Simply Green is a popular cleaning product that is marketed as nontoxic and environmentally friendly.  Analysis has shown that it is not that simple and nontoxic as it contains EGBE, also known as 2-butoxyethanol: “the company said it didn’t detail all the chemicals in its products to protect its formula from piracy…. ”

“William Nazaroff, a professor of environmental engineering and chairman of the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, said the EPA erred when it removed the chemical from the hazardous air pollutants list.

Nazaroff conducted a study for the California Air Resources Board in 2006 on the indoor air chemistry of cleaning agents and toxic air contaminants.

He found that people using some common products containing EGBE could be exposed to levels 12 times greater than California’s one-hour exposure guideline.”

A quick look at the Simply Green Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) shows the 2-butoxyethanol ingredient. It also has <1.2% VOCs. Far from a product that is all natural. Furthermore, the Simply Green bottle does not even list all ingredients.

My advice is to skip Simply Green and the controversy and try cleaners from Seventh Generation or Method that list all their ingredients

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Gas is getting more expensive by the day. Everyone wants a fuel efficient car, but does it make economical sense? Obviously serious green oriented folks care more about the environment than financial considerations. When does it pay to buy a hybrid automobile is the question?

Replacing a vehicle with a fuel efficient model has the biggest aggregate potential reduction in green house gas emissions at 31.4 millions of metric tons of carbon a year. Even more than Weatherizing a home (21.2), buying energy efficient appliances (11.7), or carpooling (6.5).

How Quickly does a Hybrid Pay off?

Source: CNNMoney.com

CNNMoney.com has a nice analysis of how fast a hybrid pays off. They compared a buying a new $24,548 Toyota Prius Hybrid vs a conventional $19,635 Toyota Camry. The premium for the hybrid automobile is almost $5000.

You can see that it takes 4.5 years to break even with gas at $4, 6 years at $3. Some hard numbers that should help prevent you from paying a crazy markup for any hot new green hybrid or electric vehicle.

An edmunds.com article highlighted some payoff times for hybrid cars. Gas costs more now, so the times are shorter than listed. Toyota Prius (2.6), Nissan Altima (3.4), Mercury Mariner (4.4), GMC Yukon (4.9). There are some hybrids that don’t fare nearly as well from a cost trade-off standpoint, but may be attractive for other reasons: Toyota Highlander (12.7) and Lexus LS600h (102.6)

Kiplinger’s has a Green Car Calculator that compares two cars costs and 5 year overall costs of operation. Edmunds.com has a variety of hybrid car cost benefit analysis.

The Future of Hybrids

The car industry has started to understand this and closed the delta with mild hybrids costing far less.  They use much smaller batteries and hence cost far less.

Remember that it takes a LOT of energy to build a car, so it may be more green to keep what you have or buy a used fuel efficient vehicle. A hybrid still emits about 20 pounds of carbon with each gallon of gas you burn up.

Check out our hybrid driving tips.

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1. Gas-Guzzler Trade-In Calculator
2. New Cars that Already Meet 2016 Fuel Economy Standards
3. Hybrid Car Mileage Tips

Just in case you have not joined the wave.  Replacing incandescent light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs or CFLs can save you lots of money. 90% of energy used by traditional incandescent lightbulbs is wasted as heat.

How Energy Efficient?

How does a regular incandescent bulb compare to a compact fluorescent one? CFL’s use about 66% less energy and last about 10x longer. The estimated amount of savings is up to $39 over the life of the CFL. PG&E advertises that replacing a 100 watt incandescent bulb with a 25-watt CFL will save at least $90 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. A typical house may have over 60 light bulbs.

Per the Energy Star.gov: “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.”

A 60 W incandescent lightbulb can be replaced with a CFL that uses from 13 to 15 Watts of energy. LED lights would use even less energy, perhaps 12 Watts to achieve the same amount of light.

By 2012, light bulbs are required to be labeled with Light Facts that tell you their energy costs, light output, and other information.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs are falling in price everyday. Home Depot now has 23 Watt (120 Watt Equivalent) Flood Light CFLs. 14 Watt (60 watt equiv, 800 lumens) Candelabra CFLs are available.

Environmental Working Group has a new research which identified 7 bulb lines from Earthmate, Litetronics, Sylvania, Feit, MaxLite, and Philips that last a long time and have very little mercury.  Look for these when you are shopping.

