The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and The Home Depot has announced a recall of about 14,000 candle holders. Sunlight that passes through the glass can cause nearby flammable items to ignite. The sun-shaped candle holder is glass and metal and was sold in four colors (red, green, blue and yellow). The product's hang tag has “15.75" Candle Holder” printed on it. The candle holder was sold at The Home Depot stores in the southern and western regions of the U.S. from January 2008 through March 2008 for about $10. Consumers should stop using the candle holder immediately and return it to The Home Depot for a full refund.
Although it is not a web site you would normally turn to for home improvement tips, Shape.com has a great article about creating a healthy home office. Here are the tips summarized:
Soothing colors - Use muted tones instead of bright colors and don't use white.
Ergonomic workstation
Fully adjustable seating
A footrest
Hands-free headset
Heavy duty paper shredder
Natural elments - Put in potted plants and fresh flowers
A calming foundation - Meaning, one of those tabletop water fountains
Proper lighting - The computer screen should be brighter than the overhead light.
One planner/calendar Read detailed explantions of each point at Shape.com. Also, you may want to check out some relevant home office articles on our site: Creating "Creating Your Home Office Plan" as well as one showing you how to make your home office more energy-efficient called "The Green Office."
Highlighting the efficiency of LED lighting, the world's largest LED free-hanging chandelier was illuminated on April 2, 2008 by Meyda Lighting in Utica, N.Y. But the truly amazing thing was the lighting power of the chandelier was equivalent to 720 100-watt incandescent light bulbs but only used the power equivalent of 11 100-watt incandescent light bulbs, an energy savings of 98.5 percent. Yowza! The chandelier is 35 feet in diameter, 17 feet tall and weighs 7,000 pounds. Not only is the chandelier energy-efficient but, as you can see from the photo, it's also beautiful.
The incandescent light bulb industry would like you to think that using CFLs (compact fluorescent lighting) will lead to widespread mercury contamination in your neighborhood. Thankfully, Popular Mechanics magazine did some hard science and found out how much mercury is expelled through the use of incandescent versus CFL, and it just becomes one more reason to switch. You're probably saying to yourself, “Old-style light bulbs have no mercury, so how is this even a comparison?” That may be true, but CFLs use about 25 percent of the energy required to produce the same amount of light. That extra energy required to produce the incandescent light not only adds to your energy bill but it also requires the burning of fossil fuels here in the U.S. And guess what one of the by-products in burning coal is? DING, DING, DING, you guessed it: mercury, not to mention carbon dioxide and just about every other toxic material buried in the earth for the past 60 million years. But the burning of fossil fuels is a much bigger topic than I could get into in this post since I'm concentrating on mercury in CFLs. So, here are the numbers. One CFL contains approximately 5 milligrams of mercury contained inside it that is not released to the atmosphere and not dangerous unless you eat it. So, unless you are a circus performer, you should be okay. One incandescent bulb contains zero mercury (I still advise against consuming it). Now, here is where math comes in over the lifetime of a CFL bulb (approximately 7500 hours). A coal fired electrical plant will emit 13.16mg of mercury to sustain a 75-watt incandescent bulb but only 3.51mg to sustain a CFL that produces an equal amount of light. Since about half the electricity produced in the U.S. comes from coal fired plants, we can cut those numbers in half to 6.58 and 1.76mg respectively, so with the 5mg in the CFL and the 1.76mg from the power grid we get 6.76mg from the CFL. Whoa, now wait a minute, Mr. Popular Mechanic. That’s .18mg more than incandescent and many countries depend less on coal fired plants than the U.S.A. True, but one lead is contained and recyclable (the CFL) and the other is released into the atmosphere. Plus, if we as a country use less energy, we can use less coal-fired plants and further reduce the emissions. Now, you may be asking, "What if I break the CFL?" First, open nearby windows to disperse any vapor that may have escaped, perhaps even opening additional to create a cross breeze. Do not use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the glass. Sweep or use disposable paper towels, then wipe the area with damp paper towels and seal all of this in a plastic bag. Then call 1-800-CLEAN-UP or visit earth911.org to find your nearest disposal center.
I love this article and think you will, too. Money magazine has written a humorous yet sensible piece called "5 Dumbest Renovation Fads." Here they are:
1. The great room craze 2. The kitchen stadium 3. The garage that ate your home 4. Porches in the wrong place 5. Built-in lighting
Not satisfied to just point out what went wrong, the author also provides details on how to re-do each area "the right way."
For those decorating your house this Halloween, you've got a big act to top. The Pruitt House in Griffin, Ga., may be the best of the best. It's rigged with 14,000 lights all manually synchronized to Halloween-themed music. According to homeowner Joey Pruitt, the lights took about three days to set up and each song, five in all, took about eight hours to synchronize with the lights. Best of all, it's for a good cause; an on-site donation drop box allows passersby to donate money to The Angel Tree Kids Project, which provides Christmas gifts to needy children. You can also donate online.
So far the neighbors have been supportive of the Halloween House and the Pruitts' electric bill has not been unreasonably high. Because just 25% of the lights are on at a time, the electric bill only went up around $20 last year, according to Pruitt.
You can view the presentation from last year online. Pruitt is hoping to record this year's version and post it online in time for Halloween day.
How cool is this? Al Gore's latest list of the easiest ways to go green is all about the home. His top five tips for going green include switching to compact fluorescent bulbs, installing programmable thermostats, using solar lighting for exterior landscaping and wayfinding, wrapping your hot water tank to conserve heat while reducing energy output, and buying Energy Star-rated appliances. Okay, we've been chanting these tips forever, but it's so good to see this advice go mainstream, even rock star. The green upgrades he suggests are simple and affordable. Granted, debates still rage about fluorescent bulbs and how to dispose of them, but the energy saved is undeniable. Our September 19th entry talked about additional rebates for replacing old energy-guzzling appliances with energy-efficient models, and everyone knows programmable thermostats are a must-have. Let's all try to incorporate some of these tips as we go about our fall touch-ups and upgrades. What a difference five tips can make!
