I usually don’t buy much soda, but I have some family coming, so I picked up a few bottles of Coke. As if by majic, I ran accross this video for 8 ways to recycle a 2 liter bottle. Check it out:
And then, just for fun, here is a cute video to watch to start the weekend!
We all want to be greener. Sometimes it just isn’t that easy. But sometimes, it is easier than you think. Some of your favorite companies are doing the right things, and all you have to do is keep buying their stuff. Of course a little letter of encouragement often goes a long way, too.
Pepsi or Coke? The age old dilemma. Today, it doesn’t really matter. Pepsi is a strong supporter of equality rights, so they sit close to my heart. PepsiCo is also one of the top 3 buyers of renewable energy in the country. Not to be left out, Coca Cola has stepped up its commitment to the environment. They are in the midst of an aggressive rainwater capture program. Furthermore, they have reduced water usage in production by over 20% and more in some divisions. They are also on board the 2020 program that so many companies and cities are taking part in. THeir goal: reduce carbon emissions by 15% by 2020. Either way, your cola is a relatively “green” drink.
When is comes to groceries, there are still lots of options. Whole Foods purchases enough wind credits to cover all of their electricity needs. I love Whole Foods for its commitment ot to environment, but also its commitment to its staff and customers. You can feel pretty comfortable about shopping there. They take out the guess work for you by researching the products that they carry, and implementing strict controls on the companies that supply them. But if there isn’t one near you, do not fear. There are still many other options that are suitable. Safeway is a leader in purchasing renewables and in carbon emission reductions. They also have a great selection of LEED certified stores and have recently expanded their commitment to local foods and carry a large selection of locally grown produce. They also operate other chains like Dominic’s. Wegman’s is another grocery store chain with strong environmental concerns. Fresh and Easy Markets are another strong choice. And like it or not, Wal-Mart is promising to be using all renewable energy in its corporation by . If you don’t care for Wal Mart, consider the Starbuck’s conundrum. While as a company they are vocal about their environmental policies and are often touted as a green company. At the same time, they no longer use reusable utensils, will not recycle in many areas (like Cleveland) and have yet to address the issues of water waste that they have. I agree that their paper sleeve has reduced paper cup consumption, but is that enough to get on the top lists? Stick to Peet’s or Green Mountain!Don’t discount Target or Trader Joe’s as they are up there as great choices as well. In consumer goods, I was surprised to also see Kohl’s, Gap, Microsoft and IKEA listed in the Natural Health magazine’s choices of top companies.
Who wants an iPhone? ME! Still, I have a strong relationship with Verizon Wireless and want to stick with them. If they were to offer phone services in my area, I would be on it in a heartbeat. This strong relationship was backed up by Verizon appearing on the list of Natural Health Magazines finalist for the Green Choice Awards.
A company that is trying to make some significant changes is Nike. In addition to its recycle program (they collect old shoes and turn them into new shoes that they donate to underprivileged individuals) they have stated that they plan to discontinue the use of leather from the amazon rain forest. Beef production in South America is one of the biggest contributors to the slash and burn policies of the Amazon. Miles of this wilderness are disappearing everyday, and we need to support companies who refuse to promote this destruction. While I am no big fan of Crocs as a personal footwear choice, I am really pleased with all the work that they have done in humanitarian efforts. In addition to charitable giving, they are often first in disaster relief efforts to provide new shoes. I have also heard that they will take bake old Croc shoes and recycle them into new for donation in third world countries.
Companies that have made top lists that produce many of the products that you buy already include:
Kraft, E&J Gallo, Apple, GE, Lowe’s, Odwalla, Peet’s, Method, and Burt’s Bees.
Natural Food company choices that you may not be as familiar with include:
Hain’s Celestial Group, Tom’s of Maine, Organic Valley, Kashi and Clif Bar.
See the top 25 finalist of Natural Health Magazine. See the list of the top 35 green companies by Earthsense.
