Vu1 Poised to Make a Lighting Splash December 1

For those missing my earlier Vu1 post, Vu1 offers an innovative lighting technology that looks well positioned to compete with LED and CFL technologies. Their technology, called ESL, hits a sweet spot in terms of light quality, efficiency, price, and expected life. ESL shine especially bright when it comes to light quality, with color temperature and dimability equal to incandescents.

Vu1 had promised to send me a first generation R30 test bulb for me to evaluate on my site. Unfortunately, it never happened. And in following the company, there have been a number of disappointments in terms of meeting delivery dates.

However, it looks like they are poised to turn things around, having announced a major agreement with Lowes to sell the R30 bulb in their stores for $14.98 each. That price easily beats LEDs, and offers a competitive option to CFLs.

Here is the most important quote from the Business Week report on the press release: "Vu1’s bulb, which can be dimmed, will sell at $14.98, according to a company statement. While that exceeds the $12-to- $13 cost of a comparable dimmable compact fluorescent bulb, it lasts longer, is mercury-free and produces every wavelength of light, the CEO said. Lowe’s will sell the bulb online from Dec. 1 and in its stores from February, according to the statement."

Further, Vu1 has received UL certification for an A19 lightbulb. The R30 bulb is a flood light bulb, which is more an more common in new homes. My house, recently remodeled, had 36 R30 fixtures, for example. The A19 is the traditional lamp bulb. Between the two, they should offer a compelling product line.

Back to my house - all but two of the 36 R30 fixtures are attached to a dimmer switch. Given CFLs limitations for dimming (even the 'dimmable' ones aren't great), this limits me to incandescent, halogen, LED, or Vu1's ESL. LEDs are still too expensive, and light quality isn't where it needs to be at the more affordable end of the spectrum. Halogen and incandescent are not great for as expensive as energy is in California. That places ESL at the top of my list.

Readers - when Vu1 bulbs show up at your local Lowes, give them a try, and report back here what you think!

An OLED revolution? Organic LEDs

Early Flexible OLED Technology

Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) have been around for years, if not decades, when you consider research in universities and labs.  But only now are OLEDs reaching mainstream, and starting to turn up on consumer products (TVs, monitors, watches), advertising, and more.

So what is OLED, will it compete in the lighting industry, and what is its potential for the average household?

Four Myths of LED Light Bulbs

As with any emerging technologies, there are many myths surrounding LED lighting. Some make LED lighting sound terrible, and others make LEDs sound like a revolutionary technology. It is easy to confuse “potential” with “capability today”, and it is easy to confuse yesterday’s capability with an inherent flaw.

Today I’ll take a look at a few current myths that persist for LED lighting.

What is More Energy Efficient – LED, CFL, ESL, Incandescent, or Halogen?

In my quest to make my home as cost-effectively efficient as possible, I’ve spent a lot of time researching and trying different lighting solutions.

My first step was to use lights less often, my next step was to question how much light I really needed (i.e. do I really need a 100 watt bulbs, or is a 60 watt bulb enough?), and the last step was to replace bulbs with more efficient ones, which is a continual process.

You're probably thinking that LED is the clear-cut winner in the efficiency war.  Well, you may be surprised to find out this may not be the case today!

Why You Need To Learn About ESL Light Bulbs

Vu1 ESL Light Bulb

Just when we're all getting used to CFLs, LEDs, hybrid halogen/CFL bulbs, and all of the other new lighting technologies, along comes ESL, full of potential to revolutionize lighting....again.

With all of the fanfare over the emergence and potential of LED bulbs, you might be asking how lighting can get better.  LEDs run cool, are more efficient than CFL in many applications, and support new form factors and instant on like the good old incandescent.  What's left for lighting and how can a new technology find it's niche?

Well, CFLs and LEDs have their shortcomings, and ESL promises to address many of the shortcomings while offering all of the benefits.

New California Lightbulb Standard In Effect

On January 1, 2011, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) (signed into law by George W. Bush) went into effect in California.  California has chosen to enact the law one year earlier than required.

As part of its phased approach, this law essentially requires at least a 28% improvement on the efficiency of lighting, and the phased approach starts with the 100 watt incandescent bulb.  Interestingly, and not coincidentally, a 72 watt halogen light happens to produce as much light (lumens) as a 100 watt incandescent.

Over the next few years, similar improvements will be required for 75 watt, 60 watt, and 40 watt incandescents in California, with the rest of the nation implementing each phase one year later.  Incandescent lighting, by the way, is probably the least efficient electrical device in existence - 90% of the energy used is lost to heat.

