Sustainable Design Update

via Jetson Green; posted by Matt Grocoff

Switch Lighting, creator of the only LED that uses liquid cooling technology, is on the cusp of a breakout year in 2012. The Switch bulb creates the same warm color of an incandescent, yet it’s made with reclaimable or recyclable materials using the Cradle to Cradle methodology. Inside the bulb is a liquid thermal cooling solution that helps cool the LEDs from all sides, producing more light from less LEDs. In fact, a Switch bulb lasts about 25 times longer and uses 80% less energy than an incandescent.

Read the full story at Jetson Green

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by Matt Grocoff, Esq. LEED

Read the full article via OldHouseWeb

Steve Jobs used design to change the world.  He created the products needed to get us to a future he imagined. Jobs brought us the iPod, iPhone and iPad to engage in the same basic functions as other products.

Jobs insisted that, like a refrigerator, Mac products were appliances; you shouldn’t need to know much to use one.

I found three energy-saving products while at the Greenbuild International Conference in Toronto last week that are worthy of your home and maybe of Steve Jobs’ love.

1.  ecobee Smart Thermostat

They’re are plenty of programmable thermostats on the market.  But, if the interface feels like you are looking for a secret passage in an old Donkey Kong game then they are useless.  The ecobee Smart Thermostat is designed so that you can actually use it.

ecobee.com

2.  Philips AmbientLED

The Phillips AmbientLED is the first true LED replacement for a 60W incandescent light bulb.  It’s a got a warm 2700k color and a bright 800 lumen output.

Phillips AmbientLED

3.  Lutron Maestro Dimmer Switch / Vacancy Sensor

The Lutron Maestro is one of the first residential, consumer friendly dimmer switches that comes with a vacancy sensor.

Read the full article via OldHouseWeb

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by Matt Grocoff, Esq. LEED

A couple years ago when I launched Greenovation.TV I posted a video from Brazil about a creative hack to turn soda bottles filled with water into 50 watt equivalent lights. After 700,000 hits on that video, I just found another cool BBC video about a similar use of these inexpensive sun tunnels.

A simple initiative in the Philippines is bringing a bit of brightness into the lives of the country’s poorest people.  The project is called “Litre of Light”, and the technology involved is just a plastic bottle filled with water.  It’s an environmentally-friendly alternative to an electric light bulb, and it’s virtually free.

via BBC

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