Lake Erie. When it is clean, it is a joy. There is plenty of recreation available and parks on the lakefront. Furthermore, we are trying (still) to commit to a new and exciting lakefront development. Unfortunately, when we get a good rain like we have had recently, you have to worry about how much raw sewage is overflowing into our beautiful lake. When the city is cash strapped, who is out watching the lake to watch for illegal dumping? What about our aging Port Authority complex that has NO system for dealing with rainwater runoff? Everytime it rains, the majority of the oil stained, dirty asphalt of the city’s port area is washed clean…and into the lake.
The Great Lakes
President Obama has a budget for 2010. In it he has allocated nearly $500 million for the first stages of cleanup of the Great Lakes Region. What can we expect from this amount of cash? We have a lot to do to fix our collection of lakes. To get the party started, the US EPA is holding a series of meetings around the region. In Cleveland, you should plan on attending the meeting in Cleveland Heights. The meeting is July 27, 2009, 6-8pm at the Canal Way Center, State Boat Landing Room 4524 E 49th St Cuyahoga Heights, OH 44125-1008. Please join me and make your voice heard. We can talk about lakefront development for another 10 years, but we need to deal with the issues of the lake right now! If you want more info about this meeting, or one closer to you (if you live outside Ohio) then check out their website.
Among the other issues that we are facing in cleaning up our lake, are the invasive species that are damaging the ecosystem. Fish are brought in by ships from other waters in their bilge tanks. Once in the lakes, they thrive without their natural predators and push out native animal and fish species. Don’t forget that we have also destroyed much of the local habitat through industry over the years, and allowed manufacturing to pour tons of chemicals into our water streams that are still lingering about. I do worry about what will happen, as the lake is an important source of wildlife, nature, and drinking water. We need to take care of it, now that we have mucked it up. I am all for developing the waterfront. It could be a great economic draw to the region. The issue that concerns me is that the port Authority is currently not managing its storm water runoff, so what is the plan for managing debris, and pollution during their proposed move and the development of the property that is currently their home? Once again, I fear that our lackluster attitude, and our inability to demand that things be handled properly on our local level will be our downfall. Maybe with the help of the EPA, we can start some new enforcement and new momentum toward a cleaner, safer and bluer lake.
Won’t you join me and have your voice heard?
You want to be green, right? You want a checklist of all the things to do and buy and then you can sit back and finally relax. Sorry, kids, it is simply not that easy. Being green means work. It means being on the lookout. It means making meaningful choices and doing it over and over again. The answers are simply not black and white. Green is a gray area.
First off, I have read articles of people who live off the grid. Some raise sheep and make their own cloth, compost their own feces and never drive a car. Good for them. Deep in my heart, a part of me wants to be them. Part of me wants to throw off the shackles of modern life and spend the remainder of my days meditating in an ashram until I die and my body is left out to be pecked apart by the birds of the mountains. It ain’t gonna happen. Since you are reading this, it means that you are living here in the modern world as well. Unless you are generating your own electricity by stationary bicycle, you may be able to get something our of this.
What does being sustainable really mean? Ask 10 people and you are likely to get ten different answers. I have developed my own working definition that fits me and my life. Sustainability, to me, means making the best possible choices for both me and the rest of the planet, based on the information that I have available at the time. This means that I try to do the right things.
I try to drive less and walk more. We could sell the car. Many people live without them. We live in Cleveland, though and I have to get around. I cannot run our business or even really get as much done in life without one. However, we drive a fuel efficient car. We try to walk more and shop locally. We combine trips and try to carpool when we can. I also bought us bikes, and hope to bike more. Being aware of the amount of gas we use is important and allows us to make decisions about when and where we will go. While not driving at all is the greenest thing, that is not going to happen. Buying a hybrid would be green, but using an old car that is still functioning and getting over 30 mpg and not having to build a new car just for us is even greener, in my opinion. When the car no longer gets decent gas mileage, or starts to fall apart, then we can make that decision.
