By Robert Thomson | May 12, 2009

With all the recent focus on the environment and “greener living,” bamboo flooring is getting quite the hype. Consumers are left wondering what to believe and what to do about it. If you are considering installing bamboo flooring in your home, here are some things you’ll want to know, and some things you probably didn’t. I’ll not pull any punches nor will I overstate my case.
Let’s start with the good part, all laid out nice and neatly for you.
Bamboo flooring is an attractive alternative to hardwood flooring. It comes in several shades or hues, and is available in several more “stained” colors. Natural bamboo is light-colored, having a light, almost Maplewood appearance. To darken bamboo, it must be heated with steam. Steamed bamboo can be almost as dark as walnut, or any shade in between, given the length of time it is steamed and the temperature at which it is steamed.
Bamboo flooring does have environmentally-friendly aspects. It is a grass, not a tree, so it matures much faster. Bamboo can produce in 3 to 7 years what it takes an oak tree 100 to 150 years. And it can do it again in 3 to 7 years. It is a much more sustainable resource. Some bamboo flooring comes from natural groves, requiring almost no fertilizers or other chemical in the growth process. It contains fewer voc’s and utilizes far fewer toxins in its production than other types of flooring. It is certainly “greener” than carpeting.
Bamboo flooring isn’t really any harder for the homeowner to install, or care for, than its hardwood flooring cousins. There are snap-together varieties that can be laid in a matter of hours. There are also the “floating” varieties that take no more time to install than their laminate floating friends. No special care is needed. You can use your old trusty broom for everyday sweeping up, and the occasional damp mop for eliminating messier dirt and grime. No waxing is required. In fact, waxing can damage and dull the finish.
Bamboo flooring is readily available in most areas, and the advent of many online bamboo flooring suppliers almost guarantees that you, irregardless of location, can have access to it. You may have to wait a bit longer, but you’ll get it eventually.

Now, let’s have a look at the not-so-good side of bamboo flooring, shall we?

While bamboo flooring is a good alternative to hardwood flooring, it isn’t a hardwood. The darker the tone, the harder the bamboo, but you’ll never get that oak-hard toughness from bamboo. Dings, dents and scuffs can and will occur. Pets and children can have quite an undesirable effect on bamboo flooring. High heels are its nemesis, sure to leave their mark. Be sure to put scuff pads or sliders under any furniture that is moved around frequently, to prevent marking and marring of the surface.

The environmental friendliness of bamboo flooring is up for debate, too. Sure, it’s a renewable grass -a renewable grass grown in China, where environmental issues are taking a back seat to profits. Large bamboo plantations are cropping up, using chemicals and fertilizers to grow abundant bamboo. These plantations often deforest surrounding areas to make room for more bamboo. They also denude the undergrowth to keep their bamboo stands free from weeds and other plants. This can lead to erosion and poor soil conditions. The production of bamboo flooring does involve some solvents and other toxic chemicals. Granted, the amounts used are lower than in other types of flooring, but they are still present. Stained bamboo carries with it all the nasty stuff present in other stained woods, as well.

While bamboo flooring doesn’t differ much in installation or care, the homeowner might feel a squeeze in his wallet from choosing bamboo flooring. The cost of bamboo flooring is significantly higher than that of other flooring choices. This higher cost may actually put off some homeowners from deciding to use it in their homes. Bamboo flooring is still relatively new to the home construction/renovation scene, and like anything new or trendy, is often priced higher than it has to be. Bamboo flooring is more “picky” too about where it can happily coexist with other aspects of your home. Being porous, it doesn’t like water or moisture or even slight dampness, so baths, kitchens, basements and other sub-grade areas are pretty much off-limits for it. Also, entryways are not a good choice, as the moisture brought in on wet shoes can have disastrous effects on your bamboo flooring. It doesn’t like the sun much, either. Direct sunlight fades it out, and rather quickly, too. Bamboo flooring should not be placed in sunrooms or other areas of the home that receive a great deal of natural light for this reason. If you do decide to use it in a bright and airy room, you’ll need to keep the blinds or draperies drawn during the day to protect the floor.

Lastly, the “ugly” bit: Now, I don’t want to offend anyone’s sensibilities or decorating tastes, but some of the stains available in bamboo flooring leave much to be desired. With stain color choices with names like moss green and butterscotch pink, need I say more?

