Update - LED lighting

The up front cost of LED replacement equivalent lamps can be somewhat daunting to the uninitiated.  
  One must and probably will do the math before their first replacement of conventional incandescent lamps and compact fluorescent models with LED lighting. Before dismissal out of hand one should be aware of three key technical factoids which MUST be factored into the buying formula (these are not the ONLY factors, but still these three items MUST be remembered and referenced to when buying replacement LED bulbs).

  1. Lumens not watts are the primary quality of lamp lighting. Lumens are the measured amount of light a lamp emits (in the visible-to-the-eye spectrum of light). One does not replace a 100 watt incandescent light with an equivalent LED light so much as one replaces a 100 watt, 920 Lumen incandescent lamp taking 10 hours to burn 1 kilowatt hour of energy with a 6.4 watt, 900 Lumen LED lamp taking 156 hours to burn 1 kilowatt hour of energy to see by, and so forth. The "color temperature" of the Lumens is also important with "Cool White" and "Warm White" the most common buzz terms to consider depending on where and for what need they are to be used...

  2. Watts are burned to make the light one needs for an application for both indoor and outdoor lighting. The reduced LED wattage has a double importance for indoor lighting in that during summer operation one's cooling system does not have to remove near as much waste heat (average .075th of the heat) from LED lights as compared to equivalent incandescent lighting. (Remember from your high school science, that Watts are a measure of heat energy, originally for steam engines and later for electrical generators.). Practically speaking, all lighting energy converts back into heat energy.

  Both indoor and outdoor LED lighting applications reduce the amount of non-renewable, greenhouse emissions of one's electrical utility as well; and that will take pressure off of installation of ever more transmission lines to carry ever greater demand for that irreplaceable-never-going-away-electrical-product. In many applications it is actually cost effective to install solar panels on security night light standard poles populated by low battery power consumpting LED's that would otherwise have to have transmission lines run to them in new public locations. Large back yards could benefit from solar powered LED motion activated security lighting; breaking even when one does not have to run building code safe wiring to a new security light system. The criminal sport of stripping copper wiring from municipal light standard poles would be circumvented, as well.

  3. LED lighting averages 50,000 hours MLBF "Mean Life Before Failure" which is significantly less than the 8,000 MLBF to replace compact fluorescent lamps (requiring special handling to dispose of these mercury rich appliances) and 1,200 MLBF for the average incandescent lamp. Most municipalities and large business operations have full time paid staff that do nothing but replace lighting during their 8-5 week long shifts with overtime if they get behind. Factor these considerations in when contemplating the "high cost" of replacement of home or business or municipal lighting with ultra-long-life LED lighting, as well.

  It has been four plus years and a substantial reduction in our utility bill later since retrofitting to compact fluorescent lighting. We think it is time to step up and replace CFL's and incandescent lighting as they burn out with LED's for even more savings. The average return on investment is less than three years with the next 12 to 15 years MLBF that follow being all gravey. jwr

.

http://www.ledbulb.com/

Other LED Links

Visit Lightworld.com

Visit LEDalux.com

Visit OptiLED.com

http://www.earthled.com/

End.

HANDY SWITCH RECALL PRODUCT RECALL NOTICE

For those of y'all that use the wireless Handy Switch or know of
someone who may have one or more of them; this is a recall
you can take advantage of because it is a manufacturer based

recall... I bought my first Handy Switch through Idea Village
a number of years ago and have a night lamp plugged into it
that we use when getting up during the wee hours which can
be turned on while we pad around in our otherwise dark house,
then turned back off once we stumble into bed-die bye,

afterwords. Later I found it on sale at Fry's Electronics and got

one for our kitchen cabinet under shelf add-on fluorescent
lighting instead of fumbling for thumb switches, toggle wheels 

and buttons to push; all left in the ON position and powered
through one wireless switch located at the most used work
station of our kitchen counter. All the extension wiring is neatly

tie-wrapped.
.

