Every month Cree has a “Cries for Help” contest where you can submit your photo of your space which much deserves an LED lighting makeover! A winner is chosen for five Cree LR6 lights!
If your space needs some lighting love, check out the contest, submit your picture, and find out how Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution.
… check out the site anyhow! You might get some chuckles and be horrified for those living and working in such crazily lit environments.
On October 8, 2009, North Carolina found itself amidst two conflicting news stories of a national caliber regarding technology manufacturing:
DELL is laying off 905 employees by January 2010. Boo.
CREE is creating nearly 600 jobs in the green tech LED industry. Yay!
On Wednesday, DELL announced they are closing the North Carolina plant in Winston Salem, laying off around 600 employees in November and retaining the last 300 employees until January 2010.
Well, a huge happy holidays to you and yours, courtesy of DELL.
For the record, I want to say how opposed I was about granting DELL any tax breaks, grants, and incentives back in 2005 when North Carolina leaned over and kissed their shiny hineys in order to get the plant here. Not that “I told you so” ever does any good, but I cannot help myself.
So, here we are, four years and two days after it opens, and they announce they are closing down and leaving a thousand families without income and burdening NC with more than $3 million added in unemployment spendings.
DELL says they will repay everything paid to them by the state of North Carolina. Hmmm… did Exxon not say the same thing 20 years ago regarding the Valdez?
On the other hand, Thursday afternoon, CREE (LED Technology) held a planned press conference to announce the creation of 275 North Carolina jobs before the end of 2009, and another 300 jobs by the end of 2012.
Why do I support CREE? The North Carolina-based company has impressed me with their commitment to such a huge environmental undertaking from the beginning. Add to that how North Carolina State University has a role in CREE technology (a personal victory! They are so underrated), not to mention how our state, at 11% unemployment, needs a company who will invest in the educated and eager workforce in our state.
I support CREE because LED is significantly superior to CFL, which is known as the energy-friendly choice among mainstream America.
One LED lasts 50,000 hours and consume only 500 kilowatt hours in the course of its life. That would take 10 CFLs. Plus, trust me, I am simplifying the numerous benefits of LED.
LED lights are bright, are infinitely more reliable and warmer looking than the CFL bulbs currently living in my home. The LEDs give a true color, unlike what I get to experience now.
One LED can cost only $.16 a year to operate in your home — that is 16 cents! Thus, the initial cost may be higher than CFL or incandescent bulbs, but the savings far outweigh the initial cost difference.
LED bulbs are far more robust than CFL or incandescent bulbs. This even leaves out the fact that CFL bulbs contain mercury.
Bora and I were able to talk with CREE CEO Chuck Swoboda, Social Media Specialist Ginny Skalski, and Product Marketing Specialist Kyle Rogers. Here, Rogers walks us through a few of CREE’s current major products, as well as discusses with us a few future products for residential use.
If somehow are are asking yourself what LED and CFL light bulbs are, I wonder how you have missed that incandescent bulbs emit 80% or more energy on creating heat, thus creating an issue where you spend more money creating heat in your home than light, and then you have the costs of increasing air-cooling methods to counteract the heat in our sweltering NC summers.
Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue
For raw clips of the press conference with CREE CEO Chuck Swoboda and Governor Beverly Perdue, you can watch: Part 1 (CEO Chuck Swoboda introducing CREE and green jobs announcement) Part 2 (Governor Beverly Perdue) Part 3 (CEO Chuck Swoboda talking LED as our future)
I loved talking with the staff. The owner shared that everything in the store has a story, and the staff will enthusiastically share the stories with you.
Some items are practical, like the smart strips that reduce phantom power usage in your home, the LED lightbulbs that will one day replace CFLs, the Envirosax for fun and stylish shopping, stainless steel water bottles and Dynamo rechargeable radio and flashlights.
Some items are child friendly, like the cooperative games (lets play together, not against each other), organic and locally-made baby clothing and USA-made wooden toys.
Some of the toys (like the cars in the slideshow below) are for the kid in ALL of us… or the jewelry, which is fun, sustainably made and sophisticated.
Mainly, I walked away KNOWING that Shawn Slome (the owner) and his staff know that sustainability is not a catch phrase du jour. It isn’t about carrying all “organic”, or all “local” goods. It isn’t about novelty. And it certainly isn’t about being a crunchy granola or extravagantly priced. Sustainability is about supporting your local community through a harmony of ideals. That’s pretty amazing.
