Audio s impact on enviroment

I drive one of the biggest SUVs, and leave some of my audio components run 24 / 7. My electric bill is 25% less than the neighbors who use more energy to keep their house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than mine. I work a short distance from home (and at home when possible), thus making less than 1 stop a month at the gas station. How many people consume less than 30 gallons of gas a month on average?? I would bet not many...
I think than categorizing people that have certain things is the wrong approach. Take a look at where the problems are... Shipping due to the .com rage eats more fuel than if people drive to stores. Old junker cars polute more than my SUV. I could go on and on, but I have better things to do...

Hug the trees!!!

Dougholdco and Elizabeth pretty much sum it up as far as I'm concerned.

We all need to do our part to conserve energy. Instead of comparing yourself to other people to justify your own waste, do what you can to change. Fuel inefficient cars are wasteful, air conditioning is wasteful, and yes, leaving on high power consuming items like power amps to achieve better sound or to avoid a 1 hour warm up time is wasteful. Buying speakers manufactured with rare woods also impacts negatively on the environment. I'm not saying you shouldn't leave your amp on if it makes a difference to you,
I own a ridiculous amp (BAT VK-500). But we all need to identify ways that we as individuals can reduce our consumption of non-replenished resources. Americans are the most wasteful in the world because we can afford to be for now. Unfortunately, we are doomed to wait until we feel or our children feel the unfortunate consequences of our overconsumption before we change our ways.

I can identify with several of the comments made above: Elizabeth; I believe in ZPG too, and we have just one child-- a great daughter; J-K, I really do use less than 30 gallons of gas a month, but my PU is kind of a gas hog.

Although I do have two 300 wpc amps, they drop to 130 wpc standby after not getting a signal for 10 minutes-- a nice feature, and I turn them off at night. But on balance, I think there really are so few audiophiles with big power hungry amps that the issue is insignificant. There may be 100 million cheap 100 wpc stereo receivers in this country that use about 98% of the stereo system power used. How many people have big amps? Like many environmentally conscious individuals, I save in some areas, but "splurge" when it comes to my "big rig"-- and this one doesn't have wheels. Flash, just in, my "little" DNA.5 sounds nearly as good as big rig-- may have to re-think this?? Cheers. Craig.

If you have big powerful amps that run hot, can't you just turn down the heat and curl up around the system and enjoy the music? I thought that engineers of good equipment would use high quality parts that are efficient. Doesn't unnecessary electricity cause RF problems? Wouldn't the less expensive "consumer" electronics that have 300 watts per channel be more inefficient? I know I'm not going to worry about leaving my 60 watt amp on overnight after my neighbour has been watching a DVD on a system that cost the same as my amp.