Opportunity Cost Writing Assignment Environmental Economics Professor Eric Jamelske Joshua Pedro 2/3/16
When one thinks of the energy used on a regular basis across the United States, one would not necessarily think simple things such as turning off lights or turning down the heat would make any real difference. At least that is what I thought as a child, until my parents started always asking me to turn off the lights in rooms I was not in, or telling me not to take such long showers, and even telling me to throw on a sweatshirt if I was cold, instead of turning up the heat. It was through antics such as these that my parents tried their best to not only conserve money, (the opportunity cost of putting in a sweatshirt in hopes of putting more money back in their pockets was for sure a tradeoff they have always been seemingly willing to make), but also energy in general. Although I was not alive in 1970 when President Jimmy Carter proposed the nation saving energy together by turning down the heat, I can imagine that most likely part of the reason that my parents always seemed to be telling me to conserve energy was in part due to the fact that they were alive during that time. Now this interesting idea of no holiday lights is something that would appear to need greater discussion. This is what I intend to do, discuss three different areas when it comes to this proposal. Incentives, logistics, and alternatives. The first thing would be incentives. What, if any, are the people of the US receiving in return for their tradeoff of less energy usage in regards to holiday lighting? This ought to be one of the first questions that the White House should consider and test before asking such a great sacrifice from the people. Because many would argue that the mere fact that this tradition provides a great deal of lifted spirits and “well-wishing”, that it would be quite detrimental to all classes, from impoverished to the upper class. Thus one could argue that a major opportunity cost would be that of lessened “holiday spirit”. So are there any incentives, and if so, what are they? This last question also opens the door for the next major prep phase. What exactly are the logistics of such a thing actually happening? People love holiday lights. The incentive has to be quite large if the government is going to attempt to do away with holiday lights. It seems hard to believe that there would actually be enough people willing to give up their current amount of energy usage to save, (in regard to their personal bill/amount of energy used), which is not a lot. It could also be said that many people would be out of jobs if this indeed did take place, as holiday lights are major portions of many lightbulb companies revenue. Which then leads in to the next question. Are there alternatives? Already invented, or able to be created. It is my own personal opinion that weeks after such an idea was proposed there would be many companies that would already be producing much more energy efficient lights or have done something much more radical, such as inventing a whole new lightbulb all together. Therefore in this sense, an idea such as this might not be the worst of ideas as it may generate new ideas for energy efficiency or new inventions altogether. The other side of the alternatives question is that of this whole idea of saving energy in the first place. If the amount of energy saved if everyone in the nation shut off holiday lights and kept them off, was say, the letter x, are there any other areas that will have less impact that would still save that x amount of energy? If so, what are those areas? Will we as the public be given numerous areas that all save x amount of energy? Will we vote on this? Is this something that needs to be voted upon? These questions and many like them are all question that I believe the government must delve deeply into when considering purposing such an idea Thus it is with these questions on my mind that I neither support nor reject such an idea. Mainly because that’s all it is right now, an idea. Although important, it is simply an option amongst many and there definitely seems to be a need for these ideas to be thought out. I do however support this type of thought. As it is this type thinking that has kept America in the forefront of countries.