Now after 80 years the Empire State building is becoming technology savvy and upgrading to computer-driven LED light fixtures. This will not only help in sustainability and reducing energy cost but will also provide 16 million colour options, as compared to the current 10 used now.

LED Lighting to Light the top of The Empire State Building

It will also reduce maintenance time, as it currently takes a whole team several hours to change the colours, but with the new system colours will change instantly, making the building and New York an even more colourful city.

It is said that the new LED lights will be installed by September. This might prompt buildings in Australia to look at converting to LED, who knows we might start seeing light shows in our cities very soon as well.   

This is a yearly event where hundreds of thousands flock to Belgium during the end of January. The beautiful designed cathedral uses 55,000 LED lights to amaze its spectators and is 28 meters in height.

Festival of light Ghent

This beautiful mixture of historic architecture and modern technology is called “Luminarie De Cagna” after the Italian family which installed it. They began in the 1930s and on festive occasions they illuminated buildings and squares with oil and carbide lamps. Soon after they switched to electricity and since 2006 only use LED lightings.

Imagine the power consumption used if traditional lighting was used such as incandescent. The power meter would be on overdrive. However all 55,000 LED lights only use 20 KWh of electricity, unfortunately we are not sure over what time period and cannot calculate the total energy consumption used, but lets say it is around 80% less than incandescent lighting.

Festival of light Ghent

So next year if you have some free time head over to Belgium to see the spectacular lighting festival each year, it might even give you some ideas on how to decorate your home.

Maybe one day in Australia we might see buildings covered in LED lighting to attract tourist and give our cities a bit more excitement.

The Trim Energy Team

The hybrid location-identification system uses radio frequency transmitters and overhead LED lights, developed by researchers from Penn State and Hallym University in South Korea. Mohsen Kavehrad, W.L Weiss Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering and director of the centre for information and communications technology research at Penn state says that LED lights will become the standard lighting application.

Easier Shopping with LED lights

The use of LED lighting is not limited to lighting a room anymore, rather it has the potential for locational services and internet, this is something coming in the very near future.

The system would not need to transfer large amounts of data to locate items in a shopping centre or department store. Kavehard and his team envision that overhead LED light fixtures would each be assigned a location code. At the entrance, a computer which is accessible via keyboard or even your own tablet would contain a database of the all the items available. Once you enter your query, the location of those goods would appear.

This technology can evolve and present the user with a map of the store outlining where the products are located. Have you ever been in a Big W trying to find a particular item walking through the isles confused. As any new technology this will see the elimination of staff standing around as information desk’s. At least this new development will see your shopping experience more pleasant and a lot quicker, saving you time for the fun things.

 The Trim Energy Team

images provided by Stuart Miles & freedigitalphotos.net

LED lighting is used in many applications however the uptake has not been that strong over the last years. Some main reasons behind this is the quality of light output and the price of LEDs. It can sometimes cost a small fortune to save money even though the payback period is quite short. The thought of the upfront cost for most is scary.

So why will 2012 be there year of LED, Well we have seen over the past 12 months technological improvements have been significant whereby design is a lot better, the quality of the fittings is strong and the light output is reaching levels of true halogen replacement.

More so the biggest reason LEDs will be a hit is the price. The cost of LEDs are coming down globally as demand has increased economies of scale have begun to emerge from this technology. Therefore making it cheaper to manufacturer and thus being able to offer the public at a lower price point.

Most will still argue it is cheaper to purchase the goods in Asia, yes this may be true however quality is always an issue. Local LED companies search the globe for the best manufacturer’s and test their products over months to ensure that they are of sellable quality, they offer warranty and local customer service as well as bear the risk of exchange rate fluctuations.

LED lights are also cheaper in the US however they are also a lot more used there plus with a market of 300 million plus economies of scale are at work again, Australia with a population of only 20 million is a lot smaller market, however still big enough if more and more people started buying LED lights.

For many the cost of LED lights is still the biggest hesitation to make the purchase, however we see many more people inclined to purchase LED lights now and this will definitely help bring the price of LED lights down. Another key factor in the Australian market is the Carbon Tax and increases to electricity prices which will see many looking for alternative ways to trim their energy bills.

So lets get excited for LED and buy an LED TV this Christmas or install some new LED lighting for those summer renovations.

