Recycled Lighting

We are all encouraged to switch to more energy efficient light bulbs and, apart from the lower energy consumption, they offer an interesting benefit - new designs for lampshades.

As the low energy bulbs generate very little heat, a wider variety of heat sensitive materials can now be use for light fittings, particularly plastic which would have melted if placed close to the old stye incandescent bulbs.

Someone who has grasped this opportunity with both hands is designer Sarah Turner.

She makes beautiful light fittings from recycled plastic bottles.

The lamp shown here is from the ‘Lily’ range which are made from  either 9 or 12 two litre drinks bottles. You can buy them on their own or with a table lamp base.

The Sprite bottle's colour makes the inside sections green with the outside white, but when switched on these colours seem to reverse and make the lamp truly stunning! Also available in plain white in both sizes.

For more stunning designs, which you can now buy online, visit Sarah’s website www.sarahturner.co.uk

Sarah  has just been shortlisted for a competition over at Inhabitiat.com so, if you would like to make her day, you can vote for her here : and then simply click on the green leaf vote symbol at the top of the page.

Ethical Candles

One of the great things about this time of year is the fact that you can light candles to add mood to your home. If you are uncomfortable about buying those blocks of cheap tea-lights from major retailers, you might like to think about ethical ones.

How about hand-made soy wax tea lights which are non-toxic, GM-Free and don’t use materials from deforested rainforests?

Most ‘normal’ candles are made using paraffin, a by-product of crude oil, and many people are concerned about the environmental impact of oil based processes and products. Soy wax, on the other hand, is made from soy beans - a renewable resource.

HapiBean, based in Watford, is offering a selection of ethical tea-lights which you can order online. Have a look at
http://www.hapibean.co.uk/ where you will also find an interesting section of the comparison between paraffin and soy wax.

Might be just the thing for your ethical seasonal decorations.

Vote with Your Light Switch

We are forever being told that if we each do a little, we can achieve a lot. Here is a chance to do very little and make a massive impact.

On SATURDAY 28th March you can join Earth Hour. Vote for the fight against global warming and switch off a light for one hour. Unlike other campaigns where we have been asked to switch off lots of things all evening - this is painless.

Earth Hour has been transformed, this year, into a global election. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming.

WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

It all started in Sydney during 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour (Earth Hour). In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

This year it is VOTE EARTH. More details can be found on their website, www.voteearth2009.org

Join in by switching off your lights for one hour on Saturday, March 28th, 8.30 - 9.30 pm.

Wind Powered Sculpture

This weekend saw the very brief appearance of the Aeolian Tower, a 15 meter sculpture clad in wind powered LEDs, on the South Bank of the Thames in London.

Designed by the Jason Burges Studio, it was located outside the British Film Industry building as part of the onedotzero_adventure in motion festival. We have featured this studio a couple of times before because of their innovative use of alternative and eco lighting.

The tower was clad in 1,200 miniature wind powered turbines which power tiny red LEDs. As the speed and direction of the wind changes so the brightness of each LED changes providing a shifting luminous representation of the ‘turbulence’ we a often unaware of.

The miniature wind turbines have been used previously in work by Jason Burges Studio and are now available to purchase, individually, from lighting specialist Mathmos.

More details about the Aeolian Tower at www.jasonburges.com

The End of the Light Bulb

Over the past year Australia, Cuba and the Philippines have announced a ban on traditional, filament, light bulbs.Last week it was the turn of Eu Energy ministers to do the same.

Traditional filament light bulbs will no longer be available from the beginning of 2010 across all 27 member states - more than enough encouragement for us all to reach for low energy alternatives.

The USA will wait until 2014 to implement a similar ban, although they require a 25% improvement in efficiency for their light bulbs (or greater) starting 2012.

Image © Adrienne Hart-Davis. DHD Multimedia Gallery

Solar Powered Urban Lighting

There are solar powered garden lights in many garden which collect energy during the day to power a small LED light during the evening. Generally they are low power and often ugly.

Enter the solar Sunflower. This elegant design works in a similar way to current garden solar lighting but on a brighter, larger, scale. During the day the solar cells, on the top of the stem, collect energy then use it at night to power the bright LEDs built into the head.

Designed for easy attachment of directional signs or display banners this might just be a simple solution to keeping us illuminated and informed.

