Lucet LED Solar Window Lamp

Not yet something you can purchase at a boxing week sale, but this new solar-powered LED lamp has some great features that, if it ever hits the market, could make it much easier to light up your home with renewable energy. Designed as a concept lamp by industrial designer Rui Palma, the Lucet, as it is called is a lamp that runs on solar energy, collecting it as it sticks to your window. A great energy-saving device in the making.

Although this isn’t the first-ever solar lamp to stick to the window, it does have some great practical features. First, it uses AAA batteries, and while we’d like to see a way to get rid of batteries all together someday, for now, this makes it accessible to the average consumer. And since they’d have to be rechargeable batteries, they’ll at least have a longer life than conventional one-use batteries. As long as the consumer recycles them in the end, this is a pretty green solution.

Second, the lamp can be moved and positioned as needed. In fact, by combining several lamps together, the user could create some nifty designs to suit the room. Third, because it uses LED bulbs, it can provide light for much less energy consumption. Combined, you can control the amount of light provided depending on the illumination needed (more lamps equals a brighter indoor space). Unfortunately, the light may not be overly bright, but in time, as LED technology improves, this won’t likely pose much of a problem.

Great access to solar energy means great efficiency for indoor lighting. Plus, it looks kinda cool, too.

Lucet Lamps sticks to window

Electrical outlet Via Flickr - kalleboo

Americans waste an enormous amount of energy powering devices as they sit idle. Whether it’s the television or DVD player, cell phone chargers, appliances, or toys, this “phantom drain” on your energy bill could be adding significantly to your monthly electricity costs. In fact, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, vampire energy can account for as much as 5 to 10 percent of the average home’s electricity bill! Check out this fun graphic that illustrates where energy is most commonly wasted.

While unplugging unused electronics and appliances is perhaps the most simplistic way to avoid this kind of energy waste, it’s not the only method by far. Power strips are a more automated, convenient method of reducing your energy consumption, and they make great holiday gifts, too! Here are three great options for you to consider as you prepare to start shopping for those on your gift list:

Turn off unneeded energy-drains with the Belkin Conserve’s wall switch for the power strip. With eight always-on outlets and six that are controlled with the wall switch, you can customize which electronics and appliances get switched on and off with a flick of your finger.

The Isolé® IDP-3050 Plug Load Control has a unique, ultra-convenient feature: a motion detector that will switch electronics on when it senses someone in the room. And of course, it shuts them down when movement stops, too. Price: $90.

With a claim that it can pay for itself in as few as six weeks, the SmartStrip is a veteran in the intelligent power strip world. It can “sense” the flow of electrical current, turning off peripherals when they’re not in use. It also protects against power surges.

Belkin Conserve Energy Saving Surge Protector with Remote Switch

Isolé® IDP-3050 Plug Load Control

SmartStrip

So, whether you’re taking on a weekend landscaping project, installing new lighting, or upgrading bathroom fixtures, you have many eco-preferable choices that will cut your energy consumption and leave more money in your pocket for future projects! Next time you’re out looking for items to upgrade your home with, refer to this list of tips to get some quick ideas for combining beauty with functionality and efficiency.

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which use 65 to 80 percent less energy and last 8-10 times longer. CFLs are a bit more expensive up front, but by replacing the five most-used bulbs in your home with CFLs, you will save $60 yearly.
• Choose light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to cut lighting energy use in both outdoor and indoor fixtures by 75+ percent. These bulbs last 22+ years and because they use solid-state technology, they’re virtually indestructible.
• Obtain the ENERGY STAR Advanced Lighting Package (ALP) designation for lighting throughout your home and save $65/year or 75 percent in energy costs.
• Use ENERGY STAR qualified strings of light-emitting diode (LED) decorative lights for your holiday decorating. These strings cost more up-front, but will use 75 percent less energy than conventional strands and last 10 times longer (they’re unbreakable!).
• Install light timers or motion sensors in rooms like your bathrooms, closets, the garage, or even hallways to save on lighting energy costs by between 35 and 45 percent for those fixtures.
• Replace old windows with ENERGY STAR qualified, high-efficiency, double- or triple-pane windows to cut heating and cooling costs by $125 to $340 yearly.
• Replace household equipment with ENERGY STAR models to save $450 every year in energy costs.
• Add storm windows to your home to reduce heat loss during the winter by 25-50 percent.
• Buy a green-certified home to reduce your overall energy consumption from an average of 16,000 GJ to 6,400 GJ.
• Whiten your roof to reduce cooling costs and save approximately $26 yearly.
• Plant three trees in optimum shading locations around your home to save between $100 and $250 every year in heating and cooling costs.
• Install an ENERGY STAR skylight which will be 40 percent more efficient than a conventional model.
• Use daylighting features in your home to decrease lighting energy requirements between 30 and 80 percent.
• Choose a skylight with a low-e coating to improve its efficiency by up to 30 percent.
• If a home oriented to the southwest that receives a lot of afternoon sun were oriented 20 degrees to the east, cooling requirements could drop by as much as 30 percent.
• Phantom power loads from VCRs, RVs, small appliances, and other electronics can add $47 to your energy bill every year.

Installing efficient showerheads throughout your home can cut water heating costs by as much as $21 every year.

