LED lamps are expected to revolutionize the lighting industry because of their sharply reduced power consumption and their long life compared with standard incandescents. But to date, market acceptance has been slow given the high initial cost ($50 and up in many cases) and limited brightness. LED lamps have only been able to emit light equivalent to a 60-watt standard bulb.
Now Philips is looking to change that game, announcing that it will market an LED lamp
hen I heard this, it felt to me a lot like a situation we face with some regularity in green building. We are racing to make our buildings safer, healthier for occupants, less-polluting, and lower carbon. But we are behind in that race. For example, we have been paying serious attention to the health effects of building materials on indoor air quality for only about 20 years. We have been inventing new chemicals that affect our indoor air quality for well over 100 years.
Unfortunately for the builder, homeowner, or renter who simply wants some reliable advice on what to worry about from an environmental perspective, and what not to worry about, things sometimes change or crop up unexpectedly. And we’re not usually completely ready with a seamless hot swap. Remember when compact fluorescent bulbs first came out? Remember the first low-flow toilets? Best forget them.
Chad Ludeman wrote: Prefab is Not The Answer to Affordable, Modern & Green Homes : There are a variety of claims made by prefab proponents to support the idea that this method of home delivery is the best way to provide modern architecture to the masses. They are: Prefab is more Affordable Prefab produces less Waste Prefab takes less Time Prefab is more “Green” Chad goes on to pick each of these claims apart. Is he correct
Ben Law’s stunning woodland house and woodsman lifestyle , and his subsequent videos on how to build a roundwood timber-frame home , have become somewhat legendary in permaculture circles. Now Permaculture Magazine has a great interview with Ben Law in which he talks about building with wood, loving the land, the limited value of networking, and (perhaps surpri… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Guidance to get you at least halfway to achieving net-zero-energy design is now available from leading industry organizations in a new publication.
Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small to Medium Office Buildings: Achieving 50% Energy Savings Toward a Net-Zero-Energy Building is the first book in a series of Advanced Energy Design Guide (AEDG) publications that provides recommendations to achieve 50 percent energy savings when compared with the minimum code requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. The book was developed by a committee representing a diverse group of energy professionals drawn from ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
Green builders need to be thinking now about upcoming changes to the EPA’s Energy Star for Homes program, according to a speaker at the recent NAHB Green Building Conference in Salt Lake City. Homes that earn the Energy Star designation after Jan. 1, 2012, will need to comply with Version 3.0 requirements, which are built on a three-pronged approach to energy efficiency that entails controlling air flow, thermal flow, and moisture flow.
