Tag Archives: Mercury

LED Lamps – The Paradigm is Shifting

40 and 65 watt equivalents from CREE and Lighting SciencesI just bought some LED bulbs at Home Depot. The bulbs, from Cree and Lighting Sciences, are sold under the “ecosmart” ™ brand. The Lighting Sciences bulbs will go into my bathroom.  The CREE bulbs will go into the bedrooms, family room, and the kitchen. Over their 35,000 lifespan, each LED bulb will outlast 14 or 15 incandescents, or 4 or 5 compact flourescents and will use 16% of the power of the incandescent bulbs or 75% of the power of the compact flourescents. At $0.14 per kwh, the LEDs will consume $51.45 worth of power over their lifetimes, compared to $68.60 for the CFL’s and $318.50 for the incandescents. This is summarized in Table 1, below.

Comparison of LED, Incandescent Filiment, and CFL Light Bulbs
Description   Filiment         CFL         LED
Wattage 65 14 10.5
Bulb lifespan (hours) 875 8,000 35,000
Electricity (kwh) per 35,000 hours 2762.5 595 446.25
Electricity cost at $0.14 / kwh $318.50 $68.60 $51.45
Table 1

 

CREE LED High Hat, offCREE LED High Hat, onThese are “Dimmable.” They are also expensive – the 65watt equivalent, rated for 35,000 hours, costs $24.97; the 40watt-equivalent, rated for 50,000 hours, costs $9.97. Lowes and CostCo have similar units. The units from Lowes are currently more expensive. The prices are offset by the electricity savings and durability of the bulbs. These bulbs should last 15 to 20 years. If they are on 4 hours per day. If electricity prices don’t change, the LEDs will cost 3/4 the cost of a CFL and 1/6 the cost of an incandescent. In addition, since they use much less electricity, they will throw off much less heat. Thus, I will also save on air conditioning bills. Since 1 LED bulb will last as long as 4 CFL’s or 15 incandescents, I will also spend much less time changing bulbs – once installed, I expect to change the bulbs, every 15 to 20 years.

Like old fashioned incandescents, invented by Thomas Edison in the 1800’s, and unlike compact flourescents, or CFL’s, LED bulbs use no mercury or lead. They are easy to dispose of; if they break they do not create a toxic waste issue.

They offer three very clear advantages: They use much less power, they last much longer, they release no toxic wastes when they break.

The 65-watt equivalent bulbs, from CREE, produce 575 lumens of light on 10.5 watts of power.  They have a 3-year warranty, but as noted, are rated for 35,000 hours of use. They also feature an integrated housing to fit inside a 6″ can or “high hat.” These are dimmable. If on for an hour, each will consume 10.5 watt-hours, 0.0105 kwh.

LEDs from Lighting SciencesThe 40-watt equivalent bulbs, from Lighting Sciences, produce 429 lumens of light with 9 watts. Thus, if on for an hour, each will consume 9 watt-hours, or 0.009 kilowatt hours, as opposed to 0.04 kwh. The three used in my bathroom will consume 0.027 kwh, per hour as opposed to 0.12 kwh per hour from the bulbs they are replacing. These are for indoor use only, and should last 50,000 hours. I am concerned about heat dissipation in the fixture, and will probably replace the glass housings.

LED & CFL at turn-on This picture shows LED and CFL bulbs in the bathroom at turn-on. Note that there is no “warm-up” time for the LED bulb.

Cree, a $2.5 billion company, trades under the symbol CREE. Its price, at the close of trading, on 12/23/11, was $21.66 per share.  It’s 52-week range is $20.25 to $69.21. Cree has an EPS, or earnings per share of $0.92. a P/ E, or price / earnings ratio of 23.60, a debt to asset ratio of 0.00, and net operating margins of 17.08. Cree has 4,753 employees. Institutions own 78% of the company.

