Keith is an avid member of the lighting and home furnishings industry. At Bellacor, he helps customers with various home improvement design issues including green lighting, furnishings, and decor.
Imagine two lamps sitting on a table. One is fitted with a traditional incandescent bulb, the other with a high-efficiency compact fluorescent bulb. Both bulbs are readily available in stores. Both bulbs fit into standard sockets and fixtures. Both bulbs give off a warm, pleasing light. The difference? The compact fluorescent bulb will use about one-fourth the energy and last more than 10 times longer than the incandescent bulb.
Green products feature positive environmental attributes such as significant recycled content, low emissions, energy efficiency and savings, as well as completing the renewable loop by also being able to be easily recycled.
Light fixtures and bulbs should be among the first products that come to mind when “designing green.” Using environmentally friendly lighting and high-efficiency bulbs are simple ways to improve energy efficiency in homes, offices and businesses.
To incorporate eco-friendly products, designers must choose from a number of factors including the initial cost, the amount of savings over the product’s life cycle, the styles offered and lead times in getting a product. In the past, many green products were unsuccessful because their only asset was being efficient – they were unattractive, offered few options and were sometimes difficult to find. In order to succeed, green products must fit seamlessly into project schemes, enhancing their functionality, their aesthetics – as well as their sustainability.
Today’s energy efficient products offer a wide variety of styles and options and are also readily available. The ENERGY STAR program has promoted the development of efficient products since 1992, so choosing to use light bulbs or entire light fixtures that are ENERGY STAR approved is an easy way to preserve energy, save money and contribute to a cleaner environment.
Tips for Designing Green
Where do you start when creating environmentally friendly designs? Here are just a few tips on how to design green for your projects.
Create targeted, layered lighting. The idea that kitchens and work areas need to be super-bright has gotten out of hand. Instead of creating high light levels for an entire room, selectively brighten high-use areas with targeted task lights that focus in on the activity.
Using layered green lighting is also an effective technique. By combining different types of lights – such as recessed lights for overall room lighting, pendant lights for task lighting and under cabinet fixtures for ambient lighting – you allow easy adjustment of a room’s light level for a variety of tasks, simply by choosing which fixtures to turn on.
Turn it off; turn it down – save energy. “Turn off that light – you’re wasting energy.” Isn’t this what parents tell their kids? Flipping the “off” switch seems an obvious way to save energy, but sometimes it’s not that simple, especially for offices or outdoor lighting.
A practical solution is to make it automatic – add dimmers, timers or sensors to help lower energy usage and costs. Occupant sensors can automatically turn off the office lights when no one is in a room. Motion sensors can switch on the outdoor lights when you drive near the garage. A timer switch can turn the sidewalk lights on at dusk, off at dawn.
Balance energy efficiency and economics. If you are working with a tight budget, you can still add energy efficiency to your project by giving priority to the fixtures that are most frequently used. Areas where the lights are used daily or are left on for long periods of time (such as the kitchen or outdoor security lights) will certainly result in significant energy and cost savings.
While many trees and plants go dormant in January, warm, sunny days can entice Southern California gardeners into their backyards where much can be done even in winter.
Plant dormant fruit trees: Stop by any nursery and you will see a variety of dormant fruit trees ready for planting. These bare root trees are typically less expensive than those potted in soil. Dormant fruit trees, including apples, cherry, pear and plums, require a certain number of “chill” hours (temperatures less than 45 degrees) to break their winter dormancy and produce healthy crops in summer. Make sure the chill-hour requirements meet the particular micro-climate in your area.
Care for New and Established Rose Bushes: January and February are the best months to plant rose bushes. Like dormant fruit trees, bare root rose bushes are now abundantly available at nurseries. For existing roses, prune no more than one-half of new growth from the previous growing season. Pruning and pinching encourages new growth in early spring.
Plant Vegetables in Winter for Spring Harvest: January is the perfect time to experiment with vegetables not found in typical spring or summer gardens. Vegetables that are planted in fall and winter include asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chives, collards, endive, kale, lettuce, onions, parsnip, peas, spinach and turnips. Year-round vegetables such as artichokes, carrots, beets and radishes can also be planted now.
Get Control Over Weeds: One or two days of rain is all it takes for weeds to sprout. Placing a two to three inch layer of mulch around trees, shrubs and plants prevents weed seeds from germinating. If weeds are already starting to grow, remove as many as you can and then cover the area with mulch. The goal is to prevent sunlight from reaching the weeds so they will not have fuel to grow. A common mistake is not adding enough mulch for the weed-suppression process to be effective. Once taken root, weeds need only a small amount of sunlight to flourish. Organic mulches break down over time, so if you already have mulch in your garden, replenish with an additional one-inch layer.
