December 3, 2007
Cold Ones Making It Hot
It might be time to cut back on the brews. Fox News is reporting that old beer fridges, which one in three Canadians keep in their houses, are remarkably inefficient and "contribute significantly" to global warming.
The report was commissioned by the federal government, which says something about how much the government cares about your beer-related habits.
Denise Young, the researcher who put together the study, suggests that the government provide financial incentives and "round-ups" to help folks get rid of their old fridges. A better incentive might be offering some free beer to those who get rid of their old refrigi-clunker.
Of course, Fox News thinks that government-funded fridge-round-ups are ridiculous, since that's the same method Americans use to get guns off the streets. They also seem to think that this means that Canadians are terrible, terrible polluters. Having an extra fridge for your beer might be a little gratuitous, but let's not forget some of the environmental blights the Americans have unleashed upon the world.
...besides, we have better beer.
Photo by raisecain from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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People who don't want Fox News to get any hits can read a nice, less hysterical version of the news at the New Scientist.
"...besides, we have better beer."
False.
Name 10 great Canadian beers. Not one of of them could ever stand up to, for example, Stone Smoked Porter, Arrogant Bastard Ale or anything by the Three Floyds Brewery in Indiana.
I know it's a throwaway gag, but I'm tired of this baseless, complacent, pseudo-patriotic assertion. Our beer scene is pathetic...and I desperately wish that would change. But don't knock the Yanks unless you can back it up, thanks.
They also seem to think that this means that Canadians are terrible, terrible polluters.
We *are* terrible, terrible polluters. We are among the leading per capita emitters of GHGs, and depending on which baselines you use, we are worse than the US. In respect of Kyoto, Canada is the *furthest* from meetings its target.
Perhaps the single biggest impediment to Canada actually taking constructive steps to address climate change is this perversely false notion that Canada has some sort of redeeming qualities when it comes to the environment. The reality is, we have few. The sooner we face and accept this, the sooner we can actually begin to right this wrong.
So I'll jump in and whine that at least in Ontario, our fetish for nationalizing everything to do with alcohol is at least in part behind this. That's because The Beer Store locations are few and far between, meaning that it is a separate trip/errand (by car, natch) and while I'm there, might as well stock up. Can't fit all that beer in the main fridge ...
"The problem is that the beer fridges are mostly decades-old machines that began their second careers as beverage dispensers when Canadians upgraded to more energy-efficient models to store whatever Canadians eat besides doughnuts and poutine."
hah... The next time TOist is complaining about how bad the writing is in the Star, I want you to remember this line. :) And in the "scitech" section, no less.
The Beer Store isn't nationalized, Daemon. It's owned by Molson-Coors, InBev and Sapporo.
As far as Canada's environmental record goes, we have hot summers and cold winters. Obviously that's going to lead to a lot of energy use, so I wouldn't feel too bad about Canadians being some of the world's worst polluters.
Just the mention of Fox news is enough to close one's mind to the spin they like to put on stories. Just like the Toronto Sun and National Post and CFRB and Global TV news.
Once I read the source, I decide how to judge it for accuracy and fairness. Fox is not fair and never has been.
OK it isn't nationalized, it's a legislated monopoly (with outrageous stocking fees, etc). My point is that stopping on the way home for a six-pack is a pain, so lots of people stockpile, in a second fridge.
And in the hot summer, one might even have that second fridge inside their air-conditioned home. That isn't exactly a model of efficiency!
How much beer does one need to have in a fridge, daemon? 6 cases? Give us a fuckn' break.
And people who claim our beer is better than American beer know nothing about beer.
The only point worth remembering in this whole badly written and presented story is this: old fridges are crap and should be replaced or simply thrown out and not replaced.
Fox never explicitly said that the idea of getting the fridges out of the basements was ridiculous. You can assume whatever you want.
Does your entire stockpile of beer have to be cold at once? If you're drinking so much of it that you can't manage with a few bottles at a time in the fridge and the rest of the case in the back cupboard, surely you're too blitzed to care what temperature it is...
Eric- but you never know when some guests might show up!