This nice thing about this law is that it is not "picking winners" in the efficiency move, though the way the numbers work out it does seem to have been specifically picked to allow halogen to meet the requirements.  However, the law does not require people to use CFLs, LEDs, or Halogens.  It simply requires a 28% improvement in efficiency as compared to incandescent. 

For what its worth, halogen is one lighting technology that largely flies under the radar.  As mentioned, it can be 28% more efficient than incandescent, it is cheaper than CFL (not including energy saved), and produces good light and achieves full brightness rapidly.  And no mercury is used.

If you've been avoiding CFLs for one reason or another, and are awaiting for LEDs to get better, you may want to look into halogens.  Even in my home state of Arizona, I've been starting to see screw-in halogens for sale on occasion, months in advance of the law taking effect here.

For more information on the California implementation of this law, check out this FAQ.

Why New GE LED Nightlight Bulbs Are A Good Omen

I was surprised to notice a new offering at my local Target last week - a 2-pack of LED nightlight bulbs from GE.

I was surprised for several reasons - I hadn't seen LEDs at this Target before, I hadn't seen LED nightlight bulbs at any local store before, and these bulbs were marked as 2700K color temperature.

For under $6 I had to try them out - and my results were interesting!

Five Reasons to Reconsider CFLs

The CFL light bulb is an interesting product.  It has been around in the mainstream for around 10 years, yet continues to be as misunderstood by some as it is revered by others.

And to top it off, it has become a bit of a political lightning rod in the USA as a symbol of everything from global warming conspiracy to government intrusion.

Like many products with a lot of potential, corporate marketers have played up the best of this potential - especially long life and low energy consumption.  Those on the other side of the issue complain about harsh light, overblown life expectancy claims, and price, and mercury content.

Today we'll look at five reasons to reconsider CFLs for use in your home.

Five Ways to Offset Your Holiday Energy Consumption

If you're like millions of Americans, you just completed setting up your Christmas tree and have strung holiday lights all around your house and yard.  And if you're like most people, you are spending $1.00 to $5.00 per day to run those lights.

Most people tend to run their displays from the Sunday after Thanksgiving through to the weekend past New Year's Day.  That is about 40 days, meaning many people are spending $40 to $200 just to run their holiday light displays.

How can you offset this usage?  There are many ways!

How To Reduce Your Electric Bill (or Why Is My Bill So High?)

The entire purpose of Home Power Saver is to help readers reduce their electric, gas, and water bills. We do this by discussing changes in behavior, simple energy saving products, and improvement projects that most readers should be able to do.

Thus far I've looked at many specific areas where you can save energy and reduce your electric bills, but I have yet to take a holistic view of why a bill is what it is.

That all changes today, where I will dissect the average bill for an average family in the USA, and look at the prime target areas where the most savings may be obtained.

Efficient Landscape Lighting - Save $18 Per Year

I've thought a lot about LED lights in recent months, and the limitations LED lights have.

Then it hit me - low-voltage landscape lights are the perfect application for LEDs! I'm not talking about those solar landscape lights, which usually use LED, but traditional low-voltage  lights that plug in to a timer.

And it makes sense - brightness is not as much of a concern, color temperature is not as important in many fixtures, and these are lights that run for hours, meaning a quick payback.

A google search and check on Amazon revealed very few players, though Amazon carries an LED wedge base landscape bulb from a company called LED Wholesalers.

I ordered a couple to test, and they work great. I had been using 4 watt incandescent bulbs previously (the lowest wattage I could find), so I am saving about 3.5 watts per bulb (I have three in my setup, so 10.5 watts total).

The LED "bulb" is actually a small circuit board with 6 small LEDs - two on both sides of the board, and two pointing up.  This configuration provides a even distribution of light, and it is relatively warm colored (though not quite like an incandescent).

I schedule to turn off my landscape lighting for about 3 hours in the dead of night, so on average my system runs 9 hours per day over a year. Given my power cost over 500 KwH is 14.35 cents per KwH, my payback (after including shipping costs) is just under 3 years.

However, when I look around town most people are running systems with 5 or 6 fixtures, and generally use 7 or 11 watt bulbs.  In a scenario like that (we'll say 5 fixtures, 11 watt bulbs), you'd save 37.5 watts, or about $17 or $18 a year, and payback would be right around a year. 

Not bad for an easily overlooked power consumer!

Six Ways to a Green Christmas

Judging by the looks of the local Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart, Christmas decoration purchases are in full swing.  While its tempting to buy those cheap incandescent lights (which can be purchased for less than 5 cents per bulb), you need to consider the energy costs in running those.  You'll find that LED Christmas lights will save money in the long run, run cooler, and be safer.

But buying LED lights isn't the only way to make energy efficient decisions for Christmas.  I've assembled Six Ways to achieve a Green Christmas.

