The "green" phenomenon cashes in on guilt. You don't see it near fields of corn, but in seas of pavement, where the consumer suspects they have committed a crime against Nature.

They have. But they must have more pavement.

I generally ignore or avoid the green hysteria.

If you want to save the planet, shoot Al Gore. His carbon footprint is huge. I wouldn't bother, because the planet is going to survive all of us, despite the fearmongers.

I don't get it, if it had a hole in the middle wouldn't it have more surface area to volume, and if so, get used up faster and thus be more wasteful? Wouldn't a sphere be a better shape?

http://www.icis.com/blogs/green-chemicals/2009/06/is-this-a-green-soap-to-you.html

Is this the one?

Green-ness as a marketing tool works best when the consumer's purchase is visible to others. When it's invisible, even the greenest products can have a hard time getting sold. For example, the geothermal heat pump industry has observed that their products have a marketing drawback (compared to, for example, rooftop solar arrays) because there's nothing to see and impress the neighbors with.

The link above to Icis.com shows the problem. Soap is wasted when the last bits are too hard to use. This soap breaks up faster into many small bits.

This isn't just a soap, it is an intelligence test. Actually, the entire Green Movement is an intelligence test, and a scam.

Problems With Green Energy

This link collects some of the practical problems with green energy, especially wind power.

Rencently, Spain has realized that it is killing its economy by subsidizing wind power.

The whole polishing of poo to make it green aside

The hollowed out soap IS a green thing based on useage, and human factors.

Ever try using that last little sliver of soap? You cant get a grip and so on. So what if the bar of soap IS just the size of a sliver? Really hard to use in practice.

Now, can you make the bar large but only use a small amount of soap? sure... but if you make it large and thin, you have the problem of it falling apart.

But make it large and able to hold together while using much less soap? Genius.

For a very important reason. EVERY new hotel guest, gets a new bar of soap. NO-ONE is going to use old soap. But, how much soap does a guest use in their stay? Essentially you want to get the guest to use the soap they are given in the time they are there, but you also need to make the soap a usable shape and size.

Viola! Make large soap with a hole in it. You'll probably use that much soap during your stay, and it will still be useful to you by the end. And after that, LESS is thrown away so they can put a new one out for the next guest.

This IS a good, and not silly tradeoff, if you think it through. Is it green? Well, it's less wasteful. That is not only green but cheaper, right? 'Course the green part is marketing, but that doesn't change the fact that you want to maximize stuff, for efficiency.

Judging from the comments here, there's no point in bothering with trivia like saving energy or trying to clean up the environment. So, let's make cars that run on burning rubber tires, and if you have trash in the car, just throw it out the window.

Well, I don't know what happens to "old" soap in hotels (I'd guess the workers are free to take it home if they wish - I would), but I don't understand why hotels don't just use fancy soap dispensers. Very little would go to waste!

And, clearly, small wrapped bars use more paper in the long run.

BTW, I heard at least once that, when it comes to sealed lights (those glass dimmers that fit over some kitchen and bathroom bulbs) the old light bulbs last much longer than the new ones, so in those cases, at least, you'd want to use the old ones.

"Very little would go to waste!"

You're thinking like a rational human being. Thinking like a entitlement whore I can think of several ways that the soap can get wasted:

I can use it to do my laundry in the tub.

I can let my ill-behaved monkey children play with the dispenser. Maid service will clean up the no-doubt giant mess.

I can empty it into a bottle and take it home with me

I am a vandal and the hotel has done something to upset me. I will clog the toilet and sink and then rub the soap over everything before wrecking the dispenser.

I have thrown up on the carpet/ my baby has had an explosive incident. Rather than admitting this and letting the hotel use the proper tools to clean the mess (which is bad enough frankly) I will attempt to take care of it myself and make the mess worse and use the hand soap and bath towels.
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Fortunately I am not an entitlement whore, so my imagination for wastefulness isn't all that strong.

I always bring my own soap when I travel so I couldn't care less if the hotel provides me soap or in what form it is. It's not like I'll actually end up using it.