Bamboo flooring can be a beautiful addition to any home, but not all homes. Some may find it too impractical for their active, busy families. Others may find it the perfect choice for certain areas of their home, but will have to accept that other areas will need alternative flooring. If you’re considering it solely for its environmental “friendliness” you may want to research your manufacturers a bit to find one that is truly as “green” as they can be. All in all, bamboo flooring is like the rest of us – it has its good points and bad points. And a few ugly bits as well.Bamboo Flooring – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

First off, let’s consider the benefits of refurbishment.

By refurbishing a product:

It does not end up in the landfill as quickly. (perhaps never)

It can really save you  money.

If it is a high tech piece of equipment for example; computer, television, monitor, ipod etc. you will have a clearer conscience when upgrading within a couple of years as technology advances and recycling the refurbished edition.

Often, products are brought to a ‘like-new’ condition with full warranty or at least a good limited warranty.

Sometimes when a product is refurbished, any parts that may have been faulty by design are replaced with the improved version.

What Qualifies As A Refurbished Item?

Basically, an audio or video component can be classified as refurbished if it meets ANY of the following criteria:

Customer Return - Most major retailers have a 30-day return policy for their products and many consumers, for whatever reason, return products within that time period. Most of the time, if there is nothing wrong with the product, stores will just reduce the price and resell it as an open box special. However, if there is some sort of defect present in the product, many stores have agreements to return the product to the manufacturer were it is inspected and/or repaired, and then repackaged for sale as a refurbished item.

Shipping Damage – Many times, packages can get damaged in shipping, whether due to mishandling, the elements, or other factors. In most cases the product in the package may be perfectly fine, but the retailer has the option to return the damaged boxes (who wants to put a damaged on box on the shelf?) to the manufacturer for full credit. The manufacturer, then, is obligated to inspect the products and repackage them in new boxes for sale. However, they cannot be sold as new products, so they are relabeled as refurbished units.

Comestic Damage – Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, a product may have a scratch, dent, or other form of cosmetic damage that does not affect the performance of the unit. The manufacturer has two choices; to sell the unit with it cosmetic damage visible or fix the damage by placing the internal components into a new cabinet or casing. Either way, the product qualifies as refurbished, as the internal mechanisms that may be unaffected by the cosmetic damaged are still checked.

Demonstration Units - Although, at the store level, most retailers sell their old demos off the floor, some manufacturers will take them back, inspect and/or repair them, if needed, and send them back out as refurbished units for sale. This may also apply to demo units used by the manufacturer at trade shows, returned by product reviewers, and internal office use.

Defect During Production – In any assembly line production process, a specific component can show up as defective because a faulty processing chip, power supply, disc loading mechanism, or other factor. Most of the time, this is caught before the product leaves the factory, however, defects can show up after the product hits store shelves. As a result of customer returns, inoperative demos, and excessive product breakdowns within the warranty period of a specific element in the product, a manufacturer may “recall” a product from a specific batch or production run that exhibits the same defect. When this occurs, the manufacturer can repair all the defective units and send them back out to retailers as refurbished units for sale.

The Box Was Merely Opened - Although, technically, there is no issue here other than the box was opened and was sent back to the manufacturer for repacking (or repacked by the retailer), the product is still classifies refurbished, because it was repacked, even though no refurbishing has occurred.

Overstock Items – Most of the time, if a retailer has an overstock of a particular item they simply reduce the price and put the item on sale or clearance. However, sometimes, when a manufacturer introduces a new model, it will “collect” the remaining stock of the older models still on store shelves and redistribute them to specific retailers for quick sale. In this case, the item can be sold either as “a special purchase” or can be labeled as refurbished.

What All Of The Above Means For The Consumer

Basically, when an electronic product is shipped back to the manufacturer, for whatever reason, where it is inspected, restored to original specification (if needed), tested and/or repackaged for resale, the item can no longer sold as “new”, but can only be sold as “refurbished”.

Tips On Buying Refurbished Products

As you can see, it is not always clear what the exact origin or condition of a refurbished product is. It is impossible for the consumer to know what the reason is for the “refurbished” designation for a specific product is. At this point, you must disregard any “supposed” knowledge the salesman tries to impart to you on this aspect of the product, because he/she has no inside knowledge on this issue either.

Therefore, taking all of the above possibilities into consideration, here are several questions you need to ask when shopping for a refurbished product.

1. Is the refurbished unit being sold by a retailer that is also authorized to sell new products made by the same company?