Guiding Light Mailbox

If you’ve been in the market for a way to light-up your home’s address markings, then you may just want to take a look at this new Guiding Light Mailbox. While having a lighted home address might seem a little over-the-top for many of us, as the company points out on their website, having an illuminated address sign on the exterior of your home may just help in emergencies. Should be awaiting the arrival of an ambulance, fire or police crew, having a lighted sign on the exterior of your home may just help them get to you a little faster. And now you can do it without using extra energy.

Produced by Sharpe Products, Inc, the Guiding Light Mailbox has several power-saving and eco-friendly features. First and foremost, it comes with its own miniature solar cell that collects energy from the sun all day long. Then, instead of using electricity or battery power to light up a sign with your home’s address, your Guiding Light Mailbox will guide people to your home using only the sun’s power.

And you don’t have to worry about not having enough sunlight to power your sign either. With only 4 hours of solar exposure, your address sign will have enough energy to shine for 4 days! Amazingly, the light can apparently be seen from about one-half of the length of a football field away, so that’s relatively powerful, too.

Another great green feature of this mailbox is that it is made to last a long time. Although not recycled, the saddle for the mailbox is tested to withstand scorching sun and wind, so it should function for a long time to come.  It will be available for about $79.99 starting on October 1, 2009.

The UK’s Energy Saving Day organization has joined forces with BBC’s former head of comedy (Jon Plowman) to produce a relatively complete review of the most popular energy monitors (including ones like Home Joule, Kill-a-Watt and Wattson) on the market today, and it’s available via YouTube video for anyone to view (in two parts, first part above, second below).

In this somewhat light-hearted look at energy monitors, Plowman walks through a good number of devices available on the consumer market one by one. He talks through how each of them works—where they connect, what they measure, how the display functions, and more—and identifies for each one some of the pros and cons of choosing it. In particular, he talks about cost and granularity of detail, two important factors in any energy monitor purchase.

Regardless of which device you select for your home, you can be guaranteed that you’ll save power every month if you pay attention to the readings. That’s the understanding Energy Saving Day is operating under. They believe that households in the know about their energy use are households with the power to cut their energy consumption.

It’s no surprise, either. If you discover, all of the sudden, that your refrigerator is adding a big load to your energy consumption and do the math to find out how much you’d save with a more efficient model, you’re more likely to replace it with something more power-saving. Their website points out that an energy monitor can help homeowners reduce energy consumption by as much as 10 to 20 percent annually.

Solio Charger

Portable Solar with Solio

A standard in any green backpack, the Solio Charger from Solio will charge devices anytime (there’s a battery on board for storing energy) from anywhere.  It’s small and versatile.

Cost: $50

Voltaic Systems Solar Backpack

Solar-powered anything with Volaic Systems Solar Backpack

A favorite with greens for many years, this Voltaic solar backpack can charge nearly any device (comes with 11 standard adaptors) as you walk to work or hike a mountain. There’s also a battery back that will store energy until you need it.

Cost: $249

NovoThink iphone-solar-skin

Sun-powered skin for the iPhone or iPod Touch by NovoThink

Available by the end of September, the NovoThink Solar Surge will make it a whole lot easier for iPhone or the iPod Touch owners to power-up their portables with solar. According to the literature, the Solar Surge will provide 30 minutes of talk time on 3G networks and 60 minutes on 2G networks with just 2 hours of charging in direct sunlight. The battery built into the skin will also hold 120 percent of the iPhone 3G’s capacity, too.

Cost: $70

Brunton SolarRolls

Roll-away solar charging is convenient, compact

The SolarRoll by Brunton is made to be packed pretty much anywhere—in your car, your backpack, or your briefcase—because it’s lightweight and compact. It’ll charge most hand-held devices and comes with three watt capacities for added flexibility.

Cost: $295-$480

SolarGorilla Laptop Charger

High Wattage with SolarGorilla Laptop Charger

From PowerTraveller comes the SolarGorilla, a portable solar charger that’s big on power. It’s compact, fold-up design is rugged and easy to use, and will power most devices, including laptops. Comes with many attachments for maximum usability.

Cost: $276

Letting go of old lighting technology

There are those, it would seem, who are mourning the loss of their traditional bulbs and choosing to are stockpile the things before stores run out. Whether it’s because they prefer the light quality of an incandescent or that they have a hard time stomaching the higher sticker price, enthusiasm for the program is certainly not universal.

While I can sympathize with the frustration over light quality (I’ve got a few yellow-ish compact fluorescents lights (CFLs) in my home that make my reflected image look less than appealing), the financials for incandescents just don’t add up. Sure, it will cost more to invest in CFLs, but as officials at the European Union (E.U.) point out, the savings are tremendous. CFLs use up to 80 percent less power than a traditional bulb and last 10 times longer, by some estimates, making them the sound lighting investment.

Making large-scale environmental progress

By force or by choice, the E.U. is serious about cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and this recent incandescent light bulb ban is just one way they’re doing it. Additional programs involve efficiency improvements in all sorts of consumer products, including televisions and washing machines.

Of course, the debate over the effectiveness of environmental legislation rages on, and this will certainly give us a good indication of how it works ahead of the US ban on incandescents set for 2012.