Bill Camarillo is CEO of Agromin, an Oxnard, California-based manufacturer of premium soil products and the green materials recycler for communities throughout Southern California. Each month, Agromin receives and processes thousands of tons of urban wood and green waste. Agromin then uses a safe, organic and scientific system to formulate its soil products from the processed recycled green materials. www.agromin.com.
Continue reading about Much to Do in Southern California Gardens–Even in Winter
Just like in movies and in ads, exotic bedrooms are portrayed with crisp white sheets and flowing white drapes that hanging from a dream-like canopy bed. For some, this may seem amusing and a bit over done. However, why not make that scene interesting and fun? Exotic does mean unusual and different and that’s exactly what bedroom can be if dressed up right, especially if using leopard Duvet cover.
Many women who are in serious, long-term relationships, may want to spice things up in the bedroom on a decorative scale. However, they might not know how to get it done. It’s easier than some may think.
There are many different ways to create an exotic-looking bedroom. One of the trends that has stood the test of time is using animal print. When redecorating bedrooms, it should be obvious that starting with the bed is essential. The most popular animal print design used today is leopard.
A beautiful leopard duvet cover on a bed would do the trick. Although this type of duvet cover may come in many different colors, the one that is most popular is pale, creme-yellow , featuring a dark rosettes leopard print. Adding dark, solid, small pillows like dark brown, black, or gold will make the bed look more inviting.
The walls in the bedroom should be light. A light brown or golden brown paint would be best.
When it comes to window treatments, it is not necessary to go with leopard. Using solid colors like black or brown will work as well. If the bedroom is dark, use light drapes to brighten things up a bit.
In addition, plants go great with this type of bedding. Just remember less is more. Do not go overboard with plants as it is important to make it seem like your bedroom is a jungle. Use the plants to accent the patterns in the room.
Finally, place a mirror over the head board with some gold accessories and the bedroom is now converted to one that unique and different.Want to find a beautiful leopard print duvet cover. Then go to Multi Shop Stop. There you will find all types of beautiful leopard duvet cover. Want to find a beautiful leopard print duvet cover. Then go to Multi Shop Stop. There you will find all types of beautiful leopard duvet cover
Linda is the vice president and co-founder of Multi Shop Stop. Always had a gift for redecorating ever since she was a young girl. The gift was passed on from her grandmother and mom who all had talent for making there house look like a picture from a magazine. Linda always had many ideas on how to remodel a room. She decided to make use of her skills and decided to open a online store with her partner Denzale Montgomery who is president of Multi Shop Stop.
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The cold snowy weather can keep many of us in during the winter months but these cold spells can be even more harsh on the local wildlife. Not only do many of our native animals and birds struggle to find enough to eat during the winter months they also struggle to find shelter.
But turning your garden into a winter safe haven for a variety of species of animals and birds need not be expensive and it can go a long way to help many of them to survive through the winter and help their dwindling numbers.
There are a huge variety of wildlife shelters and feeders available that it is often difficult to know where to start. Bird tables and bird feeders are a good place to get started but most of these are not indiscriminate and you could find the local squirrel of vermin population keeps any birds away.
A better solution is to target individual species such as the housemartin or swallow. Housemartin bowls and swallow bowls are fitted by the gutter. They are out of the way for other species but these migrating birds are attracted to the high up shelter. Not only are these two species of visiting birds a delight to see after the cold months, their numbers have been decreasing dramatically over recent years.
Bat boxes too, work on a similar principle but these endangered and timid animals can be attracted even in urban areas with a safe enough shelter.
Other animals worth considering are less desirable in a physical sense but are even more crucial to eco-system as a hole. Bumblebees for instance are vital in pollinating a huge variety of plants but their numbers are dangerously low. A bumblebee nester need not be obtrusive and can look quite ornamentally pleasing in the right area.
Other animal shelters such as toad houses and hedgehog homes provide much needed shelter in the harsh weather for many of our local wildlife and can go a long way in helping them survive another winter.
Richard N Williams is interested in green innovations and writes about them. Please visit our website if you are interested in wildlife feeders and shelters or other eco-friendly products.
Continue reading about Helping Winter Wildlife during the Cold Spells