Change a Light, Change the World

Light Changing As a Spiritual Practice For Unitarian Universalists

Home Energy For Lighting

 About 2/3 of the electricity used in homes was used to operate appliances, refrigerators, and lights  Lighting typically accounts for 5 -10% of total energy use in a home.

 Our current lighting converts most of the energy to heat

Lights vs. Autos

 The energy used in the average home can be responsible for more than twice the greenhouse gas emissions of the average car.

 If every American home had just a single compact fluorescent bulb, it could reduce climate-changing gas emissions as much as taking 1.3 million cars off the road, by cutting demand for electricity from power plants.

New Lights = New Efficiency

 ENERGY STAR qualified lighting provides bright, warm light but uses at least: – 2/3 less energy than standard lighting – generates 70 percent less heat, and – lasts up to 10 times longer.

SMALL CHANGES = BIG CHANGE

 If every American home changed out just five high-use light fixtures or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, each family would save at least $60 every year in energy costs, and together we’d save about $6.5 billion each year in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from more than 8 million cars .

Reduce Greenhouse Gas Using a 20 watt CFL instead of a 75-watt incandescent will result in saving 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide over the life the bulb.

Australia Mandates use of CFLs by 2012

The Australian government has announced plans to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs across the country.

Legislation to gradually restrict the sale of the old-style bulbs could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million tons by 2012 and cut household power bills by up to 66 percent.

Lighting Alternatives

    Incandescent Halogen Compact fluorescent Tube Fluorescent  LED

Incandescents

        Large energy users Red colored light Short life < 1000 hrs Cheap- under $1 ea.

90 % of energy used is heat; only 10% of the energy is used for light Forces need for extra cooling in summer Light is created through heating metal $.75 bulb costs $6.00 to operate for 750 hrs.

Halogen lights

   Not much more efficient than incandescent same principle Extreme high temps- safety hazard Popular touchier standing lamps are inefficient

Compact flourescents

       Low wattage - use 1/4-1/3 the energy of incandescents – 23 W = 100 W Last 10 X longer: – 10,000 - 20,000 hrs Most now fit incandescent fixtures Short term larger expense: – $5 - 20 Light is created through electrifying gases Modular ballasts available Must be recycled

So why don’t more people buy them?

• Higher initial price: "People just are not willing to pay more money." • Despite many years of utility companies offering discounts and rebates for the energy-efficient lamps, one study released in 2006 showed only 2 percent of the nation's lighting market is made up of compact fluorescents.

• California's numbers are better, but only comes in around 5 percent.

• So, is legislation necessary to force the change? Assemblyman Lloyd Levine thinks so.

Types of CLF Bulbs Available

Full spectrum

    Provides a full spectrum of light, all the colors Most natural form of artificial light Health benefits Color vision improvement 91-98% on the color rendering scale

How to Choose a CLF Light Bulb

   Lumens Color Temperature Color Rendering

How to Choose

    Lumens represents the amount of light emitted by a light source. Recommended light levels will vary based on the person and the task. When purchasing light bulbs, however, don't assume that more watts means more light.

Only more lumens means more light.

Lumens and Efficacy

How to Choose

Color Temperature     Correlated color temperature (CCT) (Degrees Kelvin).

Relates to the color of light produced by a light source.

Imagine a piece of tungsten metal being heated. As it is heated the color of the metal will gradually shift from red to orange to yellow to white to bluish white. The color of light is measured along this scale, with the more orange color light being referred to as "warm white" and the whiter color light being referred to as "cool white".

How to Choose

Color Rendering       Relates to the way objects appear under a given light source. CRI = "color rendering index." A low CRI indicates than objects may appear unnatural under the source.

A high CRI rating will allow an object's colors to appear more natural. For lights with a "warm" color temperature the reference point is an incandescent light. For lights with a cool color temperature the reference is sunlight.

