CFL vs ESL, 7 recycling tips, Envi for Xmas, Save Energy Ho-Ho-Ho
CFL V.S. ESL – Energy Efficient Lighting Conserves Power and Saves Money
by Lloyd Alter at Treehugger.com
comments by Don Ames
Compact fluorescent lights are not without their problems; a lot of people don’t like the light from them and disposal is an issue. But LEDs are still expensive.
Enter the ESL bulb, short for Electron Stimulated Luminescence. Core77 writes that they have just received UL approval, a necessary step for coming to market, and the Seattle based companyVU1 says they will be on the market in early 2011. Electron Stimulated Luminescence™ (ESL) Lighting Technology is an entirely new, energy efficient lighting technology. It uses accelerated electrons to stimulate phosphor to create light, making the surface of the bulb “glow”. ESL technology creates the same light quality as an incandescent but is up to 70% more energy efficient, lasting up to 5 times longer than incandescent and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. There is no use of the neurotoxin Mercury (Hg) in the lighting process.
The LED or light-emitting diode remains the most energy efficient light, but if it wants a share of the lighting business, it will need to come down in cost. Right now, the energy efficiency field is developing so fast, who knows what will be lighting our way in a year or two. One thing for sure, don’t buy stock in CFL’s or ESL’s.
7 Recycling Tips – Tips That Can Save You Money and Save the Environment
by Blythe Copeland
Conventional green wisdom used to be that recycling was one of the best things you could do for the planet – you’d be keeping trash out of landfills, using items made from old materials, and trimming your waste all at once. But these days we know that recycling has its own footprint: It requires energy to breakdown and repurpose the original material, and the resulting product is often a blend of post-consumer and brand-new substances.
Make these seven small changes in your routine at home, at the grocery store, and at work and you’ll cut your consumption where it really matters – at the source.
1. Buy in bulk: not individually wrapped items.
2. Ditch disposables: no use once and throw away.
3. Upcycle: this is something you recycle into something else you can use.
4. Think outside the kitchen: you can recycle in more places than the kitchen.
5. Stop getting junk mail: average 41 lbs per year per person.
6. Read your magazines & newspapers online: hard on the newspaper business, but good for the environment.
7. Make your own: and make do, not everything needs a trip to the store.
New Device Monitors Every Penny Spent on Power
Who’s on your Christmas list? Giving another set of bath towels or another carton of sausage?
The Envi just might be the technology gift your looking for. Rather than the usual gifts, why not give a gift that empowers the whole family. Giving an Envi for the holidays allows the recipient to save energy and is an out-of-the-box idea that they will remember everytime their power bill arrives.
The basic Envi energy monitoring kit is only $129 and includes everything you need to monitor energy in real time.
I think whole house power monitors should be part of Obama’s economic recovery program. Just think of the people we could put to work making power monitors and the households we could put to work saving energy.