Green Lighting - Letting Women Lead the Way

As with air and water, light is a necessary element for much of life on this planet. In a home it is ideal to incorporate daylighting as much possible—it’s easier on the eyes, saves energy and increases comfort.

Given our lifestyles, electric lighting is a necessary element of design. It creates atmosphere—bright lights can make places look more cheerful and lift people’s moods; soft lights can ease the eyes when doing task work; dim glows can set a romantic or cozy mood; colored lighting can set the tone for a space.

But lighting consumes energy and involves the use of mercury, a toxic material. It has been documented that incandescent lighting can cost up to 25 percent of a household’s energy budget.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs0 have come a long way from the fluorescent tube lighting we are familiar with in institutional buildings—bright, flickering too white light. Now you can get them in different shapes and sizes, in warm or bright white, 3-way and dimmables. CFLs have multiple benefits:

• They use at least 50 percent less energy than a comparable incandescent
• Save you money (approximately $30 per lamp over its lifetime)
• Reduces greenhouse gases, sulfur oxide and nuclear waste because it is more energy-efficient.

Light bulbs are just one element of lighting. Then there is the fixture and shade itself—often made of metal or wood, paper or other fibers, sometimes glass. Ever since I met Bill McDonough at Bioneers some years ago, I’ve been wondering who would make real “cradle-to-cradle” products that I would use. What lamp company is using sustainably harvested wood or fibers? Which manufacturers will take back their used products when the customer is ready for something new?




Susan Morrow, founder of The Urban Green in Berkeley provided the answer. Susan wove her passion for social and environmental concerns together with her love for aesthetics in a truly green shop that she opened last fall. Here you can find eco-smart home accessories, gifts, and plants, and learn how to create lasting, lovely floral arrangements with fresh, preserved or replica flowers, plants and trees. Many of the items are made by ingenious craftspeople who are paid a living wage in their home country. Susan was not one to just talk about being a green business—she literally walks it. She outfitted her shop with sustainable materials, using FSC-certified lumber, low-VOC paints, recycled and recyclable plastics, natural cork flooring and energy-efficient lighting. Check out http://www.theurbangreen.com and visit the store at 1880 Solano Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707 or call Susan and her team at 510-525-2500.

At Susan’s shop I found “lite2go,” my first cradle-to-cradle electrical product! From Knoend, it’s ingenious in that the packaging becomes the lampshade! And it’s great for DIYers like me because it only took a few minutes to assemble the lamp, which comes complete with cord, heat resistant polypropylene and a CFL. You can hang it or set it on a table. I move mine around the office depending on my mood and where I want to sit. And if I ever tire of lite2go, I can send it back to Knoend to be recycled.




Last week I caught up with the designer, Ivy Chuang. Ivy is a product designer with an unlikely past who is now on a mission to create “no carbon” products that are intelligently designed. After putting her IT degree to good use during the dot.com era, she gave it up to pursue her passion—creating aesthetically pleasing, functional everyday products that ordinary people can use, enjoy and then recycle. Before opening Knoend, Ivy studied product design at the prestigious Domus Academy in Italy and was inspired by the international student body. We talked about what it might take to make lite2go really good for the earth—i.e., no petroleum-sourced material and no mercury. She’s onto an LED (light emitting diode) that is made without mercury and is researching other materials that can take the place of the polypropylene in her lampshade. Check out her “Newton,” no, not the Apple Computer version—but a bag that repurposes parachute cloth into a functional fashion bag. With her company, Ivy is chasing her dream of a sustainable future where she feels like Alice in Wonderland—and tomorrow never comes and there is “Knoend” in sight. Check out http://www.knoend.com where you can sight some new ideas.

It is said that Man brought “civilization” to where it is today, with all its environmental and social ills. It is also said that it is Women who will shine the way to a healthier world for all.

This weekend I’m going back to The Urban Green to pick up some more lites2go and try painting the shades or putting some leaf arrangements on them. Want to come and play too? Meet me there Sunday after 2:30 p.m.!


P.S. Even CFLs have some mercury. Check with your local recycling plant to see where to take your spent bulbs, or check out http://www.lamprecycle.org/.

Green Spring Spruce Up

Spring makes some homeowners think about sprucing up their home. Some of you may be thinking about selling your house. What if you could make your home more comfortable, save money and increase its equity value?

If these ideas appeal to you, consider a Green Spring Spruce-up.

Why Green? Greening your home can make it healthier, more beautiful and save you money. In this series of articles, we'll look at ways to improve the quality of life where you live.

Before you get started, consider these questions: What's more important to you - aesthetics, comfort, energy savings, or. . .? How much money do you want to spend?

Let’s start with the least inexpensive way to spruce up your home—putting on a fresh coat of paint.

If you’re living in an older home, it may have lead-based paint. Lead in paint can cause lead poisoning, which may lead to brain impairment, poor muscle coordination, inhibit reproductive ability and cause damage to the nervous system. Lead is one of many toxic chemicals that add to what is called the “body burden.”

Buying lead-free or water-based or acrylic paint is not good enough, however. Many paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs can be in different places in your home—paint strippers, wood preservatives, paint, carpet backing, plastics and cosmetics. VOCs can damage soil and contaminate groundwater. VOC vapors contribute to indoor air pollution. People complain about headaches from plastic, carpet and furniture outgassing. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says 2 to 5 times more VOCs are concentrated in indoor air than outdoor air , and that certain indoor activities may push the VOC levels to 1000 times that of outdoor air! Who wants to breathe that toxic air soup?

Eliminating as many environmental toxins as possible can lighten the body burden and enhance your life. Fortunately, today’s paints need not contain lead or VOCs in order to have vibrant and appealing colors. Visit different paint stores and check out their no-VOC primers and paints. Read the labels. Some shops sell small jars of colors you can test at home. Others require that you buy at least a quart.

When we repainted our entire house, I bought about 15 different color samples to try before choosing our final color scheme. We matched some colors with the upholstery on our sofa. We painted large swaths of color on different walls to get a sense of how we’d feel surrounded by new colors. We tried different painting techniques on large poster board and used a faux finish technique on one wall to create an elegant, warm backdrop for the piano.

The few dollars extra that you pay for no-VOC paint goes a long way to improve the air quality inside your home, and the lives of the people who live there.

Next time we’ll talk about saving energy, money and enhancing indoor air quality by changing windows. Meanwhile, have fun with paintbrush and color!

To your health,

-Barbara Chan

Barbara Chan is a Certified Green Building Professional, Sustainable Business Management Consultant, knitter, traveler and glass artist. She studied ecology when few people wanted to talk about the effects of DDT on humans and the environment. You can contact her at green@barbarachan.com.



Copyright © 2007 by Barbara Chan. All rights reserved.