Lighting: Part 2

I received a couple good comments on my last entry and thought I should address them. I only covered CFLs before without addressing some of the alternatives. The purpose of that post was to discuss the current low-cost alternative to incandescents as energy saving replacements. Mike brought up full-spectrum lights as a healthier alternative but after looking into those I found those to be quite a bit more expensive. For most people the bottom line will be how much the alternatives cost and CFLs are the only ones that are comparable now. They cost slightly more but they tend to last around eight times as long so in the long run they cost less, especially when you throw in the energy savings. Most people, however, tend to look at the up-front cost so it's hard to sell a CFL for $2 when you can buy four incandescents for a dollar. They would rather spend $20 over time than $10 now.

I think the better option to CFLs will be LEDs but it will take a while for the cost to come down and for them to be integrated into standard household lighting. LEDs use even less energy and last even longer with a much better light. But for now I think CFLs should be the replacement for your incandescents, at least in your most used light fixtures.

And back to full-spectrum lights for a moment. I think I would relate them to eating organic food. It's much healthier but you have to be willing to pay the extra money. I would like to consider them for my office, though. I spend all day in a building without any windows and I do notice the lack of natural light. I think full-spectrum bulbs might compensate for that and make me feel a little more energized at the end of the day. And they come in incandescents and fluorescents.

Going Green: Lighting

After my green building class I was gung-ho to get going on this and convert the world, or at least do my part. And I am, actually. We’ve been implementing a number of green practices in the office and I’m even working on a “green” house. I had mentioned before that I would share some of the things that I had learned and can be implemented by the average homeowner or renter. The first one I wanted to start with was lighting but I figured I better make the changes myself before preaching about it.

Since the incandescent light bulb was invented over a hundred and some years ago there has been little change in its design. Most of the power (about 98%) used by an incandescent light bulb is wasted on heat. It’s a heating element that gives off light as a by-product. And not only that, they don’t last very long. So what’s the alternative? Fluorescents. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) seem to have a bit of a bad rap, but I think that’s mostly due to the earlier versions that just didn’t give off a good light. But these days you can get them in warm white, cool white, soft white, different colors, different shapes, and even dimmable. And they aren’t really that expensive anymore. I found a bunch yesterday that had been reduced to $2 apiece because of PG&E’s residential light program.

If you replaced the most heavily used lights in your house with fluorescents, I think you could bring your electric bill down noticeably. A statistic that I learned (and almost sounds unbelievable) is that if every household in the US swapped out one incandescent with a CFL, it would be the equivalent of taking a million cars off of the road. Efficiency is going to be the solution to our future energy crises and its increasing cost and this is one place to start.

And one last note on CFLs. They can’t be tossed out. They need to be recycled so make sure you know where to take them when they eventually do die.

Anal-Retentive Nerd

When I bought the sixth season of The Simpsons on DVD, it came in a yellow plastic case in the shape of Homer's head:



This did not fit well with my other season boxes that all line up nicely on my shelf, but inside the case was a little piece of paper that alerted those of us who are a bit anal that we could request a box like all the others.



So I called the number. Homer Simpson answered and continued to insult me for wanting a boring old box. And then he directed me to a website, www.simpsonsbox.com, where it was more of the same. It was quite amusing and if you want a laugh you should try calling the number or going through the process on the website.

I'm still waiting for my replacement but my DVD boxes should soon be lining up perfectly on the shelf.