off at the mains socket. I am not bothered by the remote not switching it on first thing.
Overall, unless you run a couple of 200watt class A amps (I used to do when I had Apogee speakers) hifi is not a really big energy consumer compared to air con and heating.
It makes a much bigger environmental impact not to over heat your house in winter - wear a woolly pullover, or over cool it in summer.
Mind you domestic levels of stupid waste pale into total insignificance compared to something like a big shopping mall.
I have been into a mall in winter which was so hot I had to remove and carry my coat and sweater and the same one in summer where I was frozen in my tee shirt and shorts.
That is not only wasteful, it is very stupid indeed

 

[renaudrenaud]

Do not have any car. Use bikes. Nothing in the kitchen except a fridge, no wave oven or dishes machine. Streamer audio is LMS installed on an Orange Pi and players are ultra low consumption Orane Pi Zero. Amps : Class D with just the power I need, the whole system is 18W.

Use a RPI400 as main computer, around 3W. And so on (no TV etc...).

 

[Wes]

Any idea of power consumption of a single simple email ?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/oct/21/carbon-footprint-email

 

[egellings]

When I listen to my vacuum tube amped system, I turn it on, enjoy the music, usually by spinning vinyl or CDs and then turn it off when I'm done. I don't use it for background music at all. I play a small S.S receiver for that.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Sure I shut devices down if I don't need them and since I dislike hot components, I choose energy efficient ones if available.
I also try not to order new stuff unless I have a clear need for it (easy to do in HiFi, once you have your system up it can last you for a decade or longer).
Beyond that: I don't give a hoot about my personal energy consumption.

Energy consumption of the individual household is not the problem at all.
The big ones we need to address are: automotion/logistics, process-heat and heat for our houses. That can only be fixed with clean power SUPPLY. There is only so much energy we can save via making things more efficient.

Basically, what this planet needs it working nuclear fusion. Everything else is a stop-gap measure at best, considering the growth in power needs.

 

[Juhazi]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/oct/21/carbon-footprint-email

Development develops... We have some large data centers of Google etc. here in Finland, and the extra heat is used for community heating! Summertime heating need is minimal but many kinds of heat tanks are being developed.

https://www.yit.fi/en/infrastructur...JzCNottVpa3mVMZl4SA2BTlN33Xyk1mwaAtYAEALw_wcB