Comments on: Going Green: The Madison Homeowner’s Guide (Part1 of 2) http://glassslipperhomes.com/2008/07/29/going-green-the-madison-homeowner%e2%80%99s-guide-part1-of-2/ Finding the Perfect Fit, Every Time! Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:11:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Heidi http://glassslipperhomes.com/2008/07/29/going-green-the-madison-homeowner%e2%80%99s-guide-part1-of-2/#comment-634 Heidi Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:09:42 +0000 http://glassslipperhomes.com/?p=116#comment-634 Hi Nancy, thank you for commenting. I know it may sound crazy, but our great city of Madison has always been WAY ahead of the curve when it comes to living Green. Check out this link and look under the Ecology and Recycling section. You will see that Madison started curbside pick up of newspapers for recycling in 1968. Pretty cool!! http://www.visitmadison.com/kidscorner/index.php?category_id=82&subcategory_id=215&printable=1 Hi Nancy, thank you for commenting. I know it may sound crazy, but our great city of Madison has always been WAY ahead of the curve when it comes to living Green. Check out this link and look under the Ecology and Recycling section. You will see that Madison started curbside pick up of newspapers for recycling in 1968. Pretty cool!! http://www.visitmadison.com/kidscorner/index.php?category_id=82&subcategory_id=215&printable=1

]]> By: Nancy http://glassslipperhomes.com/2008/07/29/going-green-the-madison-homeowner%e2%80%99s-guide-part1-of-2/#comment-633 Nancy Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:40:44 +0000 http://glassslipperhomes.com/?p=116#comment-633 <i>Madison offered the nation’s first curbside recycling program in 1968.</i> Do you mean 1986? If that was when we started bringing recyclables to the neighbors for someone to drive around and pick up and deliver to 1st Street? I remember doing that in 1990, certainly, and bringing my own recyclables to 1st St in the '80s... Madison offered the nation’s first curbside recycling program in 1968.

Do you mean 1986? If that was when we started bringing recyclables to the neighbors for someone to drive around and pick up and deliver to 1st Street? I remember doing that in 1990, certainly, and bringing my own recyclables to 1st St in the ’80s…

]]> By: Doug MacDonald http://glassslipperhomes.com/2008/07/29/going-green-the-madison-homeowner%e2%80%99s-guide-part1-of-2/#comment-627 Doug MacDonald Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:46:33 +0000 http://glassslipperhomes.com/?p=116#comment-627 On item #3, as a lighting professional I have a hard time backing you up. Yes, they are more energy efficient, but unless you have a solution for recycling the mercury content, I'd rather see you using halogen (there are an increasing number of standard household base halogen bulbs on the market). It's about twice as efficient as incandescent, and has none of the hazardous waste issues. This will be even more true once we shut off our coal plants. For the time being it may be a wash. Other options, if you are willing to replace your fixtures, are HID (particularly ceramic metal halide, which has better color rendering & efficacy than CFL) and LED, which is not quite as efficient as CFL in most cases, but also doesn't have to be replaced for 15+ years. Hopefully, by that time we'll have a good recycling program to deal with the discarded fixtures (at least most are now ROHS compliant so they can be sold in Europe, and therefore don't contain lead or other heavy metals). On item #4 I couldn't agree more. And I'd add, use automatic lighting controls wherever possible. Timers, occupancy sensors & photo sensors are all ways that you can reduce the lighting bill in your home without even having to remember to do it yourself. Thanks for the ideas! On item #3, as a lighting professional I have a hard time backing you up. Yes, they are more energy efficient, but unless you have a solution for recycling the mercury content, I’d rather see you using halogen (there are an increasing number of standard household base halogen bulbs on the market). It’s about twice as efficient as incandescent, and has none of the hazardous waste issues. This will be even more true once we shut off our coal plants. For the time being it may be a wash.

Other options, if you are willing to replace your fixtures, are HID (particularly ceramic metal halide, which has better color rendering & efficacy than CFL) and LED, which is not quite as efficient as CFL in most cases, but also doesn’t have to be replaced for 15+ years. Hopefully, by that time we’ll have a good recycling program to deal with the discarded fixtures (at least most are now ROHS compliant so they can be sold in Europe, and therefore don’t contain lead or other heavy metals).

On item #4 I couldn’t agree more. And I’d add, use automatic lighting controls wherever possible. Timers, occupancy sensors & photo sensors are all ways that you can reduce the lighting bill in your home without even having to remember to do it yourself.

Thanks for the ideas!

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