« Fragrance Plugins: Fruits of the Devil »

As I was busy plugging in a new air freshener this morning, I noticed a little power usage annotation on the back… ~ 2.1WAnd I thought - what the heck - these things *draw* that much power? They don’t do anything!!!!And then I started looking around to see if anyone else had noticed this - and what the power consumption actually is for these plug-in air fresheners.

Total electricity consumption then is: * 20 million units x 2.5w x 24 hours x 365 days / 1000 = 438,000,000 kWh (kilowatt hours, the standard measurement in the US for power consumption over time) * To power a year’s worth of Glade Plug-Ins therefore requires almost 26 million gallons of oil, or 613,000 barrels (one gallon of oil produces 17kWh of electricity, there are 42 US gallons in a barrel, so 714kWh per barrel) * It also equates to 1/8 the output of a typical 500 megawatt coal-fired power plant. In the course of producing this much energy, the power plant will also create 1250 tons of sulfer dioxide (causes acid rain) and almost half a million tons of carbon dioxide (causes global warming).

Richardsona // Adam Richardson’s Blog - Blog - The Surprising Energy Consumption of Glade Plug-Ins

More info over at Apartment Therapy indicates that the plug-ins aren’t only enviro unfriendly, but also contain chemicals that can have an impact on our health!!!!

Air fresheners have become a staple in many American homes and offices,marketed with the promise of creating a clean, healthy, and sweet-smellingindoor atmosphere. But many of these products contain phthalates(pronounced thal-ates)—hazardous chemicals known to cause hormonalabnormalities, birth defects, and reproductive problems.

This is uncool. I’m pretty sure I’m a bit of a goof for using these things.

(jules now walks through the house unplugging everything)

Alternatives:If you can’t totally unwind from having interesting smells, you gotta switch to the infusion choices:Fragrance Diffusers at Fruits and Passion

The Body Shop’s Fragrance Diffuser

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