Pay now, or later!
Sustainability in general asks the consumer to consider a change in thinking. It sounds easy but in reality, the shift in thinking is a major shift for most people.
Sustainability asks – “pay now”, while the current culture says “pay later”. Think about it. Over the decades our culture and economy has slowly shifted to a platform of pay later. The concept of credit, mortgages, conspicuous consumerism, waste disposal or even our health system suggests you can do what you want today for free and pay later – no money down, no interest.
The problem with paying later is it’s always with interest — at tomorrow’s dollar too! It’s entirely unpredictable as well as exemplified by climate change.
So sustainability says “pay now” — at today’s dollar, predictably.
How does this apply? Well in particular if you apply the thinking to costs of sustainable products and services such as geothermal heating in the home, it makes it seem a lot more attractive.
Matt Irvine of NextEnergy says “we ask our clients to consider that when they purchase our Geothermal solutions they are buying a lifetime of heat and fuel”. Though the cost to do this compared to conventional heating seems high – 2 to 3 times higher — once purchased the cost to operate in todays dollar is practically free when compared to tomorrows dollar and diminished environmental impact.
Buying a conventional heating system asks you to pay for heating and fuel at tomorrows dollar plus increasing environmental impact. When added up, the conventional system costs much much more in the long term. When you think about it as a pure business decision, scenario 1 is responsible. Scenario 2 is irresponsible.