Check out the invitation to you all from the owner:
Dear Friends and Associates:
I would like to invite you to a Fundraising Festival “Twig” is launching on Saturday, May 17 to benefit local non-profits. For those of you who don’t already know, Twig is the Triangle’s new eco-friendly shop focusing entirely on sustainable, organic and fair trade products.
The Festival is a celebration of our community and particularly of the many organizations that work to protect our environment, nurture our children and make our community a safe place for everyone to thrive.
The event will take place at Twig from 8am to 8pm:
Village Plaza (next to Whole Foods)
99 S. Elliott Rd. • Chapel Hill 27514
(919) 929-8944
Most of our non-profits will be on hand with information tables so you can stop by and say howdy. Twig will donate to our partners 20% of the revenue generated from the event.
We will have live music for most of the day, several door prizes and some tasty snacks provided by Whole Foods.The list of participating non–profits:
Eno River Association NC
Museum of Life and Science
Haw River Assembly
NC Audubon Society
Piedmont Wildlife Center
Triangle Land Conservancy
Toxic Free NC
NC Community Shares
Rainbow Soccer
Bonjour Africa
The Abundance Foundation
American Civil Liberties Union
Orange County Rape Crisis Center
PTA of Chapel Hill
Emerson Waldorf School
I hope you can join us in the fun and make some connections with those that contribute so much to our quality of lives. I would appreciate it if you can help spread the word about this special day.
My advice… check out Twig this weekend. You will LOVE it. Trust me.
This video totally has your answer for why you should love CFL bulbs. Three minutes of “CFLs in Plain English”. All lessons should be this cool.
Note, not all CFLs are created equal. It pays to buy a $4 name-brand bulb instead of a cheapy version which will turn yellow-colored ~ In fact, Lighter Footstep explains it best.
You get what you pay for. CFLs are not all created equal, and the no-name bargain units are cheap for a reason. The difference is usually in the quality of the ballast — the bulky part between the CFL’s light tube and the screw base. Junky ballasts can mean flicker, buzz, and a short service life.
Choose a quality brand: Sylvania, Phillips, and GE are among the most widely available.
That clippet is from the post, but check out the full article anyhow: “How to Live With CFLs”. If you don’t listen to Lighter Footstep, trust me, you’ll buy cheap bulbs and be unhappy with the result, and in an age where more countries are BANNING incandescents for CFLs and LEDs, you can jump in now to be ready then!
And if $4 seems like too much for one bulb, you obviously haven’t watched the above video yet.
GOV. EASLEY ANNOUNCES GREEN BUSINESS GRANT PROGRAM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
$1 Million Fund Will Help Companies Develop Cutting-Edge Green Technologies
Gov. Mike Easley announced that small business owners and entrepreneurs can apply today for the new North Carolina Green Business Fund grants. These competitive grants will help small businesses develop promising green and alternative energy technologies to bring cutting-edge, environmentally-friendly products and services to the marketplace.
“The Green Business Fund helps encourage the growth of North Carolina’s clean energy economy,” Easley said. “These grants will tap our state’s entrepreneurial talent and help North Carolina’s small businesses develop innovative technologies that are critical to our future growth.”
The General Assembly approved creation of the Green Business Fund last year and directed $1 million for the first round of grants. North Carolina-based small businesses with 100 or fewer employees can apply for grants to pursue original, pioneering ideas that are both good for the environment and good for the economy. A company can receive a maximum of $100,000 per grant. Deadline for grant applications is April 30, 2008.
The N.C. Board of Science and Technology, a division of the state Department of Commerce, administers the Green Business Fund. Detailed information on applying for grants, requests for grant proposals, eligibility criteria and other guidelines are available at the Board of Science and Technology’s website: www.ncscienceandtechnology.com.
Trying to get your last minute holiday-groove on? NBC 17’s own Page Crawford talked to Danny Seo about truly fresh ideas on last minute gifts, gifting and decorating in an eco-cool style. Nothing blah blah bland about these nifty-neat ideas that fit into ALL lifestyles and ALL budgets!
And don’t forget you can still find AMAZING gifts that are fairtrade and unique and beautiful at places like Ten Thousand Villages in Cameron Village or gifts that are locally-made and one-of-a-kind beautiful from a plethora of local artists!
How badly does your lighting stink?