ULA Dimmable Lamp

 Lumens = 1600  Color Temp = 2700K - 2900 0 K  Color Rendering = 83

Tube flourescent lighting

     Improved dramatically in last 10 yrs Great for indirect lighting Now have electronic ballasts Mercury is used Can come in full spectrum

Recycle ALL Light Bulbs Especially CFLs

  

Fluorescent lights have a bit of mercury in them. They have less today than 10 years ago.

Lamps manufactured in 2001 have abut

8 milligrams, or about 100 times less mercury than is contained in a typical 700-milligram fever thermometer.

Although CFLs have mercury, they use less energy, which means less mercury emissions from power plants.

Even incandescent bulbs & LEDs have lead, so all light bulbs should be recycled or disposed as hazardous waste anyway!

After use, all light bulbs should be recycled or disposed as hazardous waste

- whether they are CFLs or regular incandescent bulbs!

LED

(light emitting diode)       Breakthrough design Great for task lighting Almost no heat created Low wattage - 1.6 to 3 W Same light as an incandescent with 10% of the energy Last 100,000 hrs (12 - 20 yrs)

LED Exit Lights

 Exit signs must stay on at all times.

 This 3-watt LED exit sign will save $50 per sign, per year, over older units that use more than 50 watts per sign.

Exit Sign Retrofit

   Uses 1 watt of Energy per lamp Can retrofit existing signs www.smartlite.net/led.htm

LED Desk Lamps

       Long life.

Maintenance free. No bulb replacement needed.

LED lamps consume less then 5 watts.

Cool to the touch.

Environmentally friendlier, LEDs contain no mercury or toxic gases.

Durable and shock resistant.

Sylvania Brilliance Desk Lamp

Other Things You Can Do To Maximize Light Efficiency

      Light colored walls Daylighting High occupancy rooms should have at least one window Larger rooms should have windows on more than one side Rely more on task lighting Turn inside lights off, go outside and gaze in wonder at Nature’s ultimate sustainable lights: the stars!

Controls

  Turn lights off when you leave a room Generally one light on per person in the room provides lighting flexibility and cuts energy cost   Switches Occupancy sensors switch lights off when there is no one in the room  Motion detector

REPLACE 5 MOST USED

  To save the most energy and money, replace your highest used light bulbs with energy-efficient models. The five highest use fixtures in a home are typically: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The kitchen ceiling light The living room table Living room floor lamps Bathroom vanity, and Outdoor porch lamp.

Our Environmental Justice Project

    1 of 12 Green Sanctuary projects Chose the Tulare County community of London because like our Fellowship, it was small: population ~ 2,000 We’re donating 1,000 CFLs to London residents Education: Higher initial price, but overall savings

SCE emulates UU Visalia

Southern California Edison Proposes Providing Energy-Saving Compact Fluorescent Bulbs to 1 Million Low-Income Homes

Thursday April 12, 9:00 am ET ROSEMEAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-  Southern California Edison (SCE) will ask state regulators for authorization to provide 1 million low-income households with a complimentary set of six compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) to help families reduce lighting costs.

"Achieving California's groundbreaking greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals will require big, bold energy initiatives and strong partnerships between the state, its utilities, and residential and business customers," said Michael R. Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Earth Day Pledge

 I, ________________________, a member or friend of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Visalia, pledge to do the following for Earth Day 2007: – 1. Replace three or more of the most used lights in my home with Energy Star Compact or Tube Fluorescent lights. – 2. Ask three friends or family to replace three or more of the most used lights in their home with Energy Star Compact Fluorescent lights.

On the Back

  On the back of the Pledge form, write ONE personal action you will take in addition: Examples: – Bike or use transit to work one day a week – Turn off lights and unplug the TV & computers – Buy local & organic produce at farmer’s market – Eat less meat; try vegetarian or vegan alternatives – Use a programmable thermostat – Buy carbon offsets – Ask your congressional representatives to raise fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon