lighting

You may have noticed I've been musing on lighting.

Despite silly recycled lamps documentation, I am technical in nature and have been mulling over lighting, wiring, and outlets for our off grid casa ti we're building as soon as it's warm enough to pour the foundation.

Here are my thoughts:

We are doing everything possible to minimize expense and maximize efficiency.

By advance planning for outlets/wiring, we can designate it into our SIPs panels, therefore increasing efficiency and decreasing further labor.

As an off grid house, by using DC power wherever possible (not just in lighting), it is more efficient than using the inverter and eliminating the less efficient pull between the power source and power consumer.

By proposing in advance where you need lighting, you benefit by using lower voltage.

We plan to further expedite efficiency by hanging our lights from the ceiling where needed-- but the switch is not in the wall, it is in the wiring to the lamp itself! (Swag lighting) That bypasses all of the complexity of wiring, saving energy daily in use, as well as initial construction expense.

Think of the flexibility! If you want to move the dining table (uhm, I do that sometimes...) and then, the light, you simply move the hook in the ceiling and re-hang the light.

On a design note, this is a perfect opportunity to use interesting wires/steel cables that are so popular with halogen systems for visual *and* practical effect.

Taaaa-daaaa! (stands up, brushes off jeans with a satisfied smile)
Whew. My lighting musings are over.
Onward!

I am searching for lighting.

We have been fortunate to find most of our lamps in thrift stores.

But I have been thinking of the casa ti we're building... and darned it, I'm itching for a little design! So, yes, I haven't even started construction, but this girl's got lighting on the brain.

I ran across a site, that has a great selection: http://www.gnr8.biz/categories.php?cPath=1_20&page=all

What I like about their offerings is that the lighting is modern, yet not too cutesy whimsical, or too "let's just copy something retro" and that there are a lot of affordable products. What I *would* like to see are more environmentally friendly offerings... readers, do any of you have suggestions for these manufacturers to replace the polyether that is used in so many affordable, attractive lighting designs?

Here is one I could totally see over my dining table:



Love how the part that hangs down is at an angle so that you could easily see your fellow diners instead of, like many low hanging lamps, obscuring them.

And of course, just for fun, this train of thought led me to walk around snapping pictures of our own locally recycled lamps, ALL previously owned before finding their way into our household!

Here they are!

We actually have tons more in the basement in storage... it makes you realize *how much* you can do / decorate through recycling! (Pretty much any of the furniture you see was recycled as well) In fact, doing this just made me realize... I have never bought a new lamp! ... and... Wow, I have a lot of lamps!

The advent of compact fluorescents has been a boon for energy savers everywhere, but to date the things have been rather utilitarian to look at. A lampshade goes a long way, true enough, but there's something innatelty satisfying about good design, even in ordinary objects like light bulbs. Well, CFLs have been around long enough now that a few brave and enlightened souls (forgive the pun), have been inspired to create art with them. Hulger's Plumen Project is a "reaction to the lack of real diversity, imagination and personality offered by the market today."  Their twisty, witty bulbs make you want to put the lampshade on your head and throw a party. Link via Inhabitat.

Equally delightful is the recycled fluorescent tube light by artist Castor Candensis. 

It's time to lighten up on Building Green. Join host Kevin Contreras for Episode Nine: Lighting, as he discovers how to light his home in ways that are healthy, energy-conscious, safe and absolutely gorgeous. Learn how to bring daylight into rooms where you never thought it possible, and how to wire your home for maximum energy efficiency while reducing electromagnetic radiation. Kevin uses a special meter to help determine the best placement for his rooftop solar panels, and even roasts a chicken in a solar oven.

If this information-packed episode flew by, don't worry, as our detailed Episode Guide has links to all the products, practices, experts and materials mentioned on the show, and we'll be updating our video page all week long with new clips.

If you're wondering when Building Green airs in your neighborhood, check out our handy Station Finder.

By now we have all grokked that compact fluorescents are every bit as warm and flattering as incandescents. But still, sometimes you want lighting to be just a bit less perscriptive and a bit more fun. We laughed at Inhabitat's take on Die Electric's CanDull (pictured), a witty candleholder intended to remind us to power down. Back in college thrift store days, we used an ornate vintage pedestal lamp as a candelabra--it turns out that ordinary tapers do fit into standard light bulb sockets with very little coaxing (tin foil can help, just remember not to forget and plug the lamp in!).

Speaking of lighting, one of the drawbacks of CFLs has been that they do require small amounts of mercury to manufacture--mercury being a toxic metal that is found concentrated in certain fish, including tuna and salmon. Today, we heard a wonderful example of the circle of life in action, or nature's comeuppance. According to EcoGeek: "Recently, Professor Andrew Steckl, a University of Cincinnati researcher, has found that he can improve the efficiency of LEDs by using DNA, specifically, from salmon sperm."