[Via Ecofriend]

Save Water in the Shower

We all know that it is better to take a shower than a bath because it does not use as much water. However, it can be difficult to tell. A bath uses, on average, 80 - 100 litres of water. A power shower can use 100 litres in 5 minutes!

If you need some way of monitoring how much water is used, rather than how long you are in the shower, this little Showerdrop monitor might be the answer. Once set up (which they say is very simple and needs no tools), Showerdrop measures the amount of water being used in your shower and lets you know when you reach a pre-set limit. You can, of course, keep showering if you need to - it doesn’t eject you from the cubical - but can help give you an idea of water usage.

Waterwise and the Energy Saving Trust have verified that by using the Showerdrop, for a family of four, savings can amount to £180 a year saved on water and energy bills, as well as over 40,000 litres of water and two thirds of a tonne of carbon!

It costs £11.97 and is available from www.nigelsecostore.com

Future Lighting

As we just start to incorporate Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) into our lives and take advantage of there reduction in power consumption and long lives, there is something new on the horizon which might offer us even more.

OLED’s (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) have been around for a while but are now beginning to be considered for domestic and commercial lighting. What is interesting about them is that they contain no mercury, are flat and flexible. When not switched on they appear transparent, when on they give off a cool even light.

GE, are clearly very excited about the possibilities and have put together an appealing web presentation which is well worth a look. The light fitting, illustrated here, is just one suggestion of how these flat panels can be incorporated into domestic design.

They can also be curved to fit architectural surfaces, used as entire, luminous, wall panels and are fully dimmable. Not yet in the shops but intriguing enough to, hopefully, attract some inspired designers. View the animation at: www.efactormedia.com

Cassette Light

If you are part of the iPod generation you may well have a box of old audio cassettes on the verge of going into landfill.

Design and visualisation studio, Transparenthouse.com, have come up with a way to reuse them and produce a stunning ‘retro’ lamp. They are based in San Francisco so, if you are not in that area you could always use them as inspiration and do-it-yourself.

Take any standard table lamp, pop an energy saving bulb into it and then use your old cassettes to construct a shade by simply cluing them together.

Redundant audio becomes unusual lamp shade and you will probably be the only person on your street to have one - so unique as well!!!

[Via EcoFriend ]

Cups of Light

People seem to be sticking lights in everything these days. If you were wondering what can be done with all those left over single cups we all have hanging around in the back of cupboards, then take a look at designers Domestic Construction.

They use old cups as light shades which you can buy in singles or clusters. Everyone is different, their stock is constantly changing as they find new (old) cups and they offer a great way of keeping the unwanted crockery out of the land fill.

More details about the lamps at www.domestic-construction.com

or you can purchase single lamps at their Etsy online shop

Plastic Bottle Chandelier

A few days ago we featured a recycled glass bottle chandelier which had masses of style and kept quite a few bottles out of landfill. Well now we have news of a similar item but this one is do-it-yourself.

Walking-Chair design studio, in Vienna, has some up with a kit which allows you to make, and remake, your own mini chandelier type light shade. It includes a plastic hanging device (no word on whether this is recycled), a lamp holder, electric cable and canopy.

You select your bottles for recycling and just pop them into the holder. The shade can be customised by placing coloured mesh inside the bottles and you can swap the bottles whenever you feel a change is needed. The holders come in a variety of colours (Transparent, red, blue and yellow) so you can coordinate with your bottles. Price is €50 and the kits can be ordered online at www.walking-things.com

[ Via Ecofriend ]

Recycled Bottle Chandelier

We have featured all manner of recycled chandeliers here on the EcoList, but this one is available online and doesn’t cost a fortune.

Made of a hanging metal support with upward pointing ‘spikes’ onto which are placed recycled bottles. In the center is a 40w bulb.

Simple, elegant and unusual it will provide a recycled focal-point in any room but great in the kitchen. If you have enough bottles of your own, rather than binning them you can use them on the chandelier and have a constantly changing series of designs. Use green bottles one month, amber the next and a mixture when you are feeling flamboyant! In Britain almost 200 glass bottles and jars are thrown away every second! Save a few for your chandelier!

They cost £48.00 (which is cheap for a chandelier) and are available from www.contemporaryheaven.co.uk

Recycled Garden Lanterns

As it might look like summer is on the way and we all drift out into the garden, patio or balcony you might like to have a look at these lanterns made from recycled glass.

