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                                        Vol. 14, No. 12    December 6, 2013
GREEN STAR E-News

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In This Issue
Events & Reminders
Alaska Commercial Building Energy Audit Program
LEDs -- Not Just for the Holidays
West High Students Get Involved
Visit Us On Facebook
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Green Star AK 

Keep up with Green Star's busy schedule; come join us, friend us, like us!

 

 

 

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 Anchorage Recycles

Stay current on what's happening in recycling around Anchorage. Several recycling organizations post regularly.

 

Thank You to our Sponsors
Thank you to all of our sponsors and donors for supporting Green Star.

Visit our Sponsor List
 
This Month's
Hot Links

Central Recycling Services Surplus Site

Find or get rid of surplus scrap, materials, vehicles, and more.  Check out the DEAL OF THE WEEK!
Green Star Staff

Kim Kovol 

Executive Director

 

Anne Stefanich  

Technical Assistance

Coordinator

 

Jeanne Carlson 

Web Master

 

 

What's New

Green Star's address is

333 W. 4th Avenue,  

Suite 310,  

Anchorage, AK 99501.  

 

PLEASE MAKE A NOTE! Several web listings that are beyond our control list out-of-date contact information for Green Star in Anchorage.  

 

Member Benefits

Green Star offers benefits to its members beyond just energy savings and waste reduction.  Many local businesses offer product and service discounts to Green Star members. 

 

Visit our Member Benefits page to learn more.

 

Join Our Mailing List
EVENTS & REMINDERS
 

Find events on Green Star's web calendar.    


Green Star logo Green Star Membership
Renewal Reminder

Look for your 2014 annual membership renewal notice in your e-mailbox this week.

GS Award LogoGreen Star Award Certification Quarterly Application Deadline -- December 30 
For all enrolled members who have not yet completed the Green Star Award Achievement Report to earn certification, this quarter's deadline is December 30.  For all the steps to earning a Green Star Award, including downloads of the application and other helpful documents, visit www.greenstarinc.org/html/programs/green-star-award.php

AFE logo Alaska Forum on the Environment -- February 3-7
Save the date! The 16th Annual Alaska Forum on the Environment will be at the Dena'ina Convention Center on February 3-7, 2014! Online registration services and all the information about the event are available at www.akforum.com. Early-bird registration specials are still available through January.

Anchorage to Zero Waste Guide --
Fall/Winter 2013-2014
Produced twice a year by the Municipality of Anchorage's Solid Waste Services, the A to Z Guide is your definitive source for recycling and zero waste information in Anchorage.  

The Fall/Winter issue includes information about donation, business waste management, wind and landfill gas power, air quality, and updated recycling options. Find the Fall/Winter A to Z Guide and other archived issues at Solid Waste Services' Recycling page

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Alaska Materials Exchange 

AME is a free resource for Alaskan businesses and organizations to find or post unwanted materials for reuse.  

ALASKA COMMERCIAL BUILDING ENERGY AUDIT PROGRAM

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The Alaska Energy Authority is pleased to announce funding availability for the Commercial Building Energy Audit Program. 
This program grants funds for up to the full cost of a commercial building energy audit. Only privately owned, both for-profit and

non-profit, commercial buildings are eligible.  

 

For more information and to apply for the program,  www.akenergyauthority.org/efficiencyaudits.html.

 

The application period opened November 1st and runs through December 20, 2013. Applicants will be notified of funding awards in early January 2014.

LEDs -- NOT JUST FOR THE HOLIDAYS

LEDs Over the past decade, we've all become familiar with LEDs (light emitting diodes), but mostly we've seen them evolve from the little lights on our stereo, to a better light in our very necessary winter headlamps, to changing the look of holiday lights with strings of bright and efficient and nearly indestructible "bulbs."  

 

But while we weren't looking, during the past few years, LEDs have branched out into so many other practical applications with huge environmental and economic benefits. Here are just a few to consider.

 

LED bulb in hand Looking at the aesthetics of lighting, LEDs are improving by leaps and bounds, hopping right over many of the more common lighting types. LEDs can now be found in both indoor and outdoor styles, and in a variety of types such as floodlights, streetlights, accent lighting, and security lighting for outdoors, and recessed, downlights, spotlights, troffers, high and low bay, and track lighting for indoors.

 

They turn on instantly and are not affected by cold temperatures, unlike metal halide and fluorescents, respectively. And they are easy to integrate into existing lighting control systems and fixtures, including dimmable fixtures.

 

LED streetlights light your way in many Anchorage neighborhoods already. On a dark night, you can easily tell the difference and see that LEDs give off a much truer light than standard streetlights, offering a color rendering of up to 93 (daylight is 100) compared to fluorescent at 70-85 or outdoor sodium vapor at 20-30.

  

The far fixture has LEDs in it. 
The near fixture is fluorescent. 

 

Commercial applications of LEDs and LED lighting systems are currently on the upswing and will lead the way in the next five years for other uses, including residential and industrial applications. 

 

Although the initial cost of an LED is higher than both incandescents and fluorescents, when factoring in all costs, including replacement labor and materials costs and electricity costs, LEDs look pretty good. In more technical terms, the return on investment or ROI for LEDs is well documented and is becoming increasingly attractive as prices for LEDs continue to drop.  

 

In general, LEDs are more durable, with no breakable bulb and no glass to pose a hazard; and safer, with no pressurized mercury or other hazardous chemicals found in fluorescents and metal halide lights.

 

LEDs produce 90% less waste heat than incandescent bulbs and produce the same light output at 10 watts as a 14-watt compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) or a 60-watt incandescent bulb.

 

LEDs last up to five times longer than fluorescents -- 50,000 hours vs. 10,000 hours -- equating to more than 11 years of daily operation at 12 hours per day. This means less maintenance and decreased costs for replacement, so less labor costs too.

 

In a comparison of a 60-watt incandescent bulb, a 14-watt fluorescent lamp, and a 9.5-watt LED (all producing equivalent lumens of light), used for nine hours a day for one year, the numbers look like this:

  • Incandescent costs $57.38/year
  • Fluorescent costs $10.99/year
  • LED costs $7.23/year

These final costs take into consideration the initial cost of the lights, the replacement costs during the year, the labor costs to replace them, and the energy usage costs.


Calculations in this article were prepared for Green Star by Matthieu Ostrander, student at University of Alaska Anchorage, November 2013.

WEST HIGH STUDENTS GET INVOLVED

 

 

Green Star and a group of West High students participating in a Global Citizenship Project, visited the Anchorage Recycling Center for a tour led by RockTenn General Manager Randy Virgin before diving into unloading and sorting the materials collected through the downtown public space recycling program.    

 

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