Lighting

The benefits of light-emitting diodes, a.k.a. LED lights, have been widely covered on the internet's green outlets. Efficient, long-lasting, and eco-friendly, LEDs are step past those infamous CFL lights that everyone is trying to get Americans to install in their homes.What makes them so green?

+ LEDs use only 12 watts of power, compared to 65 watts with a CFL (roughly 50% less energy consumed)

+ LEDs can last for up to 50,000 hours; with average use, that is nearly 23 years (a savings of nearly $900 versus using CFLs for the same amount of time)

+ LEDs have no mercury in them, unlike CFLs, which have to be disposed of carefully

Unfortunately, an LED bulb, similar to a CFL, for basic home use has not yet been released on the market. North Carolina-based LLF Inc is working to make that happen, having already released a recessed LED light for residential and commercial use.

Perfect for every room of your house (including the kitchen, featured in the accompanying picture), LLF's recessed LED light is already being installed at the University of Arkansas. For their pioneering efforts with LEDs, LLF recently won the Grand Prize for the 2007 Lighting for Tomorrow solid state lighting (SSL) competition, presented from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Truly the most sustainable option available, LLF's recessed LED lights can be found all over the United States. For specific sellers and distributors, use the zip code search on the company's website.

By now we have all grokked that compact fluorescents are every bit as warm and flattering as incandescents. But still, sometimes you want lighting to be just a bit less perscriptive and a bit more fun. We laughed at Inhabitat's take on Die Electric's CanDull (pictured), a witty candleholder intended to remind us to power down. Back in college thrift store days, we used an ornate vintage pedestal lamp as a candelabra--it turns out that ordinary tapers do fit into standard light bulb sockets with very little coaxing (tin foil can help, just remember not to forget and plug the lamp in!).

Speaking of lighting, one of the drawbacks of CFLs has been that they do require small amounts of mercury to manufacture--mercury being a toxic metal that is found concentrated in certain fish, including tuna and salmon. Today, we heard a wonderful example of the circle of life in action, or nature's comeuppance. According to EcoGeek: "Recently, Professor Andrew Steckl, a University of Cincinnati researcher, has found that he can improve the efficiency of LEDs by using DNA, specifically, from salmon sperm."

Some things to think about next time you dine on salmon by candlelight.

Who says lighting can't be green--literally? The xDesign Environmental Clinic at New York University has developed the so-called greenlight , a solar-powered planted chandelier made from recycled and recyclable parts.

Designed to improve indoor air-quality, the greenlight features tropical indoor plants that naturally filter toxins from the room. And its low-voltage LED light system, which sits on a disc of blown recycled glass, draws power from a solar awning of Photovoltaic cells. The LEDs naturally nourish the plants.

According to San Diego-based xDesign, which stands for Experimental Design Lab, the greenlight is built to be carbon-neutral. "The photovoltaic panel sitting in a south-facing window can produce 7.5 W on an average of 3-4 hours a day in NYC," it says.

xDesign showed off the greenlight last weekend at the Wired NextFest, a two-day technology conference in Los Angeles. Representatives from xDesign said that it makes each chandelier by custom order, and the price ranges from $1,500 to $2,500. Compared to the cost of standard chandeliers, that doesn't seem like such a bad price to shine some light on your environmental consciousness.

Abstract: Compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs can be used advantageously in many home lighting applications -- offering much longer bulb life and considerable savings in the electric bill. However, they differ radically from tungsten filament bulbs (incandescent and halogen types), so you need to consider: when to turn them on and off, where not to use them, and their environmental hazards.

The conventional wisdom: Standard incandescent bulbs are very inefficient, putting out only 10-15% of the electricity they consume as light - the rest is dissipated as heat. But they are cheap and we are accustomed to the warm, broad spectrum light they provide. Halogen (also tungsten incandescent) bulbs are very slightly more efficient, last a bit longer, and have a pleasant, brilliant light quality; but they cost slightly more than conventional bulbs and achieve little if any energy or cost savings.

Compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs, only 2-5 times more expensive per bulb now than incandescents and halogens, are about 4 times more efficient in light output -- a 13-15 watt CF puts out the equivalent of a 60 watt incandescent or a 50 watt halogen. And they last 5-10 times as long as regular tungsten filament bulbs; so, between much longer life and much greater electrical efficiency, they are significantly less costly to operate, and their widespread use would save significant energy on a national and global scale, with all the benefits that would accrue from that.