You Trim Energy team

The very reason you are considering the replacement of your halogen downlights to LED downlights is to ultimately reduce your lighting costs as well as your personal burden on the environment, should you be environmentally conscious. Therefore the conversion must be cost effective, all the while you do not want to compromise on lighting performance and practicality.

The most cost effective way of converting your halogen downlights to LED would be to perform a direct swap of your halogen downlights with compatible LED downlights in your required format, either MR16 or GU10. This way you do not have to replace the light fitting, and so then an electrician is not required to install a new fitting. This conversion is satisfactory for many, however there are three potential downsides to this approach:

1. Not all LED GU10 and MR16 downlights are able to produce the same light output as existing 50W halogen downlights. In most applications the difference in light output is not noticeable, and if there are an abundance of downlights dotted throughout your home, office, or retail store, as is mostly the case, then there is no compromise with lighting performance. There may only be an issue if existing light levels were insufficient.
2. Not all LED MR16 downlights are compatible with existing transformers, and existing transformers may contribute to shortening of the LEDs lifetime. The only practical way to determine compatibility is through testing a sample item.
3. LED MR16 and GU10 downlights are designed within the existing constraints of the halogen format, so that they can be swapped over directly. Their efficiency and performance cannot therefore be optimized to the same extent as with Complete LED Downlight Kits. If performance is critical for your application, such as lighting output and a long lifetime, Complete LED Downlight Kits are superior to LED MR16 and GU10 replacement downlights.

If LED MR16 or GU10 downlights are suitable for your application, they are the most cost effective option.

If LED MR16 or GU10 downlights are not suitable for your application, due to one of the constraints above, Complete LED Downlight Kits can be used to replace your existing halogen fittings, and are the recommended option for new installations. Only a qualified electrician can replace these fittings, and so there is more expense in conducting the conversion. However the conversion is still cost effective, with savings in lighting costs quickly paying off the additional investment. Depending on your existing ceiling cutout size and desired aesthetics, either a 12W or 15W Complete LED Downlight Kit would be suitable.

The best way to determine suitability for your own application is to ask questions, so please feel free to contact us with any queries and we’d be happy to help.

The Trim Energy Team.

This is an interesting notation that Carbon Tax will in fact increase jobs. Most followers of this topic in Australia would negate this and say that there will be an increase in unemployment not in jobs. Reason being, it would hurt smaller businesses down the supply chain line affecting crucial jobs in hospitality and retail sectors.

The report also found that 60% of Americans support a $10 per ton carbon tax if the revenue were used to reduce federal income taxes. When they were told this would “slightly increase the cost of many things bought, such as food, clothing, and electricity” 48% Republicans, 50% Independents, and 74% of democrats still supported the idea.

Will Carbon Tax increase the cost of transporation ?

It would be interesting to see Australian living expenses, costs and taxes change once carbon tax is introduced in July 2012. Australia is not the first country to introduce carbon tax but it is one of the highest, combined with already high Australian taxes we would need to see a larger decrease in personal tax for Australians.

Interestingly 69% of Americans oppose federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Australian government subsidies to the coal powered generation plants is relatively high. The cost to product a kWh in Victoria cost between 3 to 5 cents, however the power plant owner’s only pay around 1.36 cents/kwh this shows how heavily this industry depended is on subsidies and how the governments support coal one of the biggest contributors to green house gas emissions.

Is climate change really on the Governments agenda, would it not be more practical to reduce subsidies on coal and increase them on Solar and wind power generation as well as subsidies LED lighting, waste management and ecological farming practices.

Carbon tax will help reduce our green house gas emissions, potentially create new jobs, potentially lower taxes, and increase living costs. Most importantly it needs to achieve its first goal which is reduce pollution and this can only be done through green technology. Therefore the logical investment for the government would to use the earnings from the taxes to increase its expenditure in green and ecological technologies.

To read the full report from the Yale project climate change communication click here.

 A report by KPMG shows that with the introduction of carbon tax all business sectors will be affected. This includes small businesses right through to power generation. The cost of carbon tax will be fixed at $23 a tonne until it becomes a market based commoditiy, thus being market driven. The tax applies to companies emitting more that 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, however these companies will need to pass on the cost so that their bottom line is not affected badly.

What this means is that we will all be affected by the tax, even the small deli on the corner in your neighborhood, as previously mentioned the tax will be an excellent excuse for businesses to increase their prices by even more than they will be affect. Why, well they can and will to earn more money unfortunately this will hurt small business.

