Led replacement for halogen

NASA Earth at Night

Would you like to replace your energy-guzzling halogen downlights with efficient LEDs but are confused about where to start? 

Many people think it would be too difficult or costly - but actually it's much easier than you think.  Read on...

Home lighting is one of the most significant opportunities to save energy and slow climate change. Currently, lighting accounts for approximately 20% of global electricity consumption. To reduce this figure and lower the world’s environmental impact, an Australian company Brightgreen has developed innovative, energy efficient, high-quality lighting solutions.

Brightgreen DR700 is an innovation in LED lighting which can easily replace any standard 12V 50watt halogen downlight globe and provide 1:1 light - but only use 10.5 watts instead of 50 watts (meaning lower electricity costs).

Brightgreen has pursued three objectives:

• Bright, high quality LEDs that overcome the common limitations of LED lights - Brightgreen LEDs are just like halogens (only better!)
• Products made to last - Today’s commercial giants thrive on creating products that have short life cycles and become obsolete within a few years after purchase.  In contrast, Brightgreen’s products are designed to survive for more than 70,000 hours and last 15 times longer than other forms of lighting, such as halogen.
• Always sustainable - Unlike halogens and fluorescents, Brightgreen’s products are free from UV light, mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium and all other heavy metals considered toxic to the environment. All components of Brightgreen’s products are fully disposable and recyclable, again reducing our environmental impact on the earth by not leaving anything behind.

LED replacement for halogen

Simply remove your halogen bulb and replace it with the Brightgreen DR700. It is that easy to install the DR700!   **Please check first that you have an MR16 fitting (which has two sharp pins and is most common for 12V recessed downlights).

You can make difference to global warming and your budget by trying one at home today?  See how the led replacement for halogen works and then consider replacing more.  

A Brightgreen LED light bulb may cost $49 to start, but it will pay for itself through power bill savings in about two years in a home.

For more information, please visit Biome LED light bulbs and Todae's extensive range of LED lights

Advantages of choosing a Brightgreen DR700 LED bulb:

• total light output of 720 lumens, the same as the average 50 watt halogen bulb
• compatible with most dimmers (see below)
• compatible with most transformers
• 3 year manufacturer guarantee
• on average, pays for itself in two years residential use and one year in commercial use
• designed for the Australian market.

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Green Olympics London - a gold medal performance?

Source: http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref1690

From the world's first "recycled stadium", a food strategy that requires balance, affordability and sustainability, to water-harvesting, cycle parks, a sustainable timber Velo track, plus, the target of sending none of the 8,000 tonnes of consumer waste generated to landfill, there's an impressive line up on the starter blocks.

Since the last Olympics Games, environmental standards - and possibilities - have changed markedly.  Expectations of how companies and countries need to minimise impact our planet in all they do are high.  London's commitment to a sustainable Games was reportedly a central part of winning the right to host the event.

Global warming is the critical issue of our time and the Games has been built and operated with a strict carbon footprint limitation.  Reducing the tonnes of carbon dioxide and gases sent into the atmosphere is not just about vehicles and electricity.  "Embedded carbon" in the materials used to construct venues, such as concrete and steel, is the major contributor and that is why many temporary structures have been built wherever possible from materials, such as billboard fabric, and recycled materials, such as the reclaimed gas pipes making up the roof of the Olympic stadium.

There's much to learn for other construction companies and event organisers - and not just the big ones.  For the individual person there are many mind-expanding ideas on what you can do in your every day life and when undertaking your own event or contruction.

Here are some of the facts gathered from media reports (sources at the end):

Low Carbon Games
Estimated carbon footprint published 2009. For the operation of the games this is expected to be 315,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and other gases – a 20 per cent reduction on the initial estimate.  New permanent venues have been built only where there was a strong legacy case. Temporary structures built whereever possible, such as the water polo venue and wings of the aquatics centre.  “Embedded carbon” in the structure of the stadium reduced by using recycled materials, such as old gas pipes which provide the truss – the ring around the top of the stadium.
Renewable Energy Games
Original target was 20 per cent of all energy supplied, largely provided by a large two-megawatt wind turbine on the Olympic site. Health and safety considerations ruled out the turbine. Renwable energy now expected to be 11 per cent of the total, provided by biomass boilers in the dedicated energy centre and a small amount of solar panels on the roof of the press centre car park.
Public Transport Games
All ticket holders given a Games Travelcard to use on public transport on the day of their event.  Walking and cycling to venues encouraged by Active Travel Programme – with 7,000 secure cycle spaces.  However, that system has some problems because they are half an hour walk away!
Good Food Games
London 2012 thought to be first major event in the world to have a food strategy, stressing choice and balance, affordability, sustainable sourcing across 800 food and drink outlets. All meat and dairy and fresh produce from the UK is Red Tractor farm assured.  All fish is certified as sustainably sourced. Much overseas produce is Fair Trade.
Zero Waste Games
London 2012 expected to generate about 8,000 tonnes of consumer waste overall. The target is send none of this to landfill. All food packaging, including that used by McDonald’s, must be recyclable or compostable (all provided by a single supplier) and colour-coded to match colour codes on different bins for different waste streams.  I very much like that idea of the colour coding!  All waste handled by a single specialist contractor running a dedicated line for Olympic waste.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/07/pictures/120725-london-green-olympic-games-bid/

