No apologies necessary. I wasn't vehemently disagreeing with the parent so much as saying that the cost-benefit analysis is worthwhile.

I do some IIoT stuff, so I have a little experience here. Many of the lower cost PLCs and industrial edge devices have no better environmental characteristics than a Raspberry Pi. They just happen to be more expensive by comparison because they're competing in a market with much more expensive devices. In many cases, as you suggested, buying those devices is a false economy.

My point is simply that they're not that bad, and like you said, one should truly consider the lifecycle costs.