What is a LED Tube Light?

The solution--a citywide streetlight replacement project, moving from high-pressure sodium lights to GE's energy-efficient LED streetlights, ultimately reducing the city's electricity costs by more than $20,000 annually.

The high-pressure sodium lights had lit Superior's city streets and parks for many years, but the city wanted to reduce electricity costs while maintaining or improving light quality. Superior received 13 bids and accompanying light samples from the top four candidates. The city performed side-by-side testing of each light sample for two weeks before measuring light output and energy usage, balanced with pricing. The GE Evolve(TM) LED Medium Roadway fixture emerged as the clear winner. Superior had applied for and received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to cover part of the cost of the lighting upgrade. The grant program is a federal initiative to help fund energy efficiency and conservation programs across the country.

In 2009, Superior spent $30,260 on electricity for streetlights. The city expects the more than 600 LED fixtures installed will reduce electricity costs to approximately $9,300 annually, with the project paying for itself in just seven years. In addition to energy savings, the city will realize reduced maintenance costs, with the GE LED system expected to provide 11 years of service, based on a 50,000-hour life and 12 hours of operation per day.

Larry Brittenham, utility manager for Superior, acknowledges the monetary payback is important, but says the real payback is in reducing the city's carbon footprint.

"We are saving 156 tons of CO 2 per year from just the electrical generation of our streetlights, which doesn't include the reduced impact from the transportation and manufacturing of parts, or installation every few years with our old lighting. Just imagine what larger cities could save in greenhouse gasses with GE's LED systems," says Brittenham. "For the combination of light output and cost, no other LED manufacturers came close to the GE lights."

GE Evolve LED Roadway fixtures improve visibility on Superior's roads with better horizontal and vertical lighting uniformity, reduced glare and light pollution, and less light trespass. As part of a major initiative for the state of Nebraska to move to green technology, Superior and five other Nebraska cities are retrofitting various mercury vapor and high-pressure sodium streetlights with GE LED systems.

"We're seeing a rapid adoption of LED systems for roadways. In fact, 29 states have already installed or are evaluating GE's Evolve(TM) LED fixture as a replacement for less-efficient lighting sources. This replacement project will improve visibility for Nebraska drivers, which can create a brighter environment. It will also reduce maintenance costs and lower energy consumption," says Tim Miller, GE global product manager, outdoor lighting fixture platforms.

There's nothing quite like the heady aroma of fresh herbs, and nothing more satisfying than growing your own. Whether you use them to scent a room or give your cooking some much-needed taste bud titillation, if you live in tightly-packed city accommodation then indulging your appetite for fresh greenery can be difficult. If your home is not blessed with enough window space for a hanging garden like Windowfarms, but you have lots of floor space that's just begging to be divided up, then take a look at the Herb 2 project from FABRIKAAT. An experiment in folding and bending, this flexible partition wall is also a herb garden and an unusual source of low-energy lighting for your living space.

Herb 2 is the brainchild of Mariann Hildal of Norway and Lithuania's Milda Liubinskaite, and was created during an intensive three-month design course in the Master of Interior Architecture & Retail Design program at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. One of four FABRIKAAT projects on show at the recent Milan Design Week, it's said to have been influenced by the distinct lack of garden space available to those living in the Netherlands.

The structure features interconnected cubicle units made of pine plywood, each containing a small Plexiglas terrarium. In its resting position, Herb 2 just looks like a stack of boxes, but there's a manual pull-up mechanism that's used to lift the strategically-hinged containers so that gaps appear between them. Each unit can rotate at up to 90 degrees for ventilation and to give access to the crops, and users can experiment with different patterns depending on taste, and probably structural balance.

The herb garden components can slide in and out on tracks to help regulate growing conditions, and a low-energy LED lighting system on the underside of each cube means that users don't need to worry about placement near windows. It also makes for an attractive living room light feature. The herbs are grown in special planter bags made from water-resistant nylon, that can be simply lifted out and replaced as necessary.

HNU (whose name comes from the scientific formula that defines the energy contained in one photon of light) offers residential, commercial and off-grid photovoltaic systems, as well as high-efficiency LED and magnetic induction lighting products.

SunPower Corporation oversees a worldwide network of over 2,000 solar technology dealers, offering the latest in energy-efficient technologies and solutions for residences, small and large businesses, power plants and government ventures.

"HNU Energy is committed to delivering quality workmanship and technology and superior service to our customers," said CEO Dan O'Connell. "This award acknowledges our team's dedication and commitment. In partnership with SunPower, we offer customers the most efficient and reliable solar systems available."

Back in the 1970s, a green kitchen was one with cabinets the shade of a ripe lime, a table that looked like it was made out of apples, and green linoleum floors. And it was frisée lettuce with everything. Yes, green was a trendy colour for kitchens.

Nowadays, a green kitchen means something else.

Kitchens are where we spend most of our time when at home. We cook and eat, read and watch television, help the kids with their homework, and entertain friends and family. This translates into a massive use of energy and generation of waste. But not if we use efficient appliances and lighting systems, opt for eco-friendly materials, reduce the use of plastic and packaging, adapt efficient measures, and eat green.

Here are six easy and inexpensive ways to transform your kitchen into a green space.
Install a composter

You don’t need to throw away your organic kitchen waste. By installing a recycling bin in your kitchen, you cut down on your garbage. Moreover, if you invest in a composter, you can transform the waste into great compost for your garden. Green kitchen and greener plants.
Use energy-efficient appliances

When replacing your kitchen appliances, make sure that you choose the more efficient models. This shouldn’t be an issue as most new appliances meet and exceed energy efficiency standards. There are also frequent financing initiatives to help you purchase energy-efficient appliances.

Also, adopt some best practices, like not running your dishwasher unless it’s completely full and keeping your refrigerator well stocked, since a full refrigerator uses less energy than an empty one. And for baking, you don’t need to pre-heat your oven from 20 minutes before – most modern ovens reach high temperatures much faster than that.
Install energy-efficient lighting

Using light efficiently in your kitchen doesn’t just mean changing the lights to energy-efficient ones. There are other things you can do, especially at planning stage. When building your new kitchen, maximise natural light by opening up large, light-facing windows and opting for light, reflective surfaces for your cabinets and surfaces. And you don’t actually need to switch on all the lights to brew a coffee.
Eat green

Add locally grown, seasonal and organic foods to your diet and make frequent trips to the farmers’ market – imported food usually travels thousands of miles, which is obviously not kind on the planet. The fewer miles from source to table, the better.

Also, avoid buying food which comes packaged in layers of excessive plastic as well as frozen food – instead, buy fresh food and cook it yourself. That way, you cut down on waste and eat better.