2. Does the refurbished unit have a U.S. warranty (it should have a 45 to 90-day Parts and Labor warranty)? — Also, some times refurbished units are gray market — which means they may not have been originally intended the U.S. market.

3. Does the retailer offer a return or exchange policy for the refurbished unit if you are not happy (15-days or more).

4. Does the retailer offer an extended warranty for the item? This doesn’t mean you have to buy an extended warranty — but whether or not they offer one indicates their degree of support for the product. In addition, if the dealer is not an authorized dealer of the brand, they would be hesitant to offer an extended warranty for it.

If the answers to all of these questions is positive, purchasing a refurbished unit may be a smart move. Although some refurbished products may be repaired or serviced units, it is very possible that the product merely had a minor defect during its initial production run (such as a series of defective chips, etc…) or subject to an earlier recall. However, the manufacturer can go back, repair the defect(s) and offer the units to retailers as “refurbs”.

Final Thoughts On Purchasing Refurbished Items

Buying a refurbished item can be a great way to get a great product at a bargain price. There is no logical reason why being merely labeled “refurbished” should attach a negative connotation to the product under consideration. After all, even new products can be lemons, and lets face it, all refurbished products were new at one point. However, when buying such a product, whether it be a refurbished camcorder, AV receiver, television, DVD player, etc… from either an online or off-line retailer, it is important to make sure you can inspect the product yourself and that the retailer backs up the product with some sort of return policy and warranty to the extent outlined in my buying tips to insure that your purchase has value.

Written with help from Robert Silva.

Bamboo is actually a type of grass, and like grass, it is a very rapidly renewable resource. Once processed, it can be used in a wide variety of applications. It is harder than maple and has the same tensile strength as steel, yet it can be spun and woven into silky soft textiles. As we become more aware of our strong and lasting impact on the environment, it is important to make choices that minimize this impact, and preserve our resources for generations to come. This is another appealing aspect of working with bamboo. It is arguably the most renewable resource in the world.

Not only is bamboo a renewable resource, but its cultivation is actually beneficial to the environment. The vast root system of a bamboo forest prevents erosion and regulates the absorption of rainwater, reducing both runoff, and the danger of flash flooding. Bamboo cultivation is also beneficial to air quality. Compared to an equivalent stand of trees, bamboo takes in 5 times as much CO2, and generates 35% more oxygen.

Towels

Bamboo towels are relatively new to the market. Bamboo is such a fantastically renewable material that people are coming up with new uses for it all the time. If you’re unfamiliar with bamboo textiles, they have the following benefits:

• Supersoft – Bamboo towels are amazingly soft, even after repeated washings, they remain softer than the finest cotton towels. According to an October 2006 Consumer Reports article, bamboo towels are, “25 percent softer after laundering, on average, than their all-cotton counterparts”.

• Eco-friendly cultivation - Bamboo requires very little attention when grown, and is typically cultivated without the use of herbicides or pesticides. Harvesting bamboo leaves the root of the plant alive, thereby preventing erosion.

• Naturally anti-microbial - Textiles made from bamboo fibers resist the growth of bacteria, mildew, fungus, and other microbes. This means that bamboo towels stay fresher for longer between washings.

• Highly water absorbent, and fast drying - Because of the structure of the individual bamboo fibers (long hollow tubes), bamboo textiles are highly absorbent, and have a strong wicking action for fast drying. Bamboo towels absorb as much as three times the water as a similar weight cotton towel, and dry twice as fast.

• Energy Savings - Bamboo towels will save you money on your utility bills. Not only will you save water washing them less often because they stay fresh for longer between washes, but since you wash them in cold water, and they dry super fast, when you do wash them you’ll save energy on both the wash and the dry cycle.

• Hypoallergenic

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By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer

posted: 06 August 2007 06:54 am ET

When the bathroom starts to look grubby and you pull out all the conventional brushes, sponges, sprays and bleach and start scrubbing, you expose yourself to hundreds of chemicals that have known, and possibly unknown, toxic effects.

“Green” cleaning products claim to offer safer alternatives for humans and the planet, but at a higher price. So what’s an environmentally conscious germophobe to do?

When it comes to humans, the use of any one cleaning product—green or conventional—in small amounts and with proper ventilation probably won’t make you ill, says Tom Natan, a chemical engineer with the non-profit National Environmental Trust.