There are excellent articles about bulb types and efficiency/cost issues at these sites:

Lowes.com light bulb guide:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=BuyGuide/LightBulbBG.html

Wikipedia has excellent article on CF's & good discussion of environmental hazard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp

General Electric site has cost calculator to compare annual, life-cycle, and per-lumen cost of various bulb types:
http://www.gelighting.com/na/business_lighting/education_resources/tools...

BUT the conventional promotion of CF's ignores several important issues, so here are --

A few contrarian considerations:

1. CF's and tube fluorescents are made to have various color spectral outputs, from warm, soft white, like incandescents, to natural, like sunlight, to cool-white. Try them out at the store to see what you like. Putting different spectral types in one room might show unpleasant color contrasts.

2. CF's will fit your standard (medium) sockets, but some profiles may not fit in your (table or desk) lamps if shade bow is too narrow. Socket extenders may or may not help.

3. CF's can be dangerous if used in the wrong places: outdoors if exposed to water -- be sure they are rated for exterior use; in enclosed fixtures, i.e. where glass shade/cover prevents air cooling, the elevated temperature can shorten life or cause fire; with dimmers, could overheat, cause fire -- dimmable CF's are sold, but are much more expensive.

4. Switching on and off -- with tungsten filament bulbs it is always beneficial to switch them off immediately when light is not needed, i.e. as you leave the room; but with fluorescents the question is much more complicated because each on-off cycle shortens bulb life. In fact, when I first tried switching to CF's about 10-12 years ago and put them in locations where I would normally switch them on and off several times a day, they burned out very quickly -- far sooner even than an incandescent in that location. I tried different makes and styles and all were disappointing. But, my anecdotal experience of years past may not be generalizable. I may have just had bad luck with several and manufacturing technology may have improved. My current way of using them, described below, using newer CF's has been more favorable. The US Dept of Energy gives different advice on their web site; they say that it is most cost-effective to switch off a CF if doing so will save 15 minutes of electricity use; but I think the question is still unresolved as to how much on-off cycling shortens bulb life --
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/lighting_daylighting/index...

5. Waste heat is not wasted in winter. All conventional discussions of energy savings with CF's assume that an incandescent bulb's turning 90% of its wattage into heat is wasted. In winter, when you are heating your house with some energy source, that is not wasted energy. Admittedly, the cost per BTU of resistive heating like this is several times the cost of natural gas or heating oil. But the glowing bulb also gives some radiant heat if you are close to it, so may allow a lower room ambient temperature (see discussion elsewhere of radiant vs. convective heat sources). Example: my house has 2 heat zones (natural gas, hydronic system). I keep the lower level fairly cool in winter (60-62 deg F.); I have an office on that level that I use a few hours per day. When I'm in it, I'll typically have one or two incandescent bulbs and 1-2 CRT monitors on and they keep it a comfortable 67-68 degrees. I avoid heating the entire 1400 sq. ft. zone just to make this one room comfortable.

6. The opposite argument obviously prevails in summer -- heat from incandescents is usually unwelcome, and would add to cooling load if you're using some kind of active cooling (fans, A/C, etc.).

Considerations 4, 5 and 6 have led me to the following way of using CF's (subject to change if I learn more):

7. How I use CF's now (2004 to present): I keep a 13 w. spiral CF in an outside post light year-round -- it is switched by a photocell on the post -- on at dusk, off at dawn. I've read that some CF's won't work with photocell switches, but this one does fine. I'm using a regular interior bulb, but the housing protects the bulb sufficiently from water. There is sufficient air circulation to keep the bulb from overheating. Year-round, my garage-workshop has several overhead 4 ft tube-type fluorescent fixtures with a mix of cool-white and warmer bulbs. I only turn them on when needed, and then leave them on if there is a chance I will be in the workshop again within an hour or two -- i.e. I try to cycle on-off at most once daily, but sometimes more than this. Same pattern with some under-counter tube fluorescents in my den/bar area. In winter I use mostly incandescents in indoor lamps, but I am quite diligent to turn them off unless I'm in the room. In summer, to avoid incandescents heating the house, I change several bulbs over to CF's and try to cycle them on-off at most once daily. I do NOT put CF's in areas where I'm constantly turning lights on and off or switching them on very briefly -- bathrooms, closets, den track lights, laundry/utility, and obviously where there are dimmer controls (dining room, kitchen ceiling). CF's would certainly NOT be suitable in a motion-sensor switched fixture that is frequently cycling on and off.

