WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH CFL’S?


Replacing your light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs otherwise know as CFL’s can save you 75% over standard incandescent bulbs.  New CFL’s come in a variety of shapes and sizes that will fit regular light fixtures.  Yes CFL’s are initially more expensive than standard light bulbs but they can last up to 10 times as long and use about 25% of the electricity.  
Now you’re going to tell me that CFL’s give a harsh light.  Your right the first time I bought a CFL and installed it I felt like I was in a hospital because it was a really white light.  Through trial and error I have discovered 2 things.  The first is that for a warmer light buy a bulb that has a Kelvin rating of 2700.  The 2700K bulbs will give off a much more desirable light than the 3000k-5000k bulbs that are available.  Second I will often step down the wattage a bit over the incandescent equal.  For example, typically a 60 watt incandescent equals a 13-15 watt CFL.  When replacing a 60 watt incandescent I will use a 10-13 watt CFL.  This will vary among brands so its not a hard and fast rule but it has helped me find a softer light that my wife won’t object to. 
What about the mercury? READ MORE
Courtesy: TMG Homes

8 GREEN BUILDING MYTHS, BUSTED

Green building -- or sustainable building -- involves incorporating eco-friendly elements into the design and maintenance of a home and minimizing the impact on the environment when building houses, condos and the like.

More homeowners and builders are interested in green building and want to choose energy efficient features for their homes, so it's important to know what's fact and what's myth. Peter Yost of BuildingGreen LLC in association with GreenBuildingAdvisor.com addresses eight common green building myths. 


Courtesy: HGTVpro.com

Cree Unfurls Household LED Bulb

The price isn’t out yet, but it cranks 800 lumens. Could it be the true 60-watt replacement? 

Cree today announced a household LED bulb that will provide 800 lumens of light, or about the same amount of light as a standard 60-watt incandescent bulb. The TrueWhite light, however, only uses 10 watts and will likely last 25,000+ hours. That can translate into over a decade in a single socket.

“This is a significant milestone for the industry,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and chief executive officer, in a prepared statement. “In the race to commercialize low-cost, energy-efficient LED bulbs, the industry has forgotten that LED lighting is supposed to look as good as the technology it is replacing. This is the first no-compromise replacement for a 60-watt incandescent bulb.”

READ MORE

Courtesy: Green Tech Media

VIVEX Saves Energy and Looks Better Longer

 
Beauty that Lasts! Exclusively from Maxim Lighting, Vivex, the new standard in outdoor lighting, boasts a winning combination of innovation, intricate design capabilities, quality construction, and astonishing finishes. Combined, these elements create outdoor fixtures that are non corrosive, UV resistant, and backed by a 3-Year Limited Warranty. 

Vivex and Innovation
  • With over twice the strength, Vivex is far superior to polyurethane resin material used in traditional outdoor lighting.
  • Vivex withstands temperature greater than 130°F and less than -20°F
Vivex and Design
  • Injection under pressure into quality steel molds makes Vivex a very hard and dense component.
  • The molding process frees designers' creativity, enabling them to implement imaginative designs without the restrictions imposed by the traditional resin process.
Vivex and Innovation
  • A special paint finishing process with superior adhesion qualities developed specifcially for Vivex resulted from a joint effort between the material manufacturer, the paint manufacturer, and Maxim Lighting.
  • Maxim Lighting oversees the entire Vivex production process from molding to finishing.
VIEW the Vivex Catalog HERE

Building? Renovating? Greening Up?



Start at the bottom and consider upgrading the vents.

Homeowners have insulated their crawl spaces to keep as much warmth under the house as possible.  But leaving the vent area uninsulated is like insulating the house and leaving the windows open.  So homeowners have, for years, crawled under the house to stuff insulation into the vent areas in the fall and then crawled back under there to remove the insulation in the spring.

Installing a better vent, makes that unnecessary.



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