I eat a lot less meat. I buy cage free eggs that are not fed hormones. Everybody eats. Everybody poops. Everybody. So when I buy my food, I try to buy items that are locally grown. I try to support stores that have local produce. I spend the extra buck on cage free, hormone free eggs, because it is something that I believe in and I stand by that no matter where I shop. I eat less meat and look for grass fed beef, because grass fed cows give off less methane and contribute less to global warming. I always buy TP with recycled content, and 100% unless it is not available.
I choose the most eco friendly products that I can. I try to buy products with the least packaging. Organic cotton items are often out of my price range, but I get them when I can. Vinyl has issues, so I try to avoid it. Plastics are a necessary evil in life today, but I look for the recycle symbol on things and given the choice, I buy the better option. Or sometimes I do not buy at all…
I shop less and I weigh my options when I spend my dollars. When we put in a new floor, I wanted an eco friendly product like bamboo. But is bamboo really that eco friendly when it has to come all the way from China? I shop at Wal Mart because of the things they are doing to green their stores and their supply chains, but I am always aware of past labor violations. I also am aware that so much of their product selection is cheap and will fall apart in a week. Instead, I would rather buy from a less eco friendly retailer and buy something that will not need to be replaced soon. I also think about the things that I buy and ask myself if I can get it used. The greenest items are the ones that are never produced at all.
So there are no easy answers, no one size fits all. You have your life and have to make the choices that you need to to live it. But there are always options and you have to make the best ones for you. Is it better to buy a greener product made by a company with human rights abuses? Or a product that is bad for the environment that that has no animal testing? Do you support local farmers who use pesticides, or a corporate farm that grows organic, in Mexico? Dig deep and spend your money wisely, and as you do, you will find that there are good and bad in most of the choices that you make. Choose the greenest answer and it won;t always be black and white, but sorta gray.
I haven’t posted a new art piece to give away, as I am still looking to give away the framed piece I chose for last week’s recycle post. Go here and read the post. I want everyone to contact someone on the list and then post a comment on who you wrote to. So far, there have been no takers….
C’mon, I need your help here.
I have never seen anything like it before. I am talking about Cleveland’s Ingenuity Fest. Scattered over several blocks and incorporating an assortment of venues was this premier arts event. Not really knowing what to expect, we arrived on Friday evening. After getting our wristbands and entering onto the main thoroughfare, we were greeted with the mandatory food stalls. Not surprisingly, they featured a huge assortment of fried foods and the obligatory funnel cakes. You cannot go to any event in this region without seeing a food stall, and makes me wonder how we moved up the rankings to #15 in Men’s Health magazine’s list of America’s Fittest Cities. (I suspect me friends over at Crossfit Cleveland are part of the answer.) After passing the smell of grease and cotton candy, we hit the main stage. Over the 3 days there were a variety of acts that preformed here.
North Coast Men's Chorus sings 80's music
While the rock bands were a bit too raucous for me, I loved the performance by the North Coast Men’s Chorus. They always put on such a great show, so if you haven’t seen them, plan on it!
After turning down an alley, we ran into another stage. It was an interactive game show. This stage also saw a variety of performers. Farther down was a weird alien creature hanging on the wall that was “laying eggs” or some such thing. One of the empty buildings was a makeshift gallery showing a variety of artists. The work was mostly painting and some were delightful, while others more whimsical in nature. In the Halle Building, we watched a surreal dance piece done in the waterfall fountain. The Danse Agua was intriguing and exotic! We saw a variety of NASA booths. 3-D games, painters, and watched as some participants had themselves digitally inserted into photographs of astronauts in space. We even watched an Eco Fashion Show. On the street again, there were more booths which changed throughout the festival. There was healthier food, used books, Whole Foods, and various arts and entertainment. Another stage had more stuff, my favorite of which was the Hip Hop dancers. In the Idea Center you could see more modern dance by groups like Morrison Dance Studios, watch shorts, even make your own robots. There was a performance at the Hanna by Tim Miller-a highlight of the weekend for me. Asterisk Gallery got together an enormous show of their artists and put them in the now defunct Christian Science Reading Room building. Truly avant-garde, this was a fantastic collection.