When I called the recall toll free number and talked to a nice
Asian accented lady. I found that my admission that I only
bought ONE Handy Switch from Idea Village she smoothly
said that they would send TWO prepaid mailers for BOTH
Handy Switches... This was a Manufacturer's recall. Read the

recall email message below to get the link or toll free number

for your own cycle of action. Don't ignore it, please. jwr
.
P.S., As a retired tradesman I can explain that the switch, while
low to nil power consuming while in the Off mode, DOES have
a potential to overheat due to a phenomenon known as and
related to how it works while idle. "Hysteresis Loss" is the
phenomenon; when in an idle mode. That is the phenomenon
that power coils and transformers have in which a trickle of
electricity leaks through a circuit and is designed into them
such that the leakage creates a counter-effect which impedes
or chokes off any more energy from leaking through the coil
or transformer. Very fine wire devices may break or short out
over the age of a device - when that happens they allow more
energy to "Leak Through" it. Eventually they burn out more and
more fine wires and eventually burn out in a burst of short
circuited energy when too much heat builds up in themselves
to choke off the power. Modern devices use electronic circuits
to choke the idle-but-not-off use of energy, now. They don't
waste Hysteresis Energy at all. End. See In-line attached below.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Handy Switch Customer Service <handyswitch.cs@fulfillment.com>
To: JOSEPH W RICHARDSON <GREEN.METROPLEX@YAHOO.COM>
Sent: Wed, October 21, 2009 4:33:26 PM
Subject: HANDY SWITCH RECALL PRODUCT RECALL NOTICE

RE:    IMPORTANT RECALL NOTICE

October 21, 2009

Dear Valued Customer,

Our records indicate that you purchased a Handy Switch Wireless Remote Light Switch from IdeaVillage. We strive to ensure that each product we deliver is the best quality and provides the best possible customer experience.

It has come to our attention that the receiver (the component that fits into the wall outlet with a built-in night light) can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers. The company has received 14 reports of overheating, including 9 reports of fire, 5 of which resulted in property damage. No injuries have been reported.. You should unplug and stop using your receiver and register for a free remedy.

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, IdeaVillage is voluntarily providing consumers with the choice of one of two free remedies: (1) a snap-on protective cap cover to place over the receiver to securely contain any possible fire due to overheating or (2) a wireless remote light switch replacement product.

If you prefer a snap-on protective cap cover, we will send you a protective cap to simply place over the receiver, along with easy installation instructions. Note this cover will not prevent overheating from occurring, but rather will contain any resulting fire. If you prefer a wireless remote light switch replacement product, we will send you a postage pre-paid mailer in which to place your Handy Switch receiver (the component that plugs into the wall) to send it back to us. Upon receipt of your receiver, we will send a replacement product, the Super Switch, free of charge.

For more information on the recall program and registration for your free remedy, please visit our website at: www.handyswitchrecall.com or call IdeaVillage toll-free at: (888) 655-4339 between 5:00 am and 6:00 pm (Pacific) Monday through Friday. You can also contact customer service by email at handyswitch.cs@fulfillment.com.

We appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,

David Epstein
Vice President

Zero E House in Lewisville Texas

Dateline Friday, 30 October 2009

 

Hey there Guy,

 

Here's a first hat-pass as we search for a less censorious domain

and email provider than Yahoo! for the green-metroplex caucus
to be parked on.

.

The Dallas Morning News Metro section covered by writer

Wendy Hundley whundley@dallasnews.com of this eco-friendly

home, soon to be lived in by Amanda Ferguson's and her
Husband Scott Owens after tearing down the old family frame

house that she grew up in. The project has become a poster

child for Green Craft Builders, LLC et all, who specialize in the
construction of Zero-E homes and offices in the DFW Metroplex.  

.

If you link to nothing else on their domain website, go to the

video links and turn up the volume on your speakers when you

peruse their assorted construction of assorted eco-friendly items.

That page alone is worth the half hour or so it'll take to view

the videos of the construction and knowledge base available

concerning the Timber Creek Energy Zero House built right here

in the DFW Metroplex: http://timbercreekzeroenergyhouse.com/videos.html
Keep a notepad handy for the first rate links to sustainable construction

products and other useful earth friendly goods. I personally book

marked them and also highlighted, copied and pasted their URL's
into an info manager, just to be sure the links were not typo'd.
There is a tour of the house during the next four Fri - Sat's.

.

