Kilowatt Ours - simple ways to save energy, dramatic impact on our lives

I just saw a show last night on NJN (New Jersey Network)- Kilowatt Ours. Within the first few seconds I could tell it was an NJN type show... seemed educational, looked low budget and dealt with the environment. Not all that intriguing, you might say... but I decided to give it a couple of minutes of my time.

I wound up watching the whole thing... and I would highly recommend that you do, too. If you haven't seen it, Filmmaker Jeff Barrie does an excellent job of showing the environmental impact of traditional electricity usage... a huge negative environmental impact that is far reaching, expensive and detrimental to our lives. Nothing new, you say. Well, maybe not, and maybe the solutions that he shows are not all that unbelievable. But, the movie is still an excellent piece on the far reaching impact of coal and nuclear power and how simple steps that we can take in our communities, businesses and homes can dramatically reduce energy consumption and save potentially billions of dollars.

It's not often that's I plug a site, but Mr. Barrie's content at kilowattours.org is worth a visit.

The Final Verdict: Using LEDs to replace Halogens in GU10 fixtures

Image via Wikipedia

OK, I've now replaced two light fixtures (a three light mini-spot/floodlight and a five light mini-spot/floodlight) that had 35 and 50 watt halogens with LEDs. The replacements that I used were obtained on eBay for much cheaper than I could find in any of the online retail stores or in the home improvement stores near me. As of the writing of this post, you can find the bulbs that I got by clicking on the link below, which should take you to the same search criteria that I used on eBay.

72 LED GU10 WARM white Light WIDE ANGLE

Again, here are the stats of the bulbs I used:

• 72 LED "Warm" white light
  
• Wide Dispersion angle around 150 degrees
• GU10 Socket
• Uses only 2.8 Watts and very low heat!
• Average life is estimated to be over 50,000 hours!

You can read my earlier post for more information, but after using these LEDs in the two fixtures (one in my kitchen and one in my office), I think they are pretty equivalent to 35 Watt halogens. I also think that the "warm" light that they throw looks and feels similar to halogen and incandescent lighting. In my opinion, I think that the 5 LEDs that I now have over the kitchen table, provide a better, "warmer" ambiance than the halogens they replaced.

I chose a wide angle LED for the floodlight effect, which produces a wider beam, but also results in less intense light. So, if you are looking for more of a narrow bean, spotlight effect then you may even be able to get an LED that feels more intense.

Another feature that I like is that the heat they produce is very minimal. I have no problem touching the LED bulb or the fixture to adjust the lighting. And, since they use only 2.8 Watts, I have effectively reduced my electrical usage in these two outlets from over 350 Watts to UNDER 25 Watts!!

Although I do love these LEDs and would not hesitate to use them in other fixtures, I did leave my sole remaining 4 x 50 Watt Halogen fixture hanging in the darkest area of the kitchen. It is located in just about the center of my house and does not receive any help from natural or artificial lighting nearby. Since that area is used for cooking and dish washing, I need the intensity of the 50 Watt halogens to light that area. I say this apologetically, but when eventually I find an LED equivalent that can produce the intensity of a 50 Watt halogen, you can be sure I'll be replacing this fixture, too.

What's my next project? Glad you asked. I'm just about to replace the recessed halogen and CFL floodlights in my family room with LEDs. These have to be larger and more intense than the ones I used in the kitchen and office. They also have to be dimmable. I'll be writing more about that in upcoming posts.

Until then... hopefully you can use this information for yourself to better say, "I live naturally!"
-Steve Boorstein
iLiveNaturally.com

iLiveNaturally.com: Helping You Think GREEN, (At Least One Friend at a Time!)

A friend emailed me this picture the other day, with the tagline "Also known as the Steve Boorstein table at Home Depot." Glad to see someone is thinking of me when they see green technology and energy savings! However, I did have to email him back just to let him know that if it really was my table, it would have had LEDs, not fluorescent bulbs. (And NO, I don't work for Home Depot, just in case you were wondering.) LOL

How much Electricity does THAT thing use?