My boyfriend bought some cheap CFLs to put in the fixture above my sewing area and also in the bedroom. They are beyond awful!! They take at least 5 minutes to even look moderately acceptable. Until they are warm everything has a dingy purple-gray pallor to it and strains my eyes. I did find some really nice CFL bulbs a few weeks ago. They warm up to the correct brightness as soon as they are turned on plus are a full spectrum daylight bulb. They're great! Unfortunately, they also cost around $6 a bulb and will likely need replacing more frequently. I'll pay that price if I have to for decent light considering how limited the options are becoming. For anyone that cares, the nice CFLs I found are the GE instant-on daylight version I found at Target (who seems to only carry CFLs unless they are nightlight size bulbs).

As for hotel soap there are several organizations out there that take used hotel soaps, sanitize them and make them back to normal size bars for shipment to third world countries.

www.globalsoap.org/
www.cleantheworld.org/

As for the CFL bulbs: They suck. They only save $0.75/month per light-bulb.

They warm up to the correct brightness as soon as they are turned on plus are a full spectrum daylight bulb.

That means that they have some sort of battery/capacitor in them that holds them at a "ready" state. If it is a capacitor then you have some sort of extra energy drain while it is on. If it is a lithium-ion look at the added expense of the making and the things and the amount of mercury and lithium ending up in landfills.

Er, yeah Jim, you might want to do the math. My CFL's are 13W, and they replace a 60W... that takes roughly 4.5 times a much electricity per time. Why d'ya think that's only .75 cents difference per month?

Not that CFL's don't have their problems, but that isn't one of them. The other reason that better bulbs start quicker, is that they have better ballasts, to fire them up... not a matter of capacitor, nor battery.

In April 2008, I put together a review of CFL's and some of their difficulties that are not talked about, or printed on the box.

The CFL Advertising Account

The good and bad about compact fluorescent lights. Why the ads are both true and false. How to save and waste money on CFL's.

One of the points:
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Mike: OK, no problem. Buy 10 CFL's and save $750. Get rich!
Techno: Yeah, if you don't turn them off.
========

My research says that the average CFL will turn on 2000 times before its electronics fail. The recommendation to leave them on for 15 minutes is a crazy interpretation of that fact. Leaving them on doesn't heal them. But, hey, at least if you leave them on for 15 minutes each time, you will get 500 hours use out of them before they fail.

I also present a cost analysis of expected savings.

I was going to go to the 99 cent store to start stocking up on light bulbs (I'm going to hoard them), but I think a site like this will be cheaper:

http://www.whatwatt.com/product_list.php?SubSubCategoryID=2

100 watt Phillips frosted incandescent is 45 cents if you buy 120 or more, and shipping is $7.90.

I like the soft white 100 watt bulbs. If you see a better deal please post it. One link per entry, please, or you'll get drop-kicked to my spam folder.

That's some good stuff, Andrew, though I'm not agreeable on every point, the important point remains.

Regardless if you like incans, or CFL's there shouldn't be a law that tells you what you can/can't buy.

Mine work fine, and I chose ones that put out the kind of light I want, and geled the others. Some last a very long time, under bad conditions...

But anecdote isn't data. Which is why we should all be able to choose what we want.

Thank you SwissArmyD.

I completely agree that there is no basis for the government to tell us how to use lightbulbs, appliances, and water (showers, toilets).

These laws are usually backed by the companies who want to sell us new things without convincing us that these new things are actually good for us.

As of 2008, there was no standard test for the lifetime of a CFL. The usual test for an incandescent bulb is to light it until it fails. This ignores the greatest weakness of a CFL, that the power circuitry in each bulb fails according to on/off cycles.

Er, yeah Jim, you might want to do the math. My CFL's are 13W, and they replace a 60W... that takes roughly 4.5 times a much electricity per time. Why d'ya think that's only .75 cents difference per month?

Right from the horse's mouth:

Buy compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs, which last about 5 years and use less energy. Switching just one standard bulb to a CFL can help you reduce your electricity bill by as much as 75 cents per month.

Ref: Tips for Parents from www.fatherhood.gov

We always should believe the government, shouldn't we?

Florescent lights aren't always so great to have around all the time.

I was at a hotel a year ago where they had that "green" thing, and they changed the towels even though I didn't leave the card (because I had enough towels). I didn't care that much, but... if you say you're going to do or not do something, shouldn't you?