An Energy-Efficient Streetlight for the New Age

Back when I was a young'un and lived in the ‘burbs, there were times when I would be walking down the street or riding my bike alone at night. Sometimes as I was passing under one of those yellow-orange sodium streetlamps, they would, without any type of warning, suddenly turn off. Now having a wild imagination, I came up with two possible hypotheses for this occurrence. The first was that I was gifted with some magical power, or subconscious sixth sense, that interacts with the electrical field generated by the light, causing it to turn off. The other explanation was that a ghost or apparition was turning it off, as though sending me a sign that something bad (ala death and/or dismemberment) was going to happen. Generally, the latter idea would take hold and I would sprint the rest of the way back home.

With these new lights, I may not have to worry about that ever again. Not only is it solar powered and using LED light output, it also works on a motion sensor. This makes a lot of sense in theory, since there’s no point in lighting up a path where there is no one walking down. My favorite feature is how it sits at 30% brightness, until something walks by and trips the motion sensor. So if all the technology can converge the right way for this to eventually become a reality, we're looking at these lights being "off the grid"! Preposterous! Imagine all the strange places you could just put these things. In a dark corner of an empty park. On the top of a cliff. In the middle of the desert. As a prank on top of a dome!

The design is very “trendy” which is always a benefit, but I’m wondering if this is still more of a proof-of-concept, than something that can be usefully implemented. From what I see, the LEDs being used are still the standard sized small LED’s that are used for keychain flashlights. Even used in an array, there isn’t enough power output to make the light as usable as it needs to be. The Eternaleds bulbs use more powerful LED circuits with energy output two orders of magnitude greater than the smaller bulbs. I worry that lights such as these will give LEDs the continuing reputation that they are not bright enough of not ready for consumer use. On the other hand, if the larger power LEDs are being used, then it's also pulling more wattage, so there needs to be a brightness vs. power balance here.

Still, it’s great to see things like these even publicized (even if it's very obvious it's still in concept stage), and I feel like this is the first step towards the golden chalice of usable energy-efficient lighting fixtures. Right now though, more realistic goals need to be made for LED application, or the technology needed to fulfill those promises need to be put in the hands of responsible designers and architects.

Via [Gizmodo]

Green Drinks NYC a.k.a. A Reason to Drink on a Tuesday

I attended a Green Drinks Mixer last night (get it? Mixer? Drinks?....it was funnier in my head) and overall, had a pretty good time. Spoke with and educated a few people about LEDs, made some interesting contacts, and heard some good ideas about what's going on in the green industry.

I first heard about Green Drinks about two months ago, as I was participating in my favorite pastime of surfing the internet (of which I think I'm 84% of the way through it). I stumbled upon the site as I was looking for like-minded individuals in the New York area that shared a passion for the environment, and at the same time were progressive enough to know about new technologies and advocate them. On top of that, it would be a great place to network, and an AMAZING excuse to have a drink or two so early in the week. Not that you ever need an excuse to drink, mind you, but it does justify it to people better when you have a legitimate reason and that you're not just a lush.

So I'm running late and trekking over there through the biggest snowfall (which turned later into more of an ice-fall) in NY so far this year and get to the location that I had put in my PDA a month ago. There's a narrow doorway with the correct address above it, but there is no one around, nor do I hear any people talking around the area. I'm thinking to myself "Is this one of those 'uber-exclusive' clubs that meet in non-descript locations that I keep hearing about? Well, that's trendy." I walk back and forth to confirm that the address is indeed correct. Two people come out of the locked door and I ask them "Is this where the Green Drinks meeting is?" She replies "Ummm....no. This is a residential building." I'm flummoxed as I try to determine my next course of action. Luckily, I had the number of the location so I give them a call. They say that a lot of people had been coming by with the same problem, and the correct address is about one klick northeast of here, just off Houston St.

So half-a-mile later, I get to the correct place at the Boucarou Lounge (which I realized I had been to before for a birthday party a year ago), and walk into a throng of people (easily over 200), packed like sardines, all chatting away and seemingly having a good time. I pay my $10 cover/donation, write my name on a name tag, stick it over my heart and mosey over to the bar for my first drink. I make light conversation with whoever is around me, delicately balancing the topics of interest between city life, eco-awareness, and steering clear away from anything related to politics or religion. There's no better way to ruin the mood than to butt heads with someone about who they should vote for (That's a tip for you though, if you ever want to "ruin the mood", although "I think my friend is looking for me" works too.) I met a few individuals of mention - a Go Green Expo business manager (think I'll have to pass on the booth until next year, but I'll definitely be there as a consumer), a soon-to-be restauranteur looking to build his first green restaurant, and a guy from treehugger.com. You know, Treehugger...they're like the Gizmodo of Green! I think working there, and being at a green event, makes him the automatic pseudo-celebrity of the night. It's like going to a National Lunchmeat Convention and having your name be Oscar or Meyer.