The "Urban Trotter" by Melissa Daubert
On the street you never knew what you might see-jugglers, minstrels, magicians. My favorite was by Melissa Daubert. She created an “Urban Trotter,” which was a nearly life sized kinetic sculpture of a horse being ridden by a monkey. Complete with the recorded clip clop of hooves, attendees were invited to participate by taking a turn pushing the sculpture around the festival. Much of the festival was interactive. We all participated in the “Hands Across” experiment. Photography, painting, robots, virtual gaming, and many others were interactive. There will be another experience in September on the lower level of the Detroit bridge!
On of the other events that we attended was the Cain Park Arts Festival. An annual event in Cleveland Heights, this was our first year we attended. I was shocked at just how large this festival has become and how high the quality of the vendors. The art ran the gamut, too. Photography, sculpture, painting, jewelry, just to name a few. One of my favorites was an artist named Lewis Tardy. 
His futuristic designs came to life in the form of sculptures that were created from gears, metal and parts. Graceful and fluid, yet cold and robotic. Sometimes you see art in your lifetime that years later you will recall with the same feeling of fascination, and Lewis has created this type of work. His card stays in my files for future reference! Be sure to visit his website for a real treat! If you love art, be sure to include this on your calendar for next year.
We also stopped by the 78th Street Experience. Located at the 78th Street Studios, I was treated to huge works by Matt Dibble. I have been to his studio and seen a lot of his more surrealist work, but this show had a wonderful selection of his larger pieces that were more abstract in style. I was delighted by the texture and the colors of his pieces. In addition to the great work of Matt Dibble at Tregoning and Co, the artists work spaces were also opened and turned into a fantastic gallery space upstairs. A great addition to the Gordon Square Arts District, it is worth a trip. Be sure to check out the next big event in October-just in time for the holidays!
Cleveland is really a great place for the arts! Besides our world class museums and symphony orchestra, the local artist here are fantastic. And just in case there aren’t enough galleries or locals, we have so many festivals that draw both vendors and crowds from around the country. What a great place to be!
I have posted these ideas before, but it has been a while. These days of tough economic times, it is always important to pick the low hanging fruit. Here are 10 easy ways to save energy, and thus money!
1. Clean your refrigerator coils. Vacuuming the dust out of your refrigerator coils makes it run more efficiently and thus saves energy.
2. Turn off the water while shaving and brushing your teeth. Gallons of potable water are flushed down the drain while we brush or shave. If you use hot water, it is even worse as you spend the energy on heating the water as well as the water itself.
3. Change your heater filter. The cleaner the filter, the more efficiently your heater will run. At a minimum, it should be changed every season.
4. Insulate hot water pipes. The unused hot water in your pipes cools quickly in winter. Insulating the pipes means that there will be less time (and water) wasted waiting for your shower to heat up.
5. Check your weather stripping. Replace old worn out weather stripping to create tight seals around windows and doors. Keep the warm air inside this winter.
6. Carpool one day a week. Simple, but true. One day a week could mean a huge impact on your fuel costs. Don’t like to carpool? Try public transportation one day a week. Who knows, maybe you will see that it isn’t so bad-soon you can skip the fuel costs, the parking, the maintenance, just by using the mass transit system in your town.
7. Wash your clothes in cold water. Clothes rarely get cleaner in hot water. If you are a hot water junkie, dial it down slowly, try warm for hot and cold for warm.
8. Replace standard light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones. I have written about CFLs so often, I am not going to say any more on this one. Search for CFL in my blog if you need more convincing!
