To an extent this type of program has been going on for a while. When our 40 year old furnace died, I checked SDG&E to see if they had any rebates. Plus I got a federal rebate on my taxes that year. Same with my fridge – SDG&E hauled away the old fridge (which ran, but was dying rapidly) and gave me $50, since I’d purchased an energy star fridge.
As someone who considers themselves semi-green… I’m all for choosing energy star/efficient choices when you replace appliances, tvs, etc. But it is wasteful to replace working items that are still functional unless they are SUPER inefficient. People forget the “reuse” part of “reduce reuse recycle.” Our landfills can’t take everyone tossing out functional appliances just to get rebates.
