Ever since the early 1920s manufacturers have been ‘improving’ light bulbs so that they only last 1000 hours. Prior to that time they already lasted over 2000 hours, but the Phoebus international cartel heavily fined any member producer that made bulbs lasting too long.
In East Germany, prior to the wall coming down, the local factories made bulbs lasting over 2500 hours. But immediately after reunification, the factories were closed down as being too efficient for the rest of the world. The lightbulb in the Livermore fire station has been on for more than 110 years. It has its own website so you can watch it, and as a matter of interest – it is on its fourth web cam!
Along similar lines is the story of ink jet printers that completely stop working when their waste ink reservoir is full. If you just empty it (assuming you can find it), quite often that doesn’t solve the problem, because it is actually a chip counting pages that has reached its limit, and effectively turns the printer off. When you take your printer to the service desk, their recommended solution is to buy a new printer. This is not mechanical failure because the unit still works perfectly. This is computerised failure where a chip controls whether the unit can remain in use or not, regardless of its mechanical condition. The manufacturer simply wants to sell you a new one
http://www.apfelkraut.org/2011/03/the-untold-story-of-planned-obsolescence/
Serge Latouche asks if we really need planned growth – ie each of us buying more stuff every year. The natural growth of increased population buying the same amount per person every year should be sufficient economical growth.
Products are being designed to stop working after a certain amount of use. So old, perfectly useable products are thrown away. They are often illegally dumped in third world countries – described as second hand products! The world then has to deal with the environmental pollution of the dumped article, and the resource consumption to produce a new one.
The future of the planet is being sacrificed on the altar of short term corporate profits.
Tags: 1000 hours, light bulbs, livermore fire station light bulb, phoebus, planned obsolescence, printer cartridge, waste ink reservoir