9. Put master strips on major gadgets and appliances. Turning off the TV and DVD player rarely turns them all the way off any more. Unplug them at night or when away from home (or use a master strip that you can simply switch off). The clock on your VCR won’t read right-but does it now? Don’t forget about the chargers! Phone and gadget chargers still draw power, even when they are not charging anything. Unplug them when not in use.
10. Get a programmable thermostat. I cut our natural gas use significantly by installing one of these. It was easy to install, easy to program and cost about $30. Does your entire house need to be heated all day when no one is there to enjoy it?
A lot of these savings are winter based, so now is the best time to implement them. Check out places like Big Lots and Dollar General for huge savings on out of season items like weather stripping.
If you live in the city of Cleveland, then either you have curbside recycling, or you don’t. Either way, contact your city councilperson and the mayor. Tell them you want to have a citywide curbside recycling and mandated recycling at all events that require a city permit. It is easy. I am sick of having to drag my recycling down to the nearest bin, but that is not the reason for this particular rant. I was asked by a colleague of mine what to do about recycling all their old magazines. Now this is a smart guy. Problem is, since we have made is so difficult for residents to recycle and even worse for commercial customers, that even the brightest residents haven’t all followed through. We have not taken the minimal time and effort to educate the public that they can recycle metal, paper, newspapers, magazines, cardboard and plastics at their local Cleveland recycles dumpsters. If you do not know where your nearest site is, look at the city listing. This site has much more information as well, like a recycle guide-what to recycle and where to do it. It is great information, but I rarely hear about it… The other reason that I am on this tirade is that I am sick of the public events in this town not having recycling at the most basic level. I went to a Port Authority meeting last week to discuss the lakefront project. (BTW this project looks great and we need to get started on it-plan on attending the August meeting!) They served food, which was delicious, and a selection of sodas. I can understand them not being prepared to recycle the plates or cutlery, but at least two of us had to ask about a recycle bin before one appeared for the aluminum cans.
This weekend the difference between Cleveland and Cleveland Heights was made glaringly obvious. I attended the Cain Park Art Fair. The park had recycling cans available throughout the area. Judging by their appearance, they have been serving the public for a while now. Moreover, the visitors and exhibitors alike were dutifully dropping their cans and bottles inside and I didn’t wee a single wadded up wrapper or paper make it in. That means the residents of Cleveland Heights know what they are doing. They have been schooled on at least the basics and they understand that a recycling program must be followed or it will not work. In contrast, if you put a recycling bin at nearly any Cleveland area event, and it is half full of garbage and dumped out anyhow.
I also attended Ingenuity Fest. 
This is a great event (more on this later, as well-I am trying to stay on topic). But for a Cleveland event that was based on ingenuity and new ideas, why could I not find a simple recycling bin for a water bottle ANYWHERE? The irony was not lost on me. Besides the vendors and their waste, I saw a lot of attendees looking around for their spot to dump their can and choosing the garbage-it wasn’t really a choice anyway. So for a city that is promoting ingenuity, we couldn’t be enough on the edge to even put out a recycle bin? More than that, we keep talking about a Green City on a Blue Lake, but we aren’t going to take the step of requiring permit holders for public events to even provide a single recycle bin? Now that is downright lazy if you ask me. So, here is my plan. I am attending the Cleveland Sustainability Summit in August. It is going to be a big deal. I request that everyone send their councilperson and the mayor a brief not asking them to start curbside recycling thorough out the city and to mandate public events permits issued with recycling bin requirements.
Here is the link to the Mayor Frank Jackson’s office. or email him directly at mayorsactioncenter@city.cleveland.oh.us
Try contacting his cabinet, too. They are all listed here.