Some things to think about next time you dine on salmon by candlelight.

So many exhibitors, so little time.

That must be what most West Coast Green attendees were thinking this weekend. Another thought might have been: Green remodeling is on the rise.

While there were plenty of builders, and there was plenty of prefab, and all the solar power one would expect, there was also row after row of exhibitors offering products and services that are designed to help the average homeowner green their existing property.

Want to paint? We enjoyed chatting with the people at Green Planet Paints. Their mineral-pigmented, clay based paint has a uniquely soft, rustic finish. A few rows away, YOLO Colorhouse's wide range of colors were on display next to Berkeley-based EcoHome Improvement's booth (where Bay Area residents, conveniently, can purchase YOLO's zero-VOC paints).

We saw beautiful reclaimed wood flooring at TerraMai's booth, marmoleum at Forbo Flooring and a whole host of other green flooring options (recycled-fiber rugs, for one) at Marin Flooring Company.

On the less-mainstream side of things, we found The Aqus, a system that captures water from the bathroom sink and routes it to the toilet bowl so that it can be reused for flushing.

In short, we were overwhelmed by all the green building/remodeling resources. And, while we don't have enough space to mention them all right here, right now, we'll be keeping an eye on a lot of the exhibitors and reporting back here in the future.

Still hungry for more? West Coast Green may be over, but you can see a full list of exhibitors right here.

Image via www.westcoastgreen.com

Who says lighting can't be green--literally? The xDesign Environmental Clinic at New York University has developed the so-called greenlight , a solar-powered planted chandelier made from recycled and recyclable parts.

Designed to improve indoor air-quality, the greenlight features tropical indoor plants that naturally filter toxins from the room. And its low-voltage LED light system, which sits on a disc of blown recycled glass, draws power from a solar awning of Photovoltaic cells. The LEDs naturally nourish the plants.

According to San Diego-based xDesign, which stands for Experimental Design Lab, the greenlight is built to be carbon-neutral. "The photovoltaic panel sitting in a south-facing window can produce 7.5 W on an average of 3-4 hours a day in NYC," it says.

xDesign showed off the greenlight last weekend at the Wired NextFest, a two-day technology conference in Los Angeles. Representatives from xDesign said that it makes each chandelier by custom order, and the price ranges from $1,500 to $2,500. Compared to the cost of standard chandeliers, that doesn't seem like such a bad price to shine some light on your environmental consciousness.

The Benefits of Fluorescents

Replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents saves energy as you are replacing a 100-watt bulb with one that is only 23-watts, while still producing the same amount of light. In addition, the CFL bulbs produce 70 percent less heat, lowering the need for air conditioning. A CFL bulb will typically last ten times as long as a traditional incandescent bulb, saving you $30 or more over the life of each bulb.

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a CFL bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

By swapping all of the bulbs of the world with CFL's would cut world energy use by 10 percent. To put it into perspective, that equals more energy than is currently planned to be saved with solar and wind power.

Reducing energy use also cuts down on power plant emissions of mercury and other emissions that contribute to global climate change, acid rain and smog.

How the Technology Works

Nikola Tesla first introduced fluorescent bulbs at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. They work by passing an arc of electricity through mercury vapor in the lamp. The charged mercury atoms produce an ultraviolet (UV) light, which is absorbed by the phosphor powder coating on the inside of the tube. When energized these phosphors emit the white light you see.

To generate the mercury vapor, a small drop of liquid mercury lives inside the tube. This mercury is instantly vaporized when the lamp is turned on, only to re-condense when the lamp is turned off.

Unlike an incandescent bulb, the fluorescent bulb has no filament to break or get hot. This is what gives the CFL is energy efficiency.

Without the mercury vapor, there would be no light emitting from the tube.

Read more on GreenerBuildings.com

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If you're a fan of biomorphic chandeliers, have we got one for you: Green Light, as seen in this month's Design Issue of  Good Magazine, is a self-contained pendant lamp that uses an LED to feed a lovely hanging terrarium of plants that cleanse the air inside your house.

And as you can see, it would make an attractive focal point above any dining table. According to the Xdesign wiki, "Planting strategies can be specified to address particular indoor air quality issues including VOC, benzene and formaldehyde removal." The Green Light is also a prime example of a carbon-neutral system, in that it makes its own energy via its own solar panel. And, it's a work of art, made of hand-blown glass.

The Green Light is available by "perscription" from the Experimental Design Lab (xDesign) at NYU, which is "modeled after a health clinic in which community members can make one-on-one appointments to discuss 'health' as it relates to their local environment. The essential difference is that prescriptions are given for design interventions rather than prescription drugs."

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