By Susan Kraemer •
September 27, 2009
The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the largest energy efficiency program in U.S. history, authorizing $3.1 billion in consumer rebates and efficiency programs over the next three years. This brings the state a giant step closer to implementing AB32, according to Lara Ettenson, director of California Energy Efficiency Policy at the NRDC.
Ettenson told me that the funding comes from the part of the budget that California’s regulated utilities may use to invest in conventional electricity. This may include “negawatts” [...]
By Dave Dempsey •
September 14, 2009
A surge in the number of mercury-bearing energy-efficient light bulbs in use in Minnesota is expected to overwhelm recycling programs in the next few years and there’s no plan yet on how to recycle more of them.
Fluorescent light bulbs use only one-fourth as much energy per unit of light produced as incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. One CFL bulb contains 5 milligrams of mercury, about one-fifth the amount in a watch battery.
By Jerry James Stone •
January 10, 2009
Cree Inc. will be fitting Wedge 5 of the Pentagon with over 4,000 LED light fixtures.The U.S. Department of Energy said that LED lighting saved the country about 8.7 trillion watt hours in 2007. This is out of the 765 trillion watt hours used for lighting in the United States.
By Lester R. Brown
Projections from the International Energy Agency show global energy demand growing by close to 30 percent by 2020, setting the stage for massive growth in the carbon dioxide emissions that are warming our planet. But dramatically ramping up energy efficiency would allow the world to not only avoid growth in energy demand but actually reduce global demand to below 2006 levels by 2020.
We can reduce the amount of energy we use by preventing the waste of heat and electricity in buildings and industrial processes and by switching to efficient lighting and appliances. We can also save an enormous amount of energy by restructuring the transportation sector. Many of the needed energy efficiency measures can be enacted relatively quickly and pay for themselves.
By Becky Striepe •
November 26, 2008
[Image credit: David at Flickr under a Creative Commons license]
The lights are still bright, but thanks to theater owners and The Broadway League teaming up with the NRDC and the city, the lights are also LEDs and compact fluorescents on Broadway.
On Tuesday, the cast of Wicked and Mayor Bloomberg announced the roll out of Broadway Goes Green. Along with replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs and CFLs, theaters are taking steps like using eco-friendly detergent to wash their costumes and icing performers’ sore muscles with bags of frozen peas rather than chemical ice packs.
By Levi Novey •
July 29, 2008
Several weeks ago, Venezuela President Hugo Chávez provided free energy-saving light bulbs to some low-income residents of Houston, Texas. This magnanimous act probably gained him a few American fans. In late March of this year, he also announced his plan to fund “an energy revolution” in Venezuela.
The revolution has an emphasis on using Venezuelan produced products like PVC pipes to construct homes. Another major component of the revolution includes an initiative to make Venezuela more self-sufficient in food production, thus quelling the need to import food. Projects to provide additional electrical power through alternative energies like wind and solar technologies are also commencing.
The most notable and measurable success to date for the so-called energy revolution, however, has been Venezuela’s effort to change out standard light bulbs across the country for CFLS (energy-saving compact flourescent light bulbs) exactly like those Chávez donated to Texans. So far, 72.3 million light bulbs have been changed. But the story is perhaps not as simple as it would seem (as is almost any story about Chávez and his schemes).
The micro mini Twist CFL: Big light, small package.
When it comes to the advent of the compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), I am proud to say that I was an early adopter. And while I instantly noticed a reduction in my monthly electric bill, I also noticed that the compact fluorescent was not without its flaws. I found that the early compact fluorescents were often too bulky, preventing their use in certain fixtures; that they took a while to ‘warm up’ to full their full brightness; and that the light they put off could be a little harsh, especially as compared to the warm glow of the Edison-era incandescent light bulb. But times have changed, and the new micro-mini Twist from SYLVANIA is evidence that CFLs don’t need to be big, slow, and bright to be effective.
>>See also: European Union Bans Incandescent Light Bulbs
The micro-mini’s size is one of its biggest appeals and is what jumped out at me right away. Featuring an ultra-small ¼ inch tube diameter and a compact integral electronic ballast, the 13W micro-mini is the smallest CFL on today’s market.
Green Light New Orleans Recently reached a milestone: 60,000 compact fluorescent bulbs installed for free in local homes since October 2006. The headline-making 60,000th CFL was installed earlier this month at the Jeannette Street home of Irene Green.
Established in 2006 after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Green Light New Orleans is the brainchild of Swiss-born musician Andi Hoffmann, who’s now a resident of the Big Easy. Hoffman started the program first as a way to offset the greenhouse gas pollution he and his band b-goes generated during their tours to Europe. It’s since taken on a greater goal: to reduce New Orleanians’ energy costs and help fight climate change.
By Carol Gulyas •
April 2, 2008
People who live in energy-efficient (EE) houses are sexier because:
1. Their houses are not drafty, so in winter they can walk around in sexy lingerie instead of heavy bathrobes and bunny slippers.
2. They can talk knowledgeably about “blower door tests” and “weather stripping” at parties.
3. Men who live in EE houses get to brag about the size of their carbon footprint.
4. Dimmable CFLs are so much more romantic.
5. [...]
OK, we know Rush Limbaugh hates them, but now Congress? U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R, Minnesota) is sponsoring a bill known as the “Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act,” which would put a stop to the federal energy bill’s mandate to phase out regular incandescent bulbs starting in 2012.
By Jim Gunshinan •
January 2, 2008
December 28th, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan
Broke Your CFL? Don’t Panic!
The typical dose of mercury in a CFL is about the sizeof a pen tip
(circled in red), and these doses have been getting smaller and smaller.
(Photo provided by EPA.)
Australia has already begun to phase out the incandescent light bulb,
and the energy legislation recently signed by President Bush has
begun that process in the United States. Every time I turnaround,
it seems, someone is handing me a brand new
compact
[...]