The problem is that most people use more than one cleaning product for the bathroom—there is one for the toilet, one for the mirror, perhaps one for surfaces, another to clean mildew from tiles and then tons of other “specialized” cleaning product options. The repeated exposures to the chemicals in all of these products can add up, Natan said.

“We are exposed, in the process of cleaning our homes, to more than the manufacturers projected,” Natan said. “You get the sum total together, and you’ve got to wonder, why are you using these things?”

And that’s just the story for humans. Factor in the overall planet’s health, and it gets murkier.

‘Dirty’ cleaning ingredients

Certain chemicals commonly found in conventional cleaning products present known or suspected problems for the people that use them and the environment once washed down the drain.

Volatile organic compounds, used to enhance the performance of a product, can impair neurological functions, while other chemicals can act as respiratory irritants, carcinogens or reproductive toxins, depending upon the extent of exposure, according to the National Environmental Trust and other environmental groups.

Phosphates can cause the eutrophication of rivers and other bodies of water, which can deplete them of oxygen and decrease water quality.

There is little regulation of cleaning chemicals, and there are virtually no labeling requirements to let people know what they are exposing themselves and the planet to.

Companies select ingredients for cleaning products to enhance their performance, but “a lot of the chemicals, we simply don’t know anything about,” Natan said.

For example, phthalates, which are suspected to have adverse hormonal effects, help distribute dyes and fragrances and act as plasticizers. Other chemicals are used to keep a product stable on the shelf, while others, such as glycols, act like anti-freeze. Still other chemicals could simply be impurities left over from the manufacturing process.

With some 80,000 chemicals in common use, there are still some that could have as-yet unknown toxic effects.

Mark Walton, of Dow Chemical Co., which makes some of the chemicals, such as glycols, that go into cleaning products said, “Dow tries to do a thorough job of testing the chemicals that we produce and sell.”

S.C. Johnson, maker of various cleaning products, did not reply to a request for comment on the health and environmental issues related to its products.

However, there is not enough information on the health effects of the chemicals used in green products to know whether they are truly better for the health of humans, Natan said.

“I think as a general rule, people who are avoiding these very toxic chemicals are going to be healthier,” he said.

Given the lack of firm data and reliable studies on many chemicals, however, the choice between conventional and green cleaning products may for many people be based on politics and sentiments more than health.

‘Green’ cleaners

In response to these issues of uncertain exposures, companies such as Method and Seventh Generation say they take care to exclude chemicals with known or suspected toxicities.

Method has a “dirty list” of chemicals it refuses to use in its products. Seventh Generation restricts many of the same products but, with the exception of phosphates and chlorine, does not have a specific “banned chemicals” list.

According to Martin Wolf, director of product and environmental technology for Seventh Generation, company guidelines specify that ingredients in their products cannot be toxic to the user either immediately or when used over time and that they cannot contribute to environmental problems such as global warming, ozone layer depletion, aquatic toxicity or air pollution.

Both companies also list all the ingredients they use on their labels. “We want people to know what’s in it,” said Nick Mahan, Method’s director of formulations.

And Dow is currently working toward making safety assessments of its products publicly available by 2015, and it has begun making some resins from ethanol instead of petroleum in Brazil, where ethanol is widely used.

Dow’s Walton says that this effort to more sustainable chemicals is “indicative of the kind of thing that you will see, where it makes sense.”

Should you go green?

Though their ingredients may be more environmentally friendly, green cleaners come with some trade-offs: They’re more expensive and may require more elbow grease to achieve the same level of visual cleanliness.

Method and Seventh Generation are working on the performance of their products to bring them up to par, with considerable success, they say. Both companies test their products against top-rated conventional brands to make sure they clean comparably.

“We’re not going to ask the consumer to make a trade-off in terms of performance results to be green,” said Method’s Mahan.

The only conventional cleansers that green products can’t completely match in terms of strength are those that contain chlorine, such as bleach. In those cases, the green cleaners take a little more scrubbing but can get the job done, Mahan said.

The kicker: You don’t really need any chemicals to clean, said Natan, of the National Environmental Trust. “These chemicals make cleaning easier, but they don’t make cleaning any better.”

The largely American tendency toward germophobia has partly been fueled by advertising that promotes disinfecting cleaners that eradicate all bacteria in sight as the best way to protect your family from germs. But you don’t really need to kill the bacteria, you just need to get them off your table, Natan said.

