Comments on: 2011 Unclutterer Holiday Gift Giving Guide: Light and power

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 03:29:03 +0000

Thank you for the suggestion of the Philips LED light bulbs. I purchased some as gifts for my dad, and he loves them. Their light looks just like old-fashioned incandescent lights and they use even less electricity than CFL bulbs. Good stuff.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:49:57 +0000

How well do the LED bulbs survive children? I’m all for going green, saving power, saving money on power, etc, but I find that my kids destroy a light bulb (and sometimes the lamp) all too often. That will change, but I’d love to just put in more $2 bulbs for now, knowing we’ve still got years until the youngest is safe.

By: susanintexas

susanintexas — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:08:19 +0000

Thanks for telling about the library checkout of the kill-a-watt. I’m going to suggest to our electric company that they partner with the library to do that here — wonderful idea!

By: Dede

Dede — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:35:14 +0000

How much heat does an LED bulb put out, compared to an incandescent? Our family room is the busiest room in the house and the lighting can warm it up a bit too much in summer. If these bulbs could help reduce that heat, we could run the a/c less and save even more money.

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:11:27 +0000

In the same vein, but may not save money, for those people in your life who are a little down, full spectrum bulbs are also an idea. This is especially great if you spend a lot of time indoors or don’t get out of work until after it gets dark. Get your vitamin D in the comfort of your own home.

Also good for college students’ dorms, especially those who move to go to college in a wintery place after having lived in a summery place their entire lives.

By: pkilmain

pkilmain — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:16:07 +0000

LOL Jodi beat me to it, our libary also has the kill-a-watts for checkout.

We have converted to CFL’s in our non-florescent lights. I have spotted and (“visited” several times) a LED light I want for my bedside. May ask for it for Christmas, if not for my birthday which is only 2 weeks later.

On other type gifts, I found a little thing that plugs into the car converter and has 2 USB ports for charging. Very handy for people like me who use their iPods mainly in the car. It was under $20 US.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:44:47 +0000

Showing for $35 for me. Too bad, I would definitely have got some at $22.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:34:33 +0000

I am with D, I am reluctant to invest in supposedly longer lasting bulbs when so many people are finding the life expectancy to be flawed.

@ Susanintexas: My library had the kill-a-watts that could be checked out using a library card.

By: gypsy packer

gypsy packer — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:30:36 +0000

Management here has been contemplating a gradual switch to LED’s. Ironically, their very design presents a problem–the area’s disgustingly large population of meth addicts use their few undamaged neurons to create meth pipes from conventional light bulbs, and no, Erin, I am not making this up. The spiral bulbs solved a big theft problem for public and/or hospitality facilities. LED design has neglected this real but minority problem.
On the Eneloop batteries–can these be recharged with a solar charger? I use rechargeables for camping.

By: D

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:47:43 +0000

For all the hype about how long the mini fluorescent should last….in my house they have been burning out faster than the incandescent. I’m reluctant to bother with the LEDs and find out their longevity claims are equally flawed.

By: susanintexas

susanintexas — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:44:07 +0000

In September we had a city-subsidized home energy audit. We were shocked by the results -- our house is leaking money (50% of the output from the central air was escaping from leaky ducts in the attic.) We've started on the improvements they recommended (including new light bulbs.) One cool gadget is a kill-A-watt electric usage monitor. It has been interesting to see what various plugged in things are costing us and has been an incentive to conserve. I suggested to my brother, an uber-nerd, that he might like one for Christmas. He has two -- one for home, one for work. Should have guessed.

By: Katrina

Katrina — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:14:23 +0000

Sorry, I had a bit of a disaster with one sentence there…

It’s a useful little device which has 2 USB connections and can be used in a power point or a car to recharge or power various devices. A wonderful way to reduce lots of power cords, and only have one power cord kit when travelling.

By: Katrina

Katrina — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:01:27 +0000

I found a Traveller universal power supply unit at Aldi (the Australian equivalent of ASDA). It’s a useful little device which has 2 USB connections and can be used in power or car adaptor to power/recharge various.

The one unit has a connectors for 5 brands of mobile (cell) phones, 2 handheld game consoles, mini usb, a micro usb and a metre of power cable. And it was only about $10.

So I bought a handful of them for various impossible-to-buy-for male relatives and friends as gifts (and one for myself).

By: PJ Doland

PJ Doland — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:14:54 +0000

The Philips bulbs we mentioned are actually the highest rated bulbs tested by Consumer Reports (in **any** class). They calculate the ROI for a typical owner at 3.5 years.

By: LisaD

LisaD — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:22:09 +0000

Yeah, that was my questions – if your husband spent all this time researching bulbs, what did he find? Is the Philips one the best, or are there other good ones? I know since it’s a new technology, sometimes you can have the same experience as Anne did regarding quality, so I was curious.

Also it is worth noting that CFLs vary in quality too. If you get the .99 CFLs instead of the 2.99 ones, like most things you’ll get what you paid for. The EcoSmart is one good one – not sure about others.