Different CFLs emit different light temperatures or color of the light, measured in Kelvin (K). Cool Bright White CFLs are rated at a temperature of 3500K, while Soft White CFLs are 2700K. 3000K will resemble a halogen bulb’ s white or light. Temperatures from 5000 to 6000K resemble daylight.  Consider special Full Spectrum CFLs to beat Winter Blues

Flipping CFLs Quickly On and Off Warning

CFLs will last a lot longer if you do not turn them on and off frequently.  Leave them on if you will be back in the room within 5 minutes. Flipping a CFL on/off is the equivalent to 5 seconds of CFL ON time. CFLs will burn out quickly if not allowed to have 15 minutes between power cycling.

We recommend you do not use CFLs in motion controlled light fixtures.

Hybrid CFL – Halogen Lightbulb

To address the slow brightening of CFLs after being turned on, GE created the Energy Smart Hybrid Halogen – CFL. This bulb includes a halogen capsule inside the CFL bulb, that turns on instantly and then turns off as the CFL reaches full brightness. The down side is that this bulb has problems with rapid power cycling and has a lower life when this happens often. GE markets this lightbulb as lasting for 7.3 years and saving $48 in energy costs.

Actual lifespan of a CFL

California has subsidized the cost of compact fluorescent light bulbs so they cost an average of $1.30 versus $4 without subsidies. Analysis by PG&E for 2006 to 2008 has found an average lifespan of 6.3 years for CFL’s versus a projected useful life of 9.4 years. Field tests have shown shorter lifespans in bathrooms, recessed lighting, and when frequently turned on and off. We have read some articles claiming a 10,000 hour CFL average life span which equates to 3.5 years with 8 hours a day of usage.

EDN is reporting that some CFLs suffer from poor power factor that causes more power use. These power losses don’t show up directly on our electricity bill, but the utilities sure see the effects.

Low Temperatures

Outdoor CFL’s are not designed to work in extremely cold conditions, such as those below 0°F. Outdoor compact fluorescent light bulbs will take longer to reach full brightness in cold conditions.

Recycling CFLs

The one gotcha – CFL’s contain mercury, so you cannot simply throw them in the trash.  You need to recycle them at stores like Home Depot or Ikea. Several local hardware stores including Brownie’s in San Francisco and many Ace Hardware locations also recycle CFLs.

Also be very careful if a CFL breaks. Follow the instructions to carefully clean it up and ventilate the room for at least 15 minutes. Have people and pets leave the room, and do not let anyone walk near the broken CFL, and turn off any central forced air heating or cooling system, if needed. Consult these additional clean-up steps to properly dispose of a broken CFL.

Green Incandescent Bulb – Philips Lighting’s Halogena Energy Savers

Hate CFL’s? Philips Lighting has released the new Halogena Energy Savers Light bulb. It is an incandescent bulb that is 30% more efficient than older bulbs and lasts about 3 times as long. Cost $5. Amazon and Home Depot carry them exclusively.

The 2007 Federal Energy bill phases out inefficient incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012, so that has forced vendors to innovate.

Incandescent Bulbs are Being Phased Out

California began phasing out sales of incandescent light bulbs on January 1, 2011, while the Federal law takes effect on January 1, 2014. It will be harder to find incandescent light bulbs in the future, so CFLs are bound to become more popular by default.

New low cost LED Light Bulbs are coming soon that will surpass CFLs in efficiency.

Also read: Ways to Save Energy, Money on your Energy Bill CFL

Related posts:

1. Compact Flourescent CFL Sales Drop
2. Picking the best CFL Bulbs
3. Costco CFL Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb Sale

Edmunds.com has a new Gas-Guzzler Trade-In Calculator that helps you figure out the pay back period and fuel saving associated with trading in a vehicle for a new more fuel efficient one.

“A common example demonstrates the potential pitfalls of ditching that SUV: A consumer trades in a four-year old GMC Yukon, worth $13,483, for a new $21,647 Toyota Prius. The difference is $8,164. If the consumer drives 1,200 miles per month and gas costs $4.07 per gallon (national average), the monthly fuel savings will be $201.34. While this may seem attractive, it will take 41 months to pay back the additional cost of the Prius over the trade-in value of the Yukon.”

Considering a Prius would probably cost more than $21,647, the pay back time is even longer especially if gas prices fall. Consider regular high mileage compacts such as the Honda Fit.

Also consider a recent (2 or 3 year old) vintage fuel efficient preowned car.  The biggest cost in owning a car is depreciation at almost 50%, followed by fuel costs at near 20%.

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1. Payoff time for Hybrid vs Gas Cars – Toyota Prius Hybrid vs Toyota Camry
2. Airplane Fuel Efficiency and Airplane CO2 Emissions Calculator
3. Cash for Clunkers or Car Allowance Rebate System

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