In fact, disinfectants could do more harm than good to humans. Natan’s group tested one popular disinfectant spray and found that it contained a chemical known to damage the reproductive systems in the offspring of pregnant rats, even in small amounts.

To clean your house, all you really need is some baking soda and vinegar, Natan said, adding that it’s what he uses himself. (For instance, a little vinegar rubbed onto glass with a wad of crumpled newsprint will give you a streak-free shine on window panes. No glass-specific cleanser needed.)

“Those things work remarkably well,” Natan said, though they may require a little extra effort and won’t leave your house smelling like lavender or a pine forest.

by Haley Paul

Biodegradable. It’s a term that’s thrown around a lot these days. And with items ranging from disposable flatware and diapers to bags and balloons now available under the auspices of “biodegradability,” it is important to get the facts on what it all means.

Who Says?

Companies such as Coca-Cola, Solo Cup, International Paper, Glad, Whole Foods and Dixie Cup have all come to the biodegradable scene in recent years. According to the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), a leading third-party certifier of biodegradable claims, the word has gone “mainstream,” but with little oversight and legal regulation of what it really means.

Products carrying the term “biodegradable” are only compostable in a commercial composting system. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com

Biodegradable means a substance is capable of being broken down, especially into innocuous (safe, not harmful) products by the action of living things, such as microorganisms.

For its part, the European Union considers a material biodegradable if it will break down into mostly CO2, water and organic matter within six months of being put into a composting facility.

The Federal Trade Commission, which regulates advertising and product claims in order to protect consumers from “unfair and deceptive acts or practices,” states that “an unqualified claim that a product or package is biodegradable should be substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence that the entire product or package will completely break down and return to nature, that is, decompose into elements found in nature within a reasonable short period of time after customary disposal.”

The FTC’s Environmental Marketing Claims Division uses these general guidelines for regulating biodegradable product claims. As “green” products have flooded the marketplace in recent years, the FTC is trying to keep up.

In a recent display of its authority, the FTC halted a retailer of rayon towels from claiming its product was biodegradable. The FTC alleged that the company’s products usually ended up in landfills, incinerators or recycling facilities, making it is impossible for the product to biodegrade within a reasonably short time.

Biodegrading vs. Degrading

Why are some biodegradable claims misleading, anyways? The above example of the rayon towel manufacturer shows that biodegradation is not something that just happens once a product is thrown out. Biodegradable products must be put through a specific chemical process at commercial composting facilities for their potential environmental benefits to be realized.

Thus, biodegradability and composting go hand-in-hand. When something is biodegradable, oftentimes a commercial composting facility is needed so that the materials residing in biodegradable products can be sufficiently heated, broken down into elemental compounds and eventually, returned to the ground as humus, a nutrient-rich soil amendment.

The definition of biodegradability is important to keep in mind because materials that remain after biodegradation are generally safe, as they have been broken down into elemental compounds such as:

• Phospholipids and sulpholipids (fats)
• Sugar amines (nitrogen-composed basic organic compounds)
• Polysaccharides (carbohydrate compounds)
• Carbon-composed basic organic compounds
• Water

Many of the inaccurately labeled “biodegradable” products do actually experience a significant chemical breakdown. Yet that degradation is incomplete. This lack of a full organic decomposition is the reason companies cannot claim biodegradability of certain products.

Biodegradable products are typically derived from natural, plant-based ingredients. Flatware made from potatoes, corn and wood is popping up at grocers around the country. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com

Some products that make biodegradability claims only degrade, which can leave potentially harmful materials behind. Take plastic, for example.

According to Global Environmental Polymers, because plastic is a non-naturally occurring substance, a plastic that is designed to degrade is one that undergoes a significant change in its chemical structure under specific environmental conditions, resulting in the loss of some of its original properties.

For example, because it only loses some of its chemical properties, plastic will never break down as biodegradable materials do (to the point where only elemental compounds remain).

The materials we use every day degrade and biodegrade slowly over time; it’s a part of life. However, when inaccurately labeled “biodegradable” materials inadvertently go through municipal composting facilities, they can contaminate water and soil because of the chemical compounds they leave behind, according to the BPI.

Common Perceptions and Misunderstandings

Additionally, according to the BPI, there is a common misunderstanding that products labeled “biodegradable” (even properly labeled ones) will decompose in the landfill and are therefore better for the environment.