 Not all is doom and gloom the clean energy package does have some help such as:

• Incentives for farmers, forest growers and landholders.
• Competitive grants for manufacturing and food businesses to invest in energy-efficient capital and low-emission technologies.
• Grants for projects in renewable energy.

Visit governments sites to see how you will be affected and how you can reduce your exposure, however be wary of the calculations on all sites they are for indication purposes only no one can really tell what cost impacts it will have to end-users.

Electricity will obviously be one of the bigger increases and you can start to prepare for this now by installing solar panels, changing all your lights to LED lights and engage in more green practices to help reduce your costs.

Using more ecological products will decrease the price of these products, making them more available to everyone, and hopefully carbon tax will achieve its goals and make inefficient products more expensive. It’s not about fining businesses who populate it is about making them change their practice and adopt green technologies which will help the environment and also save money.

We will not be talking about the solar industry in Australia nor the world, rather the “space solar industry” that’s right a new future for solar far and beyond. The terminology used for space solar is space solar power or SSP. Worldwide governments are looking at reducing carbon emissions by various means, some are subsidizing clean energy and others are taxing industrial polluters which is better is better left for another time as both have their own pros and cons. However countries should be looking to unite to create a sustainable energy source which will not just lend a helping hand rather it would solve all our energy and greenhouse gas problems.

Solar Energy from the sun

The sun from what we know is the most powerful source of energy in our universe and will last for billions of years to come.  So why not utilize such energy which is basically free and not labor intensive?  Many people have suggested this idea with Peter Glaser thinking about this back in the 1960s, it was suggested that solar panels are attached to satellites which absorbs the sun’s energy, converts it into energy and beams it back to earth. This is a pretty simple concept in theory but obviously a lot harder in reality as it there has been no commercial realization of this yet. The problem with which many enthusiasts about this idea hit a brick wall is the cost.

If things were free in life, life might be better but not great. This is the challenge here, transporting materials to space to create floating power stations is quite complicated and costly as conventional rockets are too expensive to make it feasible. The oil drum blog has looked at ways of transporting the parts we need for floating power stations in space and the solution is Skylon. This is a rocket place developed by reaction engines with a system of laser based on earth which hit the plane on it’s way into space. It would heat hydrogen on the plane to provide an extra kick of acceleration. It is believed that satellite components could be launched into space for under $100 per kilogram. This could make solar space energy from as low as 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is substantially less than coal.

Continue reading click here for part 2

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• Almost zero greenhouse gas emissions
• No need to utilize fresh water
• No hazardous waste
• Unlike the solar energy we receive from earth, space solar can operate 24/7 and produce large quantities, as there are no clouds, night-time or wind speeds which affect the generation of power
• We would not be limited by energy and mining precious resources thus countries and businesses can focus their initiatives on other areas
• Everyone will have the opportunity to use power and energy to keep them warm and fed (in perfect economic conditions).

There is really only one disadvantage to space solar is of course the cost and if Skylon above is not feasible what will be feasible to make environmentally friendly energy.

Space

There are other advantages though which would be seen as side-affects, currently almost every single car on earth is powered by petrol made from oil. The shift to move to hybrid and electric cars is increasing but the problem of powering them is still an issue. By having solar power it would enable thousands of energy stations to be opened up (like gas stations) which would charge batteries and they will be able to replace them in electric cars as quickly as topping up your gas tank. Now go one step further if solar power can be wirelessly beamed to earth why not wirelessly beam it directly to cars for powering. You can read more about wireless electricity and how this can change the world.

So looking at all aspects and keep in mind this blog can go on for pages and in so much detail as this concept of solar power is very detailed and years away, however it gives us an opportunity to think how the world is changing and an opportunity think of our own concepts and ideas to change the world.  

Coming back to solar power by looking at the feasibility of such technology it is definitively something with which many will occupy their time. Just the idea alone will have many challenges to face and here are just some questions which will be asked. What will happen with coal? What about the oil rich nations? What will happen to the millions of jobs in the energy sector? Who would control the energy? Would every country have its own space solar power plant? What will happen to the mining sector? Will it actually work?

 These are just some questions to be addressed but there are thousands more which need to be analyzed and whether this will happen in our life-time or not we will find out but it is a great step forward for our future energy demands and move our world into a sustainable and healthy environment. Even though this blog was in two section it the possibility and feasibility was only briefly discussed, we hope to share more information on new and sustainable energy sources and ways to help promote a green planet

images provided by siraphat and freedigitalphotos.net