I was walking the aisles of Home Depot when I happened upon a screaming deal for the L Prize winning LED light bulb by Philips. This is the bulb, you may recall, that caused a national fuss over the reported price tag of $60. Turns out you can get the same bulb just five months later for the more reasonable price tag of $40 at Home Depot right now.
I spent some time in the home improvement stores this weekend and noticed a newer bulb from Philips designed to replace the standard flood light. The BR30 LED bulb is Energy Star compliant, delivers 730 lumens, and uses a decent 13-watts of energy. Plus, it’s mercury free, lasts about 25,000 hours, and has a standard warm color of 2700 Kelvin. While the price is hovering at $40 at Home Depot right now, I expect that to slowly drop. Plus, the bulb is an easy install — just screw it in — so testing this is a no brainer.
We’re in a $17 billion market for new green homes, so it makes sense that the USGBC and Home Depot would team up to make green building products more accessible. Today, the USGBC and Home Depot announced a new database – available through LEEDHomeDepot.com – currently listing more than 2,500 products that contribute towards LEED for Homes certification.
When we bought our 1958-model home, it was newly painted but there wasn’t much else that was new about the place. The toilets were old and less efficient than modern-style commodes, especially some of the WaterSense versions on the market. One might think it’s expensive to replace an old toilet with a water-efficient model, but it’s not. I was able to swap out mine for less than $120, all costs included. Here’s how:
(more…)
Watch this video. It’s a mash-up of Fox News bashing the light bulb provision in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (“EISA”). Most of the commentators seem to have an aversion to CFLs for one reason or another (i.e., bulb appearance, bulb cost, light quality, light color, mercury, cleanup), but I’m not hearing these same people talk much about the new EISA-compliant incandescent bulbs that are currently available.
Recently Southwest Windpower announced the availability of the popular Skystream 3.7 wind turbine at select Home Depot stores. The move puts small wind within reach of more customers as the industry expands every year. Southwest will start the installation program in Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and California with additional states in the near future.