However, due to the oxygen-poor and dry conditions associated with most landfills, rather than decompose, materials tend to stay relatively well preserved.

Here’s a perfect example: A trash study project conducted by the University of Arizona dug through more than 20 landfills across North America, and found “hundreds of undecomposed hot dogs, corn starch and lettuce dating back to the 1960s.” How did they know how old the food was, you ask? They used some of the still readable 2,425 newspapers they found to get the exact dates.

This is why commercial composting is a crucial step for biodegradable products to be environmentally effective. Once biodegradable products hit the landfill, they are as good as any other trash material.

Options Abound

Despite the difficulties in fighting improperly labeled products and keeping them out of the landfill, there are a plethora of biodegradable products helping to reduce the solid waste stream.

Biodegradable products are typically derived from natural, plant-based ingredients. For example, flatware made from potatoes, corn and wood is popping up at Whole Foods grocery stores and vegetarian restaurants across the country.

Some other biodegradable products include:

• Compostable trash bags made from corn
• Sugar cane and wheat fiber bowls, platters, and trays
• “Agro-resins” – Plant-derived resins used for injection into molds as well as compostable bags and films
• Compostable packaging materials made from cellulose

More examples of certified biodegradable products are available through the BPI.

Haley Paul

Haley Paul is an Arizona State University graduate student studying sustainability with particular interests in food systems and in what encourages people to make more environmentally-friendly decisions.

Mercury is an essential element in the operation of fluorescent lighting; it allows the bulbs to be an efficient light source. Because CFLs contain trace amounts of mercury, it is important to educate yourself on proper use, recycling and disposal of these products.
The Facts about CFLs and Mercury
Learn More
CFLs and Mercury

* CFLs and Mercury Fact Sheet PDF (77KB)
* EPA: Mercury Information

Recycling CFLs

* Earth 911: Find a Recycling or Reuse Location Exit ENERGY STAR
* Recycleabulb.com: Find a Recycling Location Exit ENERGY STAR
* EPA: Mercury-Containing Light Bulb Recycling

ENERGY STAR Lighting

* CFLs
* Light fixtures

* Because CFLs use less electricity than traditional light bulbs, they reduce demand for electricity; that reduction means less mercury is emitted from power plants.
* CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury — an average of 4 milligrams in each bulb.
* No mercury is released when the bulbs are intact or in use.

Why the EPA, DOE and others are promoting the use of CFLs

CFLs use significantly less energy than traditional light bulbs (75% less). If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that of 800,000 cars. And even though CFLs contain a small amount of mercury that could ultimately end up in the environment, that amount is significantly less than the amount of mercury avoided as a result of the energy savings.
Recycling and Disposing of CFLs

Like any other product containing potentially hazardous materials that you use in your home, CFLs come with some special instructions.

Learn what you should do if a CFL breaks in your home PDF (27KB), and get EPA’s recommendations for recycling and responsibly disposing of CFLs at the end of their life cycle.

You may have heard that the government is requiring all light bulbs to be more efficient in the next few years. Learn more about how the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will affect the sale of light bulbs.

The Light Bulb Showdown: LEDs vs. CFLs vs. Incandescent Bulbs – What’s the Best Deal Now … And In The Future?

February 10, 2009 @ 2:00 pm – Written by Trent

Recently, I made a purchase that’s right on the fine line between my desire to investigate frugality and my enjoyment of new technology. I purchased three very expensive 60 watt light bulbs, not much different than any other light bulb. The catch? These bulbs were LED bulbs, among the first LED bulbs designed to replace incandescent bulbs available on the market.

About LED light bulbs To put it simply, LED light bulbs will eventually be what we use to replace incandescent bulbs – CFLs are merely a stopgap measure. LED bulbs are made out of clusters of light emitting diodes – you’ve seen them in use in countless places, but perhaps most commonly as the small indicator lights on electronic devices. LEDs use very little energy for the amount of light they produce.

The problem with using LEDs for normal light bulbs are many fold. For one, the light they produce is directional, meaning that they work great for things like flashlights where you want to point the light in one direction, but they don’t work nearly as well for general room lighting. For another, individual LEDs generally aren’t all that bright – individual ones don’t produce a great deal of light, certainly not enough to light up a room. Another problem is that the process for making truly white LEDs pushes the very limits of technology.