Image by Kiet Callies via Flickr

Have you ever wondered just how much electricity your computer uses? Or your printer? Or the cell phone charger, refrigerator, or desk lamp?

Part of making smart decisions with your electricity usage is, of course, knowing which of those things is feeding your electric bill. For example, I've been playing around with the idea of recycling my old desktop and buying a notebook/laptop with a 17-inch screen. I've heard that this is much more energy efficient. But, HOW MUCH more? If I knew how much electricity my desktop computer was eating up every day, I could make a comparison with the specs on some of the new "green" notebooks. Then I could figure out if the electricity savings per year justified the purchase.

Well, guess what... (or watt)? I just found a device that lets you measure the electricity that these items soak up... and more!

Although I knew these devices existed, I actually found this one by accident. I had "reward points" to redeem on my credit card. Browsing through the online rewards catalog, I came across a "P3 Electricity Usage Monitor." So, rather than get something purely hedonistic and fleeting (like a restaurant gift card), I ordered the monitor. Hopefully, it turns out to be a gift that keeps on giving... in energy savings! Then maybe I'll use those savings to take the family out to eat anyway...

As soon as it gets delivered, and I have a week or so to play around with it, I'll post a review.

Regards,
Steve
I Live Naturally .com - iLiveNaturally.com

LEDs that WORK! Replacements for my energy wasting halogens!

This week they were finally delivered! The LEDs that I ordered on ebay to replace a couple of the burn out halogens in my kitchen and office overhead lights. As I posted previously, I have been steadily converting the lighting in our house from incandescents to CFLs. What I really would like are LEDs, but I have been extremely disappointed with them in the past due to their cost, their blueish "cool" light and the fact that most of them aren't bright enough to replace incandescents, halogens or fuorescents. However, that just changed this week...

My package arrived in the mail. Inside were two GU10 base LEDs that would hopefully replace two of the 12 halogens in my kitchen and office. The halogens that I use currently are 35 Watt and 50 Watt. The great news is that the new LEDs that I plugged in worked better than I had expected. Here are the stats:

72 LED GU10 WARM white Light WIDE ANGLE

• 72 LED "Warm" white light
  
• Dispersion angle around 150 degrees
• GU10 Socket
• Can be used in 110 volt and 220 volt countries
• Uses only 2.8 Watts and very low heat!
  
• Average life is over 50,000 hours!
• Not dimmable.

I'm not an electrician or engineer. So, as for how equivalent these 72 LEDs are to the halogens, I can only say that the "warm" light that they throw looks and feels the same to me as the halogens. The dispersion angle is wide and doesn't create a spotlight-like effect. The level of brightness is supposed to be 112,000 mcd for these LEDs. (Don't know what an mcd is? Too complicated for this post. Do a search on the Internet... but it's basically a level of brightness and are quoted often when discussing LEDs) Again, I'm not a mathematician either, but searching around the Internet and playing with a few calculators, that seems to be equal to about 521 Lumen... which I think is about the same as a 35W halogen "soft" or "warm" light bulb.

All in all, I think these are perfect for me. I'll let you know as I swap out all of the halogens with LEDs on these fixtures if I notice a difference in quality. But so far, so good. The potential of replacing 35W or 50W bulbs with 2.8W LEDs is very exciting!

If you are interested in buying them yourself, here is a link to the search that I did on ebay:

72 LED GU10 WARM white Light WIDE ANGLE

It's great when saving energy and the environment also saves money!
-Steven
for iLiveNaturally.com

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Don't let your color hue make you blue (unless you want to)...

Image by sonictk via Flickr

As I wrote in the last article, I'm trying to replace my kitchen and office halogen mini-spotlights with LEDs. So, while I am waiting for my new GU10 base, wide angle, "warm" hue LEDs to get delivered, I thought I address an issue that I came across. As you know, I'm excited to see if they work well and how much energy I can potentially save. But, one of the biggest issues that I faced in searching for these lights was in finding the right hue or color rating of light that the LEDs would emit.