Cycling's sustainable surface
The VeloPark was constructed using mainly timber and has a lightweight roof that reduces its embodied carbon emissions by limiting the use of steel. It also has rainwater harvesting capabilitys that will help cut water consumption by 75 per cent. But best of all the timber, including that used for the track, all came from certified sustainable sources.
VIPs and their greener Beemers
BMW's brightly coloured Olympic fleet includes 200 electric vehicles and 400 bicycles. Half the fleet will be BMW 320d Efficient Dynamic saloons, while another 700 will be BMW 520d Efficient Dynamics. The automaker has achieved its target of ensuring the London Olympics Games' fleet does not exceed average emissions of 120 grams of CO2 per kilometre, while also pioneering the use of zero emission technologies.
The world's first recyclable stadium
The 80,000 seat stadium was constructed with less than half the steel used in comparably sized stadia, making it the lightest Olympic Stadium to date. It includes more than a third recycled content and is expected to require 60 per cent less water than comparable stadia. The ring beam that supports the roof is also made of reclaimed gas pipes.

Sources: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/how-green-will-the-london-olympics-really-be-7982182.html, http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/feature/2194942/top-10-green-olympic-facts, http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2012/07/olympic-bike-parks-will-have-security-guards-to-deter-thieves.html, http://energy.gov/articles/2012-london-olympics-go-green-its-energy-efficient-sustainable-and-recyclable-design

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Magazine for the green mind thrives

With its beautiful photography of sustainable, serene homes, gentle nature-inspired colour scheme, and thick matte-finish paper, Australian green magazine looks and feels as great as it reads.

Each issue of green showcases the most interesting and creative sustainable designs from product designers, architects and landscapers around Australia and internationally.  The content is as much for the home reader as it is for the commercial industry.  Intelligent articles and plenty of practical know-how for your home and garden aim to help design, build, fit-out and live and work in structures that respect our planet's limited resources.  The enticing gardening pages have a stong focus on producing food and self-sufficiency and there are always examples of clever re-using and upcycling.

Established in 2007 by Melbourne-based Tamsin O'Neill and husband Tom Bodycomb, green is an independent magazine (meaning it is privately owned and is not part of the big media publishing companies).  And it appears to have not only met a gap in the magazine market, but like a well-tended garden it has flourished, keeping its readers interested and increasing production from a quarterly to a bi-monthy issue.

In the latest issue of green magazine (issue 25, May-June 2012) you can visit the home of edible garden dynamo, Karen Sutherland or learn about the opening up of a Brisbane worker's cottage (main image) and the best sustainable bathrooms.


Following on their successful niche theme, the publishers have also launched a second magazine for bike lovers, treadlie, which is devoted to bike culture, fashion and design.

Both green and treadlie magazine are available in the Biome stores and in our online store.  See all our eco magazines here.

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Zaishu: art function eco

Zaishu's latest slot-together seat/table features artwork by acclaimed Australian textile designer, Nicola Cerini. The inspiration for this work evolved from an ecology camp about rare, native and vulnerable plants of East Gippsland. The Baw Baw Daisy is from that body of work and the Waratah is also endemic to that region.

Zaishu Studio designers, Matthew Butler and Helen Punton, create beautiful and meaningful designs often in collaboration with other artists around the world. They use only certified sustainable materials, handprinting the designs in their coastal studio.  Both artistic and functional, Zaishu's signature creation can be utilised as either a seat or a table.   See the full Zaishu range at Biome.  Here's a sneak peek of their new creation for the boys...or girls...arriving at Biome.   The pretty designs are popular for Mothers Day gifts.
Gaskets & Gears...

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Diverting shower water to the garden in Brisbane

For a small patch of sloping earth, our native garden brings me a disproportionate amount of pleasure. While I wonder how a simple flowering shrub can bring such joy, I suspect most gardeners would be well-acquainted with this emotion – one that keeps us coming back for more digging, planting and fussing.

Several years of occasional efforts have produced a mediocre result in our garden, certainly when compared with others I have seen flourish in the same time. So I called upon Satya the organic gardening expert (and fellow Paddington Green Precinct member). His analysis? A lack of water. That should not have been a surprise given the drought that Brisbane has endured in recent years.

Satya encouraged a revamp of our bathroom water diversion. Our previous attempt failed because the water kept coming back up the pipe into the bathroom. It was simply because the pipe was too narrow for the volume of water Satya said, so he showed me how to fit a larger diameter pipe into the downpipe diverter.

He also discovered a dry white fungus under most of our mulch layer. This was actually stopping any water that did fall from soaking through the mulch into the soil. Fixing this will take a lot of digging the mulch into the soil layer and applying water (from the shower diverter), so that the natural soil organisms are able to go to work and take back their territory. We use minimal soap and only natural shampoo, so our water from the shower is safe for the native plants.

As we investigated some sooty pest problems on the Grevillea bushes, I was fascinated to learn from Satya about a company called Bugs for Bugs that supplies good bugs to eat bad bugs – via mail order! Imagine, to combat red scale in citrus trees you can buy "a cup" of Aphytis wasps (that's 10,000 wasps in a cup!) for $44. Having never heard of this before, just a few days later Bugs for Bugs was mentioned again when discussing organic lettuce growing with a stallholder at the Kelvin Grove Village Markets.

We can also help the garden by using our Bokashi compost bin more often and digging in the compost scraps (the Bokashi micro-organisms turn the scraps into highly enriching soil conditioner).

Forty metres of grey water pipe winding through our yard is not particularly pretty (photo above), but I’m happy. Not only can we enjoy the flowers in passing each morning, we can take extra pleasure from a shower, knowing that the water is on its way to those thirsty plants.

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