In short, LED light bulbs are just barely at the edge of being commercially viable. The first manufacturer that I’m aware of that’s producing direct replacement bulbs that replace normal 60 watt light bulbs is C. Crane, which is making what they call GeoBulbs. These bulbs cost an astounding $119.95 a pop, but they last for 30,000 hours and use only 7.5 watts of energy (less than the 13 watts or so an equivalent CFL would use, and far less than the 60 watts a comparable incandescent would use). Even better, they light up immediately like an incandescent and don’t have disposal hazards like CFLs do.

Still, $119.95 for a light bulb? Can that possibly be worth it? And if it’s not, at what price point would such an LED light bulb be the most cost-effective method of home lighting? And how’s the quality, anyway? Do they really compare well to incandescent bulbs?

I decided to thoroughly compare them by comparing three different 60 watt cool white light bulbs – one CFL, one LED, and one incandescent. Let’s see how they work out.

Incandescents, CFLs, and LEDs in Action

I decided to test three roughly equivalent bulbs – a 7.5 watt LED bulb, a 13 watt CFL bulb, and a 60 watt incandescent bulb. The CFL and LED were common generic bulbs as purchased at a typical department store, whereas the LED bulb was the GeoBulb produced by C. Crane. Take a peek at this puppy.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Here they are, all laid out, like daisies in a row.

The big question that most people ask is about brightness, so I installed all three bulbs in a single ceiling fan, flipped on the light, and here were the results.

In this picture, the incandescent is on the left, the LED bulb is in the middle, and the CFL is on the right. This shows clearly that the LED bulb is quite bright. It’s also a rather different color than the other bulbs, but that’s primarily due to the difference between “cool” and “warm” lighting – you can choose the particular type of lighting you like.

The LED does have a minor drawback, though, which you can see here:

Quite a bit of the GeoBulb’s light is directional. It’s very bright directly underneath it, but if you move far off to the side, it’s not producing nearly as much incidental light as the incandescent bulb. For many situations, this isn’t a problem at all – recessed lights and lamps won’t skip a beat. However, for other uses (such as a single bulb that lights a small room), you may want to wait for next generation LEDs.

On startup time As soon as I flipped the light switch, the LED and incandescent bulb lit up immediately. The CFL also came on as well, but it had a brief five second (or so) warm-up time before it reached full brightness.

On heat This was the one area where the LED really blew me away. After five minutes or so of taking pictures and examining the light for myself, I turned off the lights and removed each bulb, intending to see how warm they got in the process. Both the CFL and incandescent bulbs were too hot for me to immediately touch. However, the LED GeoBulb was still cool to the touch. It had produced almost no noticeable heat.

This is a very important but difficult to quantify factor. The heat produced by these bulbs escapes into your house, contributing subtly to the heat level in your home. Over a long period, light bulbs can actually make a noticeable difference in the amount of energy required to heat your home (lessening it a bit) or cool your home (increasing it a bit). The LED bulbs would factor into that equation much less than CFL bulbs or incandescent bulbs.

In short, the LED bulbs flip on as quickly as incandescent bulbs (and faster than CFLs) and produce roughly the same amount of useful light, but much of that light is focused in one direction. This makes the GeoBulbs just fine for most uses, but perhaps not appropriate in some cases.

Comparing Costs

The best way to compare the three types of bulbs is to calculate their costs over 30,000 hours of usage – the lifespan of a single LED bulb.

Standard incandescent bulbs The CFL used here has a lifetime of 1,300 hours, so we would need 23 bulbs over the period of this study. I was able to purchase a single incandescent of this type for $0.34, so our total cost for bulbs over 30,000 hours would be $7.82.

As it uses 60 watts, over a period of 30,000 hours, an incandescent bulb would use 1,800,000 watt hours, or 1,800 kilowatt hours. At the current approximate price of $0.10 per kilowatt hour, you would have to pay $180.00 to run an incandescent bulb over this period.

Thus, the total cost of a 60 watt incandescent bulb over a 30,000 hour lifespan is $187.82.

CFL bulbs The CFL used here has a lifetime of 8,000 hours, so we would need 3.75 bulbs over the period of this study. I was able to purchase a single CFL for $1.24, so our total cost for bulbs over 30,000 hours would be $4.65.

As it uses 13 watts, over a period of 30,000 hours, a CFL bulb would use 390,000 watt hours, or 390 kilowatt hours. At the current approximate price of $0.10 per kilowatt hour, you would have to pay $39.00 to run a CFL bulb over this period.