The most interesting people I met was a couple that had just bought a place in Harlem that they were renovating and making a green-certified 3 family condo. It was interesting to hear about all the criteria needed to have the building green-certified. Apparently, there's 60 different criteria, ranging from disposal of building materials, to renewable bamboo floors, to window type, to lighting, that determine if you can get the green stamp of approval. All very interesting stuff. I read a little bit about that in the research that I had done, but it is pretty overwhelming the amount of information you need to know about it. He asked me about LEDs with the preconception that they're not very bright (I dispel that myth on a daily basis) and was interested in seeing if they could be used for his house or a future project. They are looking for prospective buyers at the moment, so if you want a newly renovated green place in the city (which will no doubt save you a ton in energy costs), I can forward you their contact info. The other interesting thing about them is that they brought their daughter to the event as well (green family), and between the three of them - an architect, an author/photographer, and a graphic designer - they could start their own eco-design firm.

These are the things that I learned :

1. Wear a hat - If it's snowing outside, and you're going to be walking for an extended period, invest in some warm headgear lest you arrive at your destination with an ice helmet where your hair used to be.
2. The Green Drinks NYC chapter is the largest Green Drinks chapter in the U.S. Also, someone told me that the Xmas party had about 500 people. Yikes.
3. People are varied - there's a lot of people, both interesting, and not so much that you will meet at a networking event. Filter out the wheat from the chaff.
4. Networking is fun - especially meeting people for new ideas and activities
5. Networking is hard - I thought i would talk to the whole room, or at least 50 people. I talked to probably about 10-12, and had a proper conversation with about 1/2 of them. There's always next month.
   

Overall, I had an enjoyable time, traded someone an LED flashlight for a bag of granola, and met some interesting people. It was definitely not what I expected, but I think I will attend again next month.

Green Drinks is international, so I definitely recommend attending one in your area.

Eco Gift Expo Redux

I've finally gotten around to offloading and organizing all the pictures from the Eco Gift Expo at the Santa Monica Convention Center in December. It was an exciting and productive trip, and we met a lot of great people there. This was the first expo that we've done (and definitely not the last) so it was good to get out there and talk to like-minded eco-conscious individuals that were as passionate about being green as we were.

Now being that it was the first time we have had a booth at an expo, there's some things you should know if you ever decide to do one...

1. Know your stuff - There will be a ton of different people going to the expo, be it consumers, business owners, as well as media (both print and web). They will all have different levels of knowledge about your product, and your competitors, ranging from completely uneducated to Mr. (or Ms.) Know-it-All. Know what you're talking about inside and out so that you can be the trusted expert to answer any and every question that may come your way.

2. Break out your wallet - The initial cost of booth may seem like a large expense, but for all the other costs like displays, building material, tools, rentals, it will quickly add up. The final cost after all was said and done was almost the cost of two booths. My recommendation is to call up your credit card company and ask them to raise your credit limit, and at the same time lower your interest rate.

3. Drink lots of coffee - Plan on moving around quickly and talking to everyone that walks by the booth. The hardest thing about this is when it's the second day, and you haven't gotten enough sleep, and your energy is waning. Your mood reflects on what you are selling, so if you look tired, or unmotivated, people will think you're not interested in your product so why should they? If you can't stand there for 10-13 hours straight, then you probably need to hire someone to do that.

4. Expect the expected and unexpected - There were so many things that went wrong from start to finish that we basically made up as we went along. Setup ideas, broken displays, talking points were all changed on the fly. It did help a huge amount that we planned everything else down to the tee so that everything else ended up being quite manageable.

So this is the story of our experience at the Eco Gift Expo…

The booth that we had purchased had a great location right near the main entrance and we were really excited about how lucky we got. Unfortunately, luck goes both ways. We mocked up exactly how all the displays would be set up and got the visual aspect down of what people would see as they walked by. About 3 weeks before the expo, we were told that our booth location had changed. The spot that we had before had been a sponsor spot, so we were moved to a different location. It didn't look as good on paper, but the actual location ended up being just as good, a corner booth near another entrance.

About a week before the convention, and the deadline to ship the displays from New York was coming up fast. The friend that I hired to make the clear boxes, fixtures, tracks, and wooden light boxes was finishing up the final pieces. By a random stroke of luck, I saw how the "12+1" display was coming together and made a last-minute major design change to it by putting all the fixtures on the outside of the box rather than the inside. This ended up saving the display and actually making it usable, as you'll see later.

As things always seem to go, we packed up everything in boxes and shipped them to L.A. at the very last minute. And by last minute, I mean the paint was still drying and UPS was about to close in 20 minutes. If we didn’t ship it when we did, it would not have made it to the expo in time. But what is success without the looming chance of complete and utter failure? I like to live on the edge. Unfortunately, there was a casualty upon arrival of the boxes in L.A…..

Let’s see the pictures.....Go to the Picture Diary