Here is the home page link, also: http://timbercreekzeroenergyhouse.com/

  From the desktop of Warren Richardson   pro-active advocate
  for conversion to energy alternatives and carbon footprint reduction.
  Moderator of http://dfw-alt-e-caucus.blogspot.com/ Web Blog and the

  Webmaster of http://www.green-metroplex.com/ ... You are invited 
  to come see how cost effective, and sometimes profitable it can be to

                                         go green! save big

DFW Green Advocate's new Email Address

"Guy Green" green.machine@activist.com

 

We ain't running out of no stinking oil!

   Ahem: In the news are exasperated pro-oil types that rant about there being no lack of oil available; stating that the available "reserves" and still undiscovered oil available which are sufficient to satisfy the greediest good oil boys n girls for centuries.

   In truth, it is a more or less correct factoid that we are NOT running out of oil at this time. What's being overlooked is that the barrels per year increase of oil pumped out of the ground is in still in decline since a decade ago; however stocks of oil are approaching glut proportions but that is laid squarely at the feet of we who are cutting  back on our consumption of its distilled products such as diesel fuel and gasoline. 

   A goodly number of Americans have rerouted their consumption to thriftier auto's and reduced discretionary spending on fuel and by staying home a lot more (thus making home entertainment a banner year last year) or moving closer to their workplace to reduce their commute and impacting the urbane sprawl and new home building market to some degree. Indeed the local paper has touted the resurgence of formerly blighted inner city areas by the jump in loft apartments and converted warehouse into condominiums populated by Gen Y'ers and Millenials, making it possible for thousands of former commuters to peddle to work or ride the street car or bus to there.

   What's being overlooked is that it is no longer possible for one to kick over a clod and bring in a gusher of the black gold that used make $235 bucks per wildcat dollar in profit as it travels through various streams into "higher" grade byproducts. The recent discovery of an astounding sized "oil reserve" in the Gulf of Mexico is a classic example of the the availability of oil "still out there waiting to be found." Umm, has anyone figured out how much it's going to cost to build a floating platform able to safely maintain its position over the oil reserves in deepwater, open seaways in the face of hurricanes; drill to 35,000 feet to tap into the top of the dome of this shale oil; to extract it via fracturing and pump it to the surface and load it onto ships bound for refinery's?

   And secondarily, this oil which will be in production in about ten years, is still only a fraction of the 3% total US Market oil produced in and used by Americans. The reason that we import 97% of our oil is that the imported oil is still cheaper and easier to get to the surface and into tankers bound for US refineries folks, precisely because oil has to be ever higher in price for it to be profitable to drill and pump it. That price, based on world wide demand is currently somewhere in the $65 buck a barrel range it would seem. (A decade ago crude was around $35.00 USD per barrel. Remember, it was the spiraling price of crude that triggered the U.S. economic melt down powered by $145.00 per barrel prices that we are still recovering from and it is only Americans <with the rest of the world following our lead> with the sense to cut back on our discretionary consumption of energy which has dropped the price of fuel and stabilized the economy, so far; That is in spite of the economic bail out headlines taking the credit. Shoot, even my insurance broker has a Smart Car for his commute to his offices, now.).

   Meanwhile China and India and a number of other sleeping giant middle class auto buyers world wide continue to grow at rates that outstrip US ability to compete for market share, while our dollars get less and less valuable due to the enormous debt being deeded over to those several other countries. And never forget, oil IS the gold standard of the world because it is the tremendous markup from crude to products that drives it as a major commodity that is getting more and more costly to extract from mother Earth and on its way to market.

   Meanwhile, once again, the good oil boys have tried to flourish the red cape in front of our consuming eyes to distract us from the fact that we need to be firm in our resolve to make carbon fuels of all types only a dwindling part of a triad of energy. We really need to convert to none-carbon, renewable fuels as fast as we can manage it; with electric battery power as fuel as a major change away from Detroit pig-iron cars and trucks belching fumes rich with greenhouse gases.

   Whew

  From the desktop of Warren Richardson   pro-active advocate
  for conversion to energy alternatives and carbon footprint reduction.
  Moderator of http://dfw-alt-e-caucus.blogspot.com/ Web Blog and the

  Webmaster of http://www.green-metroplex.com/ ... You are invited 
  to come see how cost effective, and sometimes profitable it can be to

                                         go green! save big