[intoverflow2]

Wonder what the harmful emissions from my flat and walk to work were vs the van. /s

Smug statements about how wasteful people not living in these fringe conditions are always remind me of the Soylent founder lecturing about how doing laundry wastes water while also reordering all his clothes from china when they get dirty. [1]

[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/op-ed-how-i-gave-up-...

[mod]

I was incredulous that someone could be so obtuse, so I went and eventually found the quote. You've done a really poor job of paraphrasing him.

He reorders his clothes on what we can presume is a similar time scale to normal folks', and he washes them with "less water", "thanks to synthetic fibers."

It's interesting that you've included your source and managed to totally misrepresent it.

[binarysolo]

I remember reading the article awhile ago and came across the same passage (and remember having a similar reaction):

"I have not done laundry in years. I get my clothing custom-made in China for prices you would not believe and have new ones regularly shipped to me. Shipping is a problem. I wish container ships had nuclear engines but it’s still much more efficient and convenient than retail. Thanks to synthetic fabrics it takes less water to make my clothes than it would to wash them, and I donate my usedgarments, helping out those in need."

To me that reads like the author just buys a bunch of clothes new, then donates them when dirty because the cost of washing the clothes exceeds replacement value.

[mod]

I really think he's saying he doesn't use a washer/dryer.

He states very clearly that he washes and reuses them.

[dragonwriter]

> He states very clearly that he washes and reuses them.

No, he very clearly does not state that he washes or reuses them. Here is the clothing section, in full:

--- I enjoy doing laundry about as much as doing dishes. I get my clothing custom made in China for prices you would not believe and have new ones regularly shipped to me. Shipping is a problem. I wish container ships had nuclear engines but it’s still much more efficient and convenient than retail. Thanks to synthetic fabrics it takes less water to make my clothes than it would to wash them, and I donate my used garments.

It bothers me immensely that all clothing is hand made. Automation is woefully absent from the textile industry, but I don’t think it always will be. For now a few new t shirts and jeans per month is not very offensive. I certainly buy less clothing overall than a typical consumer. Synthetic fabrics are easy to recycle and I believe will soon be made with biofuels. Still, this area needs some work. ---

The only reference to washing them is the water savings of buying new over what it would take to wash them; now, he also says that he buys "a few new jeans and t-shirts each month" and "less clothing than the typical consumer". Now, those descriptions appear to conflict, and either one of them seems to suggest enough reuse that many people would assume he must be washing them a few times -- going with the first (which is the one least indicative of reusing clothes a lot), and assuming "a few" is not more than 5 of each, he'd have to be wearing each at least ~6 times, which seems a lot without washing. But he doesn't say he is washing, that's just an implication that is easy, though not necessarily correct, to read into his statement.

[upvotinglurker]

"it takes less water to make my clothes than it would to wash them" rather implies that he does not wash them (otherwise the most logical wording would be "it takes less water to make my clothes than it does to wash them")

[link_108]

That is correct that he says he doesn't use a washer or dryer, however it is incorrect to saw that he washes and reuses them with the information provided. He says it takes less water to make the clothes than to wash them, not that he actually washes them. In fact, he says he donates his used clothing, not mentioning if they have been washed or not.

[classisch]

Agreed! The same goes for my solar panels: Yes, I use a renewable source of energy. But how many resources were required to built these panels and once they break, where do they go?

I'm not quite sure the ecological footprint of my life style is smaller than of someone who lives in an apartment in Berlin. However since I live in the van, I pay way more attention to where I and others waste resources. Maybe a first step to make a change?

[wellboy]

Solar panels make their ecological footprint after 3 years of use and last for 30 years. 80% of the material in solar panels is recycled from old solar panels.

So no matter how you turn it, solar panels are a lot alot more environmentally friendly than convential energy sources.

[FooHentai]

>80% of the material in solar panels is recycled from old solar panels.

That doesn't pass the sniff test. Solar cell production is on a strong upwards curve, if 80% is recycled from other panels then supply would be bounded by old solar stock recovery, which is not the case.

I can't see how 80% of solar panel material, even if we're talking exclusively about the PV cells and not the surrounds, could be from old solar panels, especially not 30 year old solar panels.

[wellboy]

In fact it is 90% http://earth911.com/eco-tech/recycle-solar-panels/ and there are nee processes that reach 96%.

[FooHentai]

That's 90% of the material being recovered from old solar panels, not 90% of new panels being made up of recycled material.

That's still great news, but nothing like:

>80% of the material in solar panels is recycled from old solar panels.

Which implies new panels rolling off the production line consisted of 80% recycled material from old panels. That's not possible. If you have 10 old panels coming in to be recycled, and you recover 90% of the materials from them, and you're producing 100 new panels (since production is increasing), at best you're gonna get 9% recycled material into your new panels.

[JKCalhoun]

> But how many resources were required to built these panels

You manufacture things like that near (nearly) free energy sources like rivers.

[pascalxus]

what does he mean with "It bothers me immensely that all clothing is hand made. Automation is woefully absent from the textile industry"?

I thought all clothing construction was automated in factories, like any assembly line automation.