Here are your City Council members:
Ward 1 Terrell Pruitt: ward01@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 2 Nate Wilkes: ward02@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 3 Zachary Reed: ward03@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 4 Kenneth Johnson: ward04@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 5 Phyllis Cleveland: ward05@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 6 Mamie Mitchell: ward06@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 7 TJ Dow: ward07@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 8 Shari Cloud: council8office@sbcglobal.net
Ward 9 Kevin Conwell: ward09@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 10 Eugene Miller: ward10@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 11 Michael Polensek: ward11@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 12 Anthony Brancatelli: abrancatelli@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 13 Joe Cimperman: ward13@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 14 Joe Santiago: jsantiago@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 15 Brian Cummings: ward15@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 16 Kevin Kelly: ward16@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 17 Matt Zone: councilward17@sbcglobal.net
Ward 18 Jay Westbrook: ward18@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 19 Dona Brady: ward19@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 20 Martin Sweeney: ward20@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 21 Martin Keene: ward21@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Just in case you don’t have an ideas on what to say, here is some sample text. Simple copy and paste into your email browser:
Dear Cleveland City Councilperson/Mayor:
As we strive to become a truly Green City on a Blue Lake, I think it is of utmost importance that we address the issue of recycling in the city of Cleveland. The savings on tipping fees and transportation of garbage, coupled with increased revenue from the sale of recyclables will more that off set the initial outlay of funds to implement a city wide program now. I understand that their is a program in place to roll out our program over 6 years, but if we act now, we can save money and increase our standing in the national community. Being able to market ourselves as a world class destination for tourism and business relocation is of the utmost importance. Not having a comprehensive recycling program merely tarnishes our reputation. I urge you to make recycling a priority in the city’s agenda. Furthermore, I would urge you to tie all city permits for public events and festivals to, at the very least, providing recycling bins as an alternative to garbage cans throughout the event. Our large events and festivals often draw large crowds from outside the city and by requiring recycling bins at these events, we are increasing the visibility of our commitment to recycling and greening our city and region.
Thank you.
Okay, I gave you the links and the words, all you have to do is cut and paste…now please help me out! I will bring this up as many times as possible at the Sustainability Summit in August. By the way, if you are not in Cleveland, feel free to contact our mayor and let him know what your city is doing about recycling and how you feel about it. After you email someone in the city government, write a comment here, telling me who you wrote to, and I will enter you in a drawing for a nice framed print!
What is the deal? If you have ever stopped at a red light near any sewer grate downtown or on the near west side of Cleveland, then you are with me here! I can barely breathe! I admit that my sense of smell seem hyper sensitive since I quit smoking, but still-sometimes this town STINKS! I have lived in a lot of places. I even worked for 3 weeks in Manhattan, during a garbage strike, in a drought. That is the only thing that begins to compete with the foul smell that emanates from our sewer grates here. The thing is it comes around during dry spells, shortly after a rain, even in the cooler days of fall and spring.
If you were out and about on the beaches this weekend, then you probably saw the signs warning swimmers of contamination. That is because the storms that rolled in on Saturday morning were so fast and hard that the sewer system backed up and overflowed into the lake. I don’t know about you, but my image of a green city on a blue lake doesn’t include the passing floating sewage.
Our sewers are old. Very old. In fact, some portions of the sewer system (even some of the water mains-I hear) are practically original to the city. They simply were not built to last 150 years, or to handle the amount of storm water runoff and people generated water waste of a city this size. Furthermore, there are so many pressing issues that are facing Cleveland, that we are really only fixing small portions at a time, rather than attempting the entire system.
What can be done? First off, we need to start thinking about what we can do as residents and small business owners. Disconnect your downspouts. Install rain gardens and rain barrels. This allows the first initial rush of storm water (the big part that overloads the systems) to be handled on the property and reduces the impact on the system. Secondly, reduce the amount of water that you use. Wash your car less. Flush less. Conserve water by turning off the tap while you brush your teeth and shave. Wash full loads of clothes only and use a water efficient washing machine: our front load washer uses a fraction of the water that our old top loader used and the clothes are cleaner! Think about including pavers with spaces in your next project. This will allow more rainwater to enter the ground than concrete, reducing the impact of rainfall.
