Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs
As with any product, not all light bulbs are created equal. Below we mirror the top recommendations of The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Guide for best CFLs on the market.
- 40 W equiv:
- 9 W TCP T2 Springlamp ($7):
- 550 lumens, 6.3 W measured, 87.3 lpw, 2700 K, lasts 10000 hours
- 60 W equiv:
- 11 W Philips Marathon ($7):
- 675 lumens, 8.3 W measured, 81.3 lpw, 2700 K, lasts 8000 hours
- 60 W equiv (bright):
- 14 Sylvania Soft White 60 ($7):
- 800 lumens, 10.9 W measured, 73.4 lpw, 3000 K, lasts 6000 hours
- 100 W equiv:
- 23 W Philips Marathon ($5):
- 1400 lumens, 17.9 W measured, 78.2 lpw, 2700 K, lasts 6000 hours
- 150 W equiv:
- 32 W GE Soft White 120 ($11): 2150 lumens, 29 W measured, 74.1 lpw, 2700 K, lasts 6000 hours
Energy Meters
- Kill-a-Watt Electricity Monitor (~$25): Extremely cost-effective device for measuring power usage (W), and energy over time (kWh). Doesn't provide any time-of-use information, and is unreliable for power under 5W, but for general uses in highly recommended.
- Watts Up? Power Meter (~$100): High quality power meter that tracks power and energy usage over time. Requires a PC to read out data in spreadsheet and/or graph form. Highly recommended.
- Ambient Devices produces multiple undeniably awesome energy monitors, including the energy orb, which glows different colors to let you know when to conserve energy, and the energy joule, which changes colors to show you how much you personally are using, and how much it costs.
Renewable Energy
- Solio ($90), is an undeniably awesome solar iPod and cell phone charger, and a great conversation starter.
- Hymini is another portable electronics charger that runs on solar or wind power.
- Clear Blue Hawaii features a line of solar charging backpacks.
- Eureka's Solar Intent features a solar powered LED for renewable night-lighting in the wild.
- Freeplay Energy offers a wide variety of solar and hand-crank powered devices for ultimate renewability and reliability.
- Reware solar bags (~$300) and pocket solar panels (~$150) are perfect for charging your portable electronics on the run.
- Sierra Stoves ($60) are super-efficient wood-fired camping stoves.
- Voltaic Systems offers another line of solar-charging backpacks and bags ($225).
- The Orange Wind Generator is only a prototype now, but it will allow you to charge your cell phone with wind power.
- Solar Powered Bluetooth Headset for ~$100 you can have this bluetooth headset you'll never need to charge.
Related Links
Related Guides
- How to Green Your Electricity (Treehugger 2006)
- How to Green Your Electronics (Treehugger 2007)
- How to Green Your Dishwasher (Treehugger 2007)
Author: Nick Enge
Contributors: Sam R
References: The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook, EnergyStar CFL Light Output Equivalency, The Lazy Environmentalist, Treehugger
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