LED Lighting Prices in Rapid Decline

It has been heavily reported that LED lighting prices are in rapid decline, and I noticed this first hand at Sam's Club last week.

About 2 months ago I purchased two GE 2.5 watt LED bulbs for $30. Today, the same package is $20 - a $10 decrease. These bulbs are only 80 lumens (relatively dim), but they work great in my stairwell footing light fixtures and in my refrigerator (which has 4 bulbs!). Point being, 80 lumens has relatively few applications, but if you have a good one you can expect savings.

My application is a stairwell foot light, where a 60 watt bulb was originally installed.  Using the payback calculator, these now will actually pay for themselves in their 10 year estimated lifetime, as compared to a 13 watt CFL. And they pay for themselves in just 3 or 4 years compared to the 60 watt bulbs that were originally installed. 

Those aren't spectacular numbers, but it is a huge improvement from a year ago.  If these gains continue through next year, we'll see LEDs starting to take some market share from CFLs.

My New Favorite CFL Light Bulbs

In my series discussing CFL bulbs, I noted that while Compact Fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs have come a long way in the last year or two, they still are not perfect.  Some bulbs may take a half second or so to turn on, and several seconds to reach full brightness.  On the other hand, I also noted that many bulbs color temperature (i.e. light "warmth") have improved greatly in recent months and years.

Well, I purchased my first EcoSmart CFLs at Home Depot the other day, and must say I am impressed.  Their immediate brightness beat all of the other brands I have tried, including GE (though still don't quite match incandescent).  They also claim significantly less mercury than other CFLs.

I was already a convert to CFLs, but the quality of these is so much better than what was available just two or three years ago that I'm hoping it creates plenty of new converts.

The specific CFLs I bought were EcoSmart flood lights for my kitchen, and candelabra style for a ceiling fan.

If you are in the market for new CFLs, check out Amazon and Home Depot for EcoSmart bulbs - my new favorite.

News Roundup - LED Tech Breakthroughs, MA Rebates, and more

Welcome to a new feature of Home Power Saver - the News Roundup series. Periodically, as events warrant, I'll post recent interesting news stories in the world of energy savings.

Topics today include an advancement in LED technology that may lead to even longer life LED lighting and possibly some cost reductions.  Additionally, an interesting new study was released about home energy monitoring systems, and Massachusetts has a money saving rebate on a product that Home Power Saver highly recommends.

Five Ways to Automate Power Savings - Part II

As discussed in part I, most power savings projects "automate" savings. If you install extra insulation, you expend work up front, but can sit back and enjoy the savings for years to come.

However, this two part series in looking at ways that home automation can save you power and add convenience and security to your home.

Part I looked at two simple products that can insure your lights and electronics get shut off when not in use.

Part II today will look at these three additional steps - plus a bonus.

1. Wall Switch Timers.  These take the place of a traditional switch, and automatically turn on and off base don programs or your local sunrise and sunset.  Perfect for outdoor lighting.
2. Programmable Thermostats.  It is more efficient for your AC and Heater to run for long periods than to turn on and off repeatedly all day.  Programmable thermostats and adjust your settings while you are at work or away from the house.
3. Outlet timers.  Traditional outlet timers are perfect for many applications - holiday lights, outdoor fountains, or anything else that you may want to turn on or off at specific times.

CFLs and LEDs and You - Part II

In part I we discussed why Compact Fluorescent bulbs make a lot of financial sense in most applications in the home.  And the historical issue of harsh light is mostly a thing of the past (if you remember to buy the correct color temperature bulb).  But CFLs are not all dim-able, still may not instantly illuminate when turned on, and often take several seconds to reach full brightness.  But after a few weeks of use most people adjust.

However, we’ve yet to cover perhaps the most controversial subject for CFLs, and haven't touched on LED lighting.

CFL's and You...How I Save $300 a Year

OK, you knew it had to happen sooner or later.  Time for that age-old stereotypical discussion of incandescent vs compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs).  And we'll throw in LED lights for good measure, too.  In fact , there is so much to discuss, we’ll break this up into a two part series, with a cost analysis of CFLs and discussion of light quality in part I, and a further discussion of CFLs and introduce LEDs in part II.

I showed earlier this week how switching just 5 light bulbs save me $124 annually. And you can get eight 13 watt GE CFLs for only $7 at Amazon!

Almost everyone knows that CFLs use much less electricity, and depending on where and how they are used, might last several years longer than incandescent bulbs. Further, since they are more efficient than incandescent bulbs, they produce much less heat - a double bonus for the summer months.

But even with all of these pluses, you need to avoid some common CFL pitfalls and understand a few properties of the bulbs to get the most out of them.