LED lighting 1.0

In the throes of completing the final project for my Renewable Energy Technology class, I can't help but share a tasty little tidbit. Here's what I've learned about how a high power LED light bulb stacks up against current mainstream light bulb technologies:

A couple of things to keep in mind with this chart:

• Luminous efficacy for an LED bulb is higher than that of a CFL bulb. Believable. But luminous efficacy of an LED bulb at 150 lumens per Watt? Maybe in the lab, but not yet on the shelf at Home Depot.
• Incandescent bulbs and LED bulbs contain no mercury. The 'mercury released' figures assume that the electricity powering the bulb was generated through the burning of coal (a reasonable assumption for Alberta, but not necessarily for other jurisdictions).

More to come on LED's.

Where does all the juice go?

As part of a Renewable Energy Technology course through the University of Calgary, I was fortunate to be assigned the task of completing an in-home energy audit. I picked up a cool little digital energy meter from Canadian Tire and went to town.

My most noteworthy findings...

• The light fixture in our bathroom with the two 150 Watt halogen bulbs is responsible for more than 8% of our monthly electricity consumption.
• My 12 year-old JVC stereo system (not one, but two cassette players) steadily consumes 20 Watts of electricity... when it's off!
• Reminding my pregnant wife that the ceiling fan in the bathroom draws 45 Watts does not help to start her day on a positive note.

Here's the full breakdown of where the juice goes in our condo. If a fancy pie chart like this doesn't land me a good grade on my assignment, I don't know what will.

Environmental Karma

This was the year when I swore off Tim Horton's Roll Up the Rim to Win contest. I sacrificed my 1 in 9 chance of winning a prize to save a shwack of non-recyclable wax-coated paper cups from being buried in a landfill for eternity. The truth is, the only fun I get out of this contest is feigning a temper tantrum when I inevitably don't win.

On the two occasions when someone brought me a disposable cup (much to my chagrin) of Tim Horton's coffee, I won a free cup of coffee. Both times (much to my delight). Then, when I fell off the wagon and bought a cup for myself, I lost. But get this: In separating out the garbage in the paper recycling bin in the office lunch room, I pulled out a misplaced Tim Horton's cup that didn't have the rim rolled up. So I rolled it. And I won.

So, on a year when I committed to not playing a silly environmentally unfriendly contest, I essentially won three times in three tries.

I can't explain it. Must be some weird kind of environmental karma.

Refrigerator Efficiency

I read an article in a recent issue of the National Geographic Green Guide that suggested that I might save a shwack of cash by cleaning the condenser coils behind my refrigerator. As I hadn't (nor had my wife) done this since moving in to our condo four years ago, I figured it was overdue.

Back of the fridge before...

...and after.

Condenser fan before...

...and after.


The article suggested that this (combined with a couple of other tips) could save me $50 a year. Strangely enough, my utility bill arrived two days later and, for completely unrelated reasons, it showed a 12% decrease from the previous month.

Harbinger of good things to come?

The Bottom Line on Office Organic Waste

For almost two years, it was a covert operation. I quietly spirited away used coffee grounds from our office coffee machine and uploaded them to the compost bin at my condo complex. Then, a little over a year ago "the envirogods" (a.k.a. me) introduced an organic waste pail in the lunch room. After a careful marketing and education campaign, the pail now fills almost weekly. And the coffee grounds keep coming. And it all gets diverted from landfill.

How much waste diversion are we talking here? I weighed a batch this week before dumping it in the composter: the total over four days was 2.963 kg, or 0.741 kg/day. Assuming 250 work days in a year, that's 185 kg of organic waste not hitting the landfill annually.

The bottom line?
(a) Taking garbage home from the office makes me, arguably, more of an envirodork than an envirogod.
(b) Being careful with my waste at home (population=2) is a good start. Introducing responsible waste management at the office (population=75) is progress. Today, the office. Tomorrow, THE WORLD!

Global Warming Debate

I generally don't expend much energy debating global warming and climate change. I watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and it scared me. I watch as extreme weather events kill thousands of people all over the world. I worry that polar ice caps are melting at such a rate that we could be in for a nasty climate shift that will make Hurricane Katrina look like a light drizzle.

Still, I don't spend much time debating because that's not my thing. I consider myself more of an educator. Accordingly, here's a really neat video my Aunt Betty sent me that makes a pretty compelling argument in favour of taking drastic measures to mitigate the effects of global warming. Right or wrong, the implications of the decisions we make today are serious enough that issues like this warrant some discussion. Perhaps this video will generate some of that.

Oh, a quick FYI: there are no polar bears in the video (I just really liked the symbolism in this photo).

Global Warming Protest

I couldn't resist this pic sent to me by my EnviroStar sister-in-law. S.O.S.: Save Our Snowmen.

The down-low on make-up

So here's a question for you... If you go out of your way to eat organic because you're nervous about the long-term health effects of food-borne chemicals, shouldn't you also be nervous about what you put on your skin? I recently stumbled upon an Environmental Working Group resource called the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, which rates the safety of a dazzling array of personal care products. Perhaps not unexpectedly, there's a whole shwack of potentially dangerous chemicals that we spread all over our bodies every day.

You may also want to check out Ask Umbra's short video, Wake Up to Your Make-up, that claims to "reveal the ugly truths about conventional makeup, and show you how to put on a happy face."