Lighting Sciences, a $284 million company, trades under the symbol LSCG. Its price, at the close of trading on 12/23/11, was $1.39 per share. The debt to asset ratio is 8.52. It’s 52-week range is $1.32 to $5.39. The operating margins are negative -122.84, and the EPS is negative: -$2.59. Lighting Sciences has 152 employees. Institutions do not own this company.

This is probably a good time to invest in CREE.  It might be a great time to speculate in Lighting Sciences.

The paradigm is shifting. Or, as Dylan once said, “The times, they are a-changin’.”

Want Some Mercury With That Slice?

How’s about some arsenic? Whadda ya mean “toxic?” You got a problem wid my pizza pie?

PizzaCheck out the Slice web-site at Serious Eats. Their Coal-Oven Pizzeria map shows about 20 coal-oven pizzerias in the New York City metropolitan area. While a coal fire may produce a perfect heat for baking pizzas, coal fires also produce mercury, arsenic, uranium, thorium, and other toxic heavy metals.

YUM!

No Thank You.

Does one drink red or white wine with mercury, arsenic, uranium, thorium, cadmium, aluminum, sulfur and all those toxins?

In the Mines

In the Mines

Coal. One of the most impure of fuels. A mixture of carbon, with impurities including uranium, thorium, aluminum, iron mercury, arsenic, sulfur, and methane.  Carcinogenic, mutagenic, explosive.  But it burns great. A magic rock.  Just like Pandora’s mythical box.

L J Furman, MBA

February 27, 2010

An orca in the open ocean

An Orca in the Pacific ocean near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, image courtesy of Whale-Images.com

Tilikum, an Orca, attacked and killed Dawn Brancheau, a trainer at Seaworld, Orlando, on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010.

As reported in Asia One, Ric O’Barry and Dave Phillips of the Earth Island Institute have called for a federal investigation into the death of Ms. Brancheau.

In their statement, O’Barry and Phillips said,

“SeaWorld allowed public and trainer contact with an orca that was a known risk, and after three deaths they’re suggesting that it actually continue…. We believe this situation warrants the immediate initiation of a federal investigation into SeaWorld’s possible negligence and violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act….Along with sadness of this tragic event we can’t help feeling anger toward those who insist upon exhibiting these wild creatures in habitats that can drive them to violence.”

Let’s look at this from another side.

  • Orcas eat fish, as do other whales, dolphins, and humans.
  • Fish are high in mercury. (All mercury pollution comes from human industrial activities, much of it from burning coal in power plants).
  • Mercury causes brain damage.

This leads to a few questions:

  1. What is the level of mercury in the Tilikum’s brain and central nervous system?
  2. Is it causing nervous system damage?
  3. Is Tilikum “Mad as a Hatter?” Is he suffering from Minamata’s Disease?

Jobs, National Security, Energy, Environment, Economy

Architecting a Clean, Secure, Sustainable, Non-Carbon and Non-Nuclear Energy Future

Middelgrunden, Denmark, near Copenhagen

Middelgrunden, Denmark, near Copenhagen

  • 100 Gigawatts offshore wind. $300 Billion.
  • 100 GW land based wind. $200 Billion.
  • 50 GW solar. $325 Billion.
  • 250 GW Clean, renewable, sustainable Energy.  $825 Billion.
  • Save the World: Priceless Continue reading

ENERGY POLICY & PUBLIC HEALTH

There really is no such thing as “Clean Coal.” Mining coal destroys mountains, and often kills the miners.  Burning coal releases tons of carbon into the atmosphere and the oceans, and even if you could sequester the carbon, burning coal releases other pollutants, including mercury into the biosphere. The mercury makes its way into fish. This is why people, especially children and pregnant women, should not eat a lot of tuna or swordfish.  Wind, solar, geothermal, ocean current, and “negawatts,” on the other hand, really are clean energy.  Offshore wind turbines don’t release pollution. On the contrary, they create artificial reefs, which enhance fish habitat. This is also good for fishermen, the economy, etc.