Why bother? First off, it is good for the city. The less impact on the system, the less we need to worry about our taxes going to repair infrastructure. Secondly, it is good for the environment. Less sewage overflows is better for the lake and environs. Pollution in run off is reduced, as rainwater can be handled on site. Rain captured in rain gardens and rain barrels means less water usage for irrigation. Lastly, it is good for your health and pocketbook. The less pollutants in the watershed, the less water needs to be treated. The more rainwater is handled on site, the less heavy metals and other stuff to worry about in our water supply. The more water we salvage from rain, the less our water and sewer bills will amount to. It is a simple economic question!
Anyone who reads this blog regularly know that I am a big advocate of CFL bulbs. Every day it seems that the technology gets better and the bulbs are being produced in new shapes, sizes, wattages, and light colors. You can now get CFL bulbs that are “instant-on” or even dimmable. With their low electrical use and drastically lower pricing, it is a no brainer, right? Well…not so fast, according to some.
Unable to throw off the shackles of the cheap energy burning incandescent, the federal government has issued a mandate on electric light. There are new standards for power use that must be met by 2012. So more CFL’s, right. Maybe, but some light manufacturers are investing in finding ways to reinvent the incandescent. Currently, we already have the technology to make the Edison bulb more efficient. We can cut the energy use by an easy 20-30 % right now. Problem is, it comes with a hefty $5 a bulb price tag. Researchers are assuring everyone that they will be able to make a competitively priced incandescent available at a more reasonable price in the new future. In true American style, no one has put a driving force behind developing this technology until the new government mandates came out. I can’t help but wonder why we are so married to this bulb when there are so many other options available right now. On the other hand, innovation spurs technology and perhaps we will find new uses for the things we learn in this arena. The main issue with current incandescent s is the use of energy to create heat rather than light. That is why CFLs use so little energy and create so little heat-they are more efficient at light generation. The downside has always been the quality of the light. Some people just hate fluorescent light. Now however, there are so many options, I do not understand this argument. We are no longer married to the humming and flickering of the old florescent technology. We can now dim bulbs and improve the color. New shapes are making them suitable for chandeliers and open lights. They no longer take time to warm up and are reaching the price of a good incandescent.
Let’s not ignore the growing use of LED technology. The reason that we have not seen a faster growth in this area is a simple matter of components. To make LED bulbs you need things like sapphire (which is expensive) or gallium nitride (which is delicate, and has a high failure rate). This puts the cost of most LEDs out of reach for the average consumer. Even with a life span that can be 10X that of CFLs, even I am not likely to spend up to $100 for a light bulb. New materials are now being tested, however, that may bring the cost of LED bulbs more in line with CFLs. Now we are talking! The cool thing about this research is that it is closely married to the components used in computing. As we learn in one arena, it helps spur the research in the other. This means more research spead across the spectrum, promoting faster innovations and breakthroughs in both areas!
New improvements in ballasts for HID lamps are out now, as well. HID lamps are High Density bulbs used in places like stadiums and stores with high ceilings (like Costco). They are relatively efficient, but take a few minutes to warm up and can’t be dimmed. The new ballasts are going to fix these problems-making them more attractive in some settings.
Who will win the light wars? That is not an easy question to answer. I think that the home of the future will be lit with a variety of new efficient bulbs, each built for a specific purpose. I see the street being lit with HID bulbs that are highly efficient. Then your home will likely be lit with CFLs and spot lit (like artwork) with LED technology. All built to a new energy saving controlled smart home interface that allows light to be turned off automatically and empty rooms left unilluminated. I don’t see house incandescent bulbs fit into the picture-but what do I know? What about you? Do you care if the the incandescent bulb goes away forever?
Robert's Twitter 