A big drawback of both early and current fluorescents and LEDs is the "blue" light that they often give off. Some people like it. I think it looks unnatural. So, how do you pick a CFL or LED with a color hue that doesn't make you feel like you are in some alien landscape or just plain nauseous? Well, it's actually easier than you might think.

The color rating scale for light is measured in Kelvins (K). Your normal, run of the mill incandescent light bulb usually has a color temperature of between 2,500 K and 3,000 K. This produces a light that has a hue closer to "orange" and is often called "warm" lighting. Fluorescents and LEDs are often around 3,500 K, which produces a more "blueish" hue, and is often called "cool" lighting.

So, if you are looking to replace your "warm" hue incandescent bulb with a similar hue fluorescent or LED, then try to pick one that is close to the color rating of 2,500 K to 3,000 K. I believe that the bulbs that I ordered to try and replace my kitchen and office mini flood lights are rated 3,000 Kelvin. When they are delivered, I'll give you all the specs. I'm hoping to receive them by the end of next week, test them and report back to you on how well (or not) that they work in replacing the halogen mini floods that are there now.

"Warmest" regards,
Steve
iLiveNaturally.com

Two rooms and 2,628,000 Watts... I think it's time I try LEDs

Image by Daniel Greene via Flickr

Ok, so I told you I was going to start testing LEDs and give you a first hand account of how good they are at replacing incandescents, halogens and CFLs. There are two things that have been stopping me.

1. Brightness and color. I've been trying to find LEDs that can replace bulbs and be useful, not just mood lighting. Unfortunately, most of the ones on the market seem destined to replace 20 watt bulbs. Sorry, my family doesn't light rooms with nightlights!
2. Cost. These buggers are expensive. Now if I can save money in the long run, I'm okay with that, but I also don't want to waste tons of money in the process.

So, I just had a couple of 50 Watt GU10 halogen bulbs burn out in my kitchen and office lights. Unfortunately, those halogens don't seem to last all that long, although I have to admit that in those two rooms the lights are probably on 12 hours a day, on average. That's a big deal when your looking at 12 bulbs between the three fixtures! Let's see... 50 Watts x 12 bulbs x 12 hrs x 365 days a year = 2,628,000 watts per year (2628 kilowatt hours a year, if my math is correct)!! Now, I added up all of the delivery and supply charges on my last electric bill, and I come out to about 19 cents a kWh. So, 2628 x $0.19 = $499.32. Now please let me know if my math (or logic is incorrect, but it would appear that the kitchen and office lighting are costing me about $500 a year to light! Ouch.

Realizing that getting my family to turn off the lights in those rooms most of the day is like asking them to stop breathing or eating, I thought it was a good time to bite the bullet and spend about $30 on two 72 LED Wide Angle, Warm Light, GU10 bulbs that allegedly use 2.8 watts. I'm curious to see how much light they throw off. I'd be happy if they were equivalent to 35 watt halogens. I'm hopeful, but not overly so. If they do work, the savings will be dramatic upon replacing all the bulbs (2.8 Watts x 12 bulbs x 12 hrs x 365 days a year = 147,168 watts or 147 KWH x $0.19 = approximately $30 per year)

That would be an energy savings of about $470. Now, 12 new halogen GU10 bulbs cost me about $30. To purchase twelve 72 light LEDs will run me about $130. So, even with the higher cost of buying the LEDs, I'd still net about $370 in energy savings the first year if this works out!! The other good news is that the LEDs should last a lot longer than the halogens, so they will continue to save me even more over time since my time to replacement will be longer.

I'm excited to see how it goes and will let you know as soon as I try them out. It looks like it might be up to a few weeks until they get delivered. So, in the mean time, I'm writing this blog with the lights off...

Regards,
Steve

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