Thus, the total cost of a CFL bulb over a 30,000 hour lifespan is $43.65.

LED bulbs The LED bulb used here has a lifetime of 30,000 hours, so we would need only one bulb over the period of this study. Unfortunately, that single bulb has a cost of $119.99.

As it uses 7.5 watts, over a period of 30,000 hours, an LED bulb would use 245,000 watt hours, or 245 kilowatt hours. At the current approximate price of $0.10 per kilowatt hour, you would have to pay $24.50 to run an LED bulb over this period.

Thus, the total cost of an LED bulb over a 30,000 hour lifespan is $144.49.

What’s the Best Deal Right Now?

Clearly, given the current market conditions, CFLs are the best bargain at the moment for our home lighting needs. However, they have drawbacks – they have special disposal requirements and do not provide immediate illumination as incandescent bulbs and LED bulbs provide.

However, if you’re avoiding CFLs and are directly switching to LEDs from incandescent bulbs, replacement LED bulbs are already there in terms of cost. You’ll have to judge for yourself if the light quality matches your needs.

My current plan is to use the CFL bulbs for general lighting purposes, incandescent bulbs for focused reading (where immediate light is important), and the LED bulbs will be used in a few very hard-to-reach sockets, since they have a very, very long life span. As the price on the LED bulbs goes down (as they inevitably will over the next few years), I’ll replace the incandescent bulbs first, then the CFLs.

When Will LED Bulbs Be Ready for Prime Time?

My advice is to keep a close tab on the prices of LED bulbs. Ignoring light quality entirely, LED bulbs are already cheaper than incandescent bulbs over a long period, but as they are manufactured by more and more companies, the prices on such bulbs will drop over time – and I believe a rapid drop will occur over the next one to two years.

If you’re switching directly from incandescent bulbs, I would wait for one to two years for the market on these bulbs to mature just a bit – let the technology mature and let other manufacturers get into the game, driving prices down. Wait until the prices on LED bulbs drop to half of their current price – say, $60 a bulb – then begin replacing incandescent lights.

Why not just replace all incandescent bulbs with these bulbs now, since they’re cheaper over the bulb’s lifetime? I believe that in the short term, the prices on LED bulbs like these will actually drop faster than the energy cost savings in buying them now, so I would hold off for a year or so before replacing all of my incandescent bulbs.

If you’re just looking for the cheapest lighting possible, your magic number for LED bulbs is in the $15 per bulb ballpark When those prices are reached, LEDs will then be the cheapest solution for light bulbs in the home – and they won’t have the challenges that CFLs provide, either. I would estimate this price point will be reached in three to five years.

With rising energy costs, homeowners are beginning to examine the energy efficiency of their own homes, asking questions about where energy comes from and how much it costs, how to choose new appliances and what options exist for renewable energy.

The Home Energy Diet answers all these questions and more while helping readers take control of their personal energy use and costs so they can save money, live more comfortably and help the environment. Energy auditor Paul Scheckel first explores energy literacy, and then describes how your home uses-and loses-energy you pay for via:

Electricity

Hot water

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The Home Energy Diet involves readers in learning about their own homes by: measuring, metering, investigating and considering habits related to household energy use; learning how to quantify energy consumption and cost and making informed decisions about cost-effective improvements and upgrades. The book explores the misunderstood concept of efficiency versus cost by comparing fuel costs and equipment choices, including the possibility of using renewable energy for meeting home energy needs. This authoritative guide makes efficiency fun through personal anecdotes and humorous “tales-from-the-basement” energy misadventures.

Since energy efficiency is an investment that offers returns greater than Wall Street, readers can earn several hundred dollars every year just by following the advice in this book. As a bonus, many of the energy-saving strategies described can make for improved indoor air quality and healthier, more comfortable homes.

Paul Scheckel is an energy auditor who has visited thousands of homes, educating people about energy efficiency, cost-effective improvements and indoor air quality. With a passion for efficiency and renewables, he walks the talk by living in a solar-powered house and driving a car powered by vegetable oil in his home state of Vermont.

About the Author

Paul Scheckel is an energy auditor who has visited over 3,000 homes, educating people about energy efficiency, cost-effective improvements, and indoor air quality. With a passion for energy efficiency, he walks the talk by living in a solar-powered house and driving a car powered by vegetable oil, in his home state of Vermont.