It reminds me of the whole EV fiasco. Pipelines have to be evaluated by all upstream and downstream factors (because oil=bad) but EV's are labelled zero emission because hey, don't you dare talk about all that mining that's required, or the fumes from the battery fires, or the total inability to recycle them. It's always ideology over logic. Same for wind turbines and solar panels.
Planned obsolescence is surely a real thing. I have owned four Keurig coffee makers in the past twelve years - each has simply and inexplicably quit working after three years. Hmm.
Why do I remain loyal to the brand? I replace it every time with the current version of the same model because (a) I am happy with the brew and (b) it’s affordable. Probably what the manufacturer is counting upon.
It sounds like you’re conflating two different, but related issues here. The first is declining longevity of appliances. There seem to be many reasons for this.
You then bring up government regulations and mention how they might be related to declining effectiveness of appliances.
You imply, but nowhere make a connection between the decline in longevity and (possible) decline in effectiveness.
The implication is that government regulation is partially responsible for appliances that break sooner. Perhaps I’ve missed it, but I think there’s a logical leap you are making here.
You're right that there's no underlying connection between those two issues. And you're also right that the article wasn't clear enough in separating them. But, indeed, I didn't mean to imply that government regulations were responsible for the core quality (vs functionality) issues.
I'm surprised there aren't opensource household appliances. Before anyone gets skeptical whether this could have an impact see how Linux recently hit about 5% of desktop market. Even much of computer hardware & firmware is available opensource. In the past decade there have been several attempts at opensource washing machines, fridges etc, but none have got off the ground. the common failure of these projects is they promised affordable appliances. This is the wrong approach. People might be willing to spend 3 times the normal price if they are guaranteed a machine that's future proof and free of government regulation.
Government regulations are on the device. If you just buy components and put them together yourself that should be ok. But your right Canada in perticular isn't likely to make a distinction between a fridge minus the compressor like American gun laws
It reminds me of the whole EV fiasco. Pipelines have to be evaluated by all upstream and downstream factors (because oil=bad) but EV's are labelled zero emission because hey, don't you dare talk about all that mining that's required, or the fumes from the battery fires, or the total inability to recycle them. It's always ideology over logic. Same for wind turbines and solar panels.
Planned obsolescence is surely a real thing. I have owned four Keurig coffee makers in the past twelve years - each has simply and inexplicably quit working after three years. Hmm.
Why do I remain loyal to the brand? I replace it every time with the current version of the same model because (a) I am happy with the brew and (b) it’s affordable. Probably what the manufacturer is counting upon.
It sounds like you’re conflating two different, but related issues here. The first is declining longevity of appliances. There seem to be many reasons for this.
You then bring up government regulations and mention how they might be related to declining effectiveness of appliances.
You imply, but nowhere make a connection between the decline in longevity and (possible) decline in effectiveness.
The implication is that government regulation is partially responsible for appliances that break sooner. Perhaps I’ve missed it, but I think there’s a logical leap you are making here.
You're right that there's no underlying connection between those two issues. And you're also right that the article wasn't clear enough in separating them. But, indeed, I didn't mean to imply that government regulations were responsible for the core quality (vs functionality) issues.
Arrrgghhhh! We all know it and can’t do anything about it! A/C units, toasters, it goes on and on. Difficult for folks on a fixed income for sure.
I'm surprised there aren't opensource household appliances. Before anyone gets skeptical whether this could have an impact see how Linux recently hit about 5% of desktop market. Even much of computer hardware & firmware is available opensource. In the past decade there have been several attempts at opensource washing machines, fridges etc, but none have got off the ground. the common failure of these projects is they promised affordable appliances. This is the wrong approach. People might be willing to spend 3 times the normal price if they are guaranteed a machine that's future proof and free of government regulation.
The problem is that government regulations are kind of difficult to avoid...
Government regulations are on the device. If you just buy components and put them together yourself that should be ok. But your right Canada in perticular isn't likely to make a distinction between a fridge minus the compressor like American gun laws