A wire ‘cage’ is used to hold the recycled glass which ‘pokes’ through to form an undulating surface. Pop a tea light into them and you have instant atmosphere. They come in three sizes, start at around £7.00 and are available online at Hen & Hammock who have a wide range of eco design products.

Yogurt Light

Hot on the heals of the blender lamp below comes a light shade made of recycled yogurt pots.

Featured on the Craftster website, this simple but effective designs has a retro feel about it and keeps a heap of those tiny pots out of the rubbish.

After washing them well (you don’t want your lamp to smell of cheese), attach them together using small metal rings. A low energy light bulb keeps the construction safe as there is little heat generated and no chance of the design bursting into flame.

If you live in a household with children who have been encouraged to eat yogurt from these tiny, multi-coloured pots, this might be just the thing to show them how they can begin to recycle.

Recycled Blender Lamp

The sun comes out, you dig our your seasonally used blender (for the smoothies) and find it no longer works. Be creative and recycle it into a lamp.

It seems a strange thing to do but electrical waste is very difficult to dispose of ecologically so the longer you can keep your item out of the land fill the better.

This design simply takes a pre-wired light socket and uses it to replace the ‘blender’ mechanics of the blender. There are full instructions on how to do it at Instructables and all you need, apart from the light socket, is a low energy bulb and a screwdriver.

Perhaps you have other old machines you can pop a light into - kitchens will never be the same again.

[ Via Hippyshopper ]

Wind-up lantern

Remember Trevor Baylis? He invented that wind-up radio 15 years ago. Well, his company has been at it again and has come up with a wind-up, weather proof, lantern just in time for those long summer evenings outside and the camping/festival season.

It contains 5 LEDs and is charged by you ‘winding’ the device. One full wind will give around 4 hours of continuous light. It also has a standby mode which illuminates just two of the LEDs for some gentle ‘night light’ action and will last for 48 hours.

You can stand it on a surface, use the included folding handle to hang it or fix it with recessed lugs onto a wall.

If you don’t have the energy to do any winding you can also recharge it by plugging it into the mains or a car.

Available from a number of eco suppliers for around £24.95. Have a look at www.the-green-apple.co.uk

Hi-Tech Paper Lanterns

One of the problems about solar garden lighting is that many people just do not like the ‘modern’ design so, for your traditionalists out there, you might like to have a look at these.

The Chinese style lanterns have LEDs in them which are powered by small solar panels and have an in built sensor which switches them on when it gets dark. All you have to do is hang them up!

Each pack contains three red lanterns and three white. The white ones have colour changing LEDs in them so they slowly fade through a variety of colours. Simple and practical - no installation and no cost for power. You not only have a chance to decorate your garden but save some Co2 at the same time!

Available for around £29.95 from Firebox.com

Build an Eco Home for £4,000

Some people recycle, some try to reduce energy and others build their own eco homes. Judging by the cost of the green alternatives building your own eco home would cost a fortune but Steve James managed it for around £4,000!

Located in Dumfries, Scotland, Steve’s house is made from natural and recycled materials. Walls are made of straw bales and the roof is green (literally) as it is covered in turf and has flowers growing in it.

Add to this a composting toilet, woodburning stove, rainwater collecting system and you have all you need for a basic house. James points out that..

“Actually, you could make it for less than that. I’d cut the wood myself next time instead of going to the sawmill. That would knock off a thousand.”

[Via: The Independent]

Lighting up your Spending

Simple but stunning, this lamp, by French designer Elise Fouin is made from a reused cash register receipt roll.

Using recycled paper is not new, artists and designers are using it as a material for many projects, but this lamp has a simplicity which works and is just one example of Fouin’s innovative use for paper.

Perhaps the next model will use low energy light bulbs.

More details on Elise Fouin’s website: www.elisefouin.com

[Via; Dvice]

Spinning Street Lights

As cities begin to realise that they can reduce their energy consumption by switching to eco lighting, this wind and solar 'street' light might be an indicator of things to come.

Located at the Panasonic Center in Tokyo, the lights incorporates solar cells for daylight energy collection and a spinning column to generate power from wind. The energy is stored in the base of the lamp post for use at night.

Not only does Panasonic have some of the most unusual outside lighting but a kinetic sculpture as well. The center was built with the intention of reducing its energy consumption by almost 30% and has a number of other 'eco' initiatives including rainwater utilisation and inbuilt solar lighting.

More details at: panasonic.co.jp

[Via: Hyperexperience]