January 12, 2009

A little light on a GREEN subject

Posted to Theresa Larsen

The National Association of Realtor’s has launched a new designation called the Green Designation. The Green Designation is another level of education for professionals looking to keep in step with the energy efficient products and trends that Buyer’s will be looking for. Being green, buying green and removing some of your carbon footprint all add up to a better planet. Small changes can add to big results and one is LED (light emitting diode technology) lights. Cutting edge lighting technology is continuing to escalate due to consumers looking for energy-efficient solutions in their residential homes and commercial work places. We have the potential to reduce electricity usage and carbon emissions in the US by 15% just by changing a light bulb. Just think you may not need to replace an LED light bulb for 15 to 20 years.

Right now in the United States, LED is used at the Empire States Building and this type of technology is used to control the color and patterns of the Times Square New Years Eve Ball. This type of product is not inexpensive to manufacture yet scientists are working to overcome the costs of production in order to get it into the marketplace. But, I believe one of America’s greatest strengths is that we like to work on solutions and this past summer Purdue University announced it had created a process that will reduce manufacturing costs and produce a brighter, more energy efficient product. You can read more on their process by clicking on the Purdue link.

Light is a big issue and the Department of Energy is funding LED research to make the technology more market ready. Adding more fuel is the Energy Bill that was signed last year which requires that by 2020 all bulbs in the U.S. use 70% less energy than traditional bulbs. Companies to keep the light on for are: Cree (they did the water cube in Beijing Olympics), Cooper Lighting, Juno Lighting Group and Philips.

There is more on the horizon but in comparison your home incandescent has life hours of 1000 whereas, the new LED’s have 50,000 and climbing.

As the hotel ad says “We’ll leave the light on for ya’!”

Posted By: Margaret Canfield

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