8. CF's (indeed all fluorescents) contain mercury and must be recycled appropriately (NOT in your usual trash or recycling bin). Broken bulbs must be carefully cleaned up and recycled. Reportedly big retailers like Home Depot and Walmart will soon have provisions for safe CF recycling. I see very little written so far about the pollution from manufacturing CF's. It's all done overseas, so if they save us money, who cares if China and Hungary are contaminating their land, right? If you compare the very simple nontoxic ingredients in a standard bulb to the complex electronic circuitry, solder, plastics, mercury and rare earth elements in a CF you may think a little more about their global impact.

Recycling sites for your area: www.earth911.org

Article about CF mercury content:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/home_journal_news/4217864.html

More at: www.lamprecycle.org

Print reference:
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0916571068/ref=s9_asin_title_1-1966_p/002-1...
-- Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook (new 30th Anniv. edition published fall 2007) has detailed article about various types of electric lighting -- and much more about all aspects of energy efficiency, off- and on-grid home power systems, etc. Combination of educational articles and product catalog.

People love natural light. Subconsciously, unknowingly, we seek out sunlit places and enjoy spending time in natural light. Beyond this desire, however, are some tangible benefits to adding natural daylighting into buildings.

Studies have proven daylighting makes employees more comfortable and productive. Reduced absenteeism, employee satisfaction and higher productivity are all bottom line benefits from the use of natural daylighting. An increase of just 1% in productivity provides enough financial savings to a company to pay their entire energy bill.

In a jointly published study, Greening the Building and the Bottom Line: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Rocky Mountain Institute describes these benefits in greater detail. This study provides numerous case studies of documented proof of the effects of natural light.

Wal-Mart (to your surprise) has discovered great value in natural daylight. Beyond the energy savings, Wal-Mart discovered an additional benefit. In their Lawrence, Kansas store, they found (possibly by accident) sales in the daylit portion were twice that of the artificially lit portion. They also found the cash registers that extended under the daylit portion rang in twice as many sales as the artificially lit ones. More information is available on the Wal-Mart Web site.

Of course, simply adding windows to a building is not enough, light brings with it potential heat and glare. A good architect knows how to control, diffuse and use light to create a healthy and comfortable indoor environment.

Image via sxc.hu, Steve Woods

How cool are these lights?

Not to jump on the bandwagon or anything, but these Corona solar-powered LED outdoor lights have been popping up everywhere since they won the Editor's Choice Award for Best New Designer at this year's ICCF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) last week.

First we saw them at EcoGeek, then NextLust and then a few days later at Inhabitat.

And we agree with everyone: These outdoor solar-powered lights are the perfect meeting of design and function. They're incredibly versatile (can be hung, staked in the ground, set on the table, etc.) and beautifully designed to resemble sunflowers so that the advanced solar technology blends seamlessly with the outdoor environs. They're as easy on the eyes as they are on the environment—a winning combination, we think.

What's your verdict? Beautiful? Slightly alien-ish? Or both?

image Corona Solar Light

I'm one of those people who suffers bad from seasonal affective disorder. In the summertime I can go on very little sleep and always feel great. In the winter I can hardly stay awake an hour after the sun goes down, which is only about 5:00 PM here in Michigan. It's like I run on sunlight. When I don't get enough I'm a totally different person.

As a "light person" I tend to like really bright rooms. I want all the lights on all the time (which drives my wife nuts). Of course, that can be hard on the wallet and on the planet. I like houses that let the light pour in, which is probably a big part of what draws me to modern homes. But you've got to design for it. Daylighting is an all too often overlooked aspect of home design that makes a huge difference in how the house feels to live in.

The new summer 2007 issue of Innovative Home Magazine has a great article on daylighting called "Here Comes the Sun." It talks about insulated daylighting panels (IDPs) that let in soft light yet don't overheat the house, the good old Solatube, and a slick new take on skylighting, the Parans Solar Panel.