Commentary: Green Irene has been carrying covered CFLs of various types at SHOPGREENIRENE. In addition, Green Irene’s CFLs have the lowest amount of mercury possible, are high-quality (so they will not fail until at least the end of their lifetime), and have high luminosity and colors for lighting quality, all while saving you money. You can learn more about them by contacting a Local Eco-Consultant or you can shop directly at SHOPGREENIRENE.

Valley retailers are offering new compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) that get around one of the biggest obstacles – ugliness – for consumers to install the low-power devices.

The new covered bulbs look like traditional lightbulbs but offer the energy efficiency of the curvy, pigtail-like bulbs that sometimes raise shoppers’ eyebrows.

Some of the other drawbacks remain, including the mercury inside that requires special disposal and the fact that shoppers have to pay a little more attention to buy the proper light for the job.

Although CFLs still are more expensive than traditional incandescent bulbs, using one of the 13-watt CFLs saves about $35 in electricity costs compared with a 60-watt traditional bulb, and they’re designed to last longer so they don’t need to be replaced as often, utility officials said. Most homes have about 35 lightbulbs, but utility officials said customers can save a lot without replacing all of them.

And the new covered bulbs do that without looking eccentric.

“It looks like a regular bulb, but has a CFL inside,” said Debbie Kimberly, SRP’s energy-efficiency manager. “If you are an energy geek like myself, you can walk down the aisle and notice they have made tremendous advances in the way the bulbs look as well as their performance.”

Another common complaint from people who switch to CFLs is the lighting quality.

Hines and Kimberly said when switching to CFLs, customers need to learn to buy bulbs based on the lighting output measured in lumens and make sure to buy the proper type of bulb for recessed lights or other specialty sockets.

“Look for the light output that you want first, and the smallest number of watts to get that,” Hines said. “If a CFL light is too dark, go up to the next wattage. You’re still going to save a ton of energy.”

Article excerpted from AZ Central.

A recent article in the New York Times discussed problems Americans are facing with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). The article focused on how compact fluorescent light bulbs have been registering quality problems because of the government’s emphasis on bringing down their prices at the expense of quality. Specifically, this has been as a result of some manufacturers choosing to replace better components with cheaper components. Unfortunately, this leads to an increase in bulb failures, which result in complaints from consumers.

Green Irene wanted to take this opportunity to discuss why, in spite of these realities for some CFLs, our light bulbs are high-quality and will do what they’re meant to do for our clients. First of all, Green Irene’s CFLs aren’t cheap for a reason. While they’re not too expensive, they’re also not as cheap as CFLs that you can find in typical stores. Green Irene’s light bulbs are sourced from well-recognized suppliers who ensure that the bulbs do what we normally expect them to do most of the time: provide 8,000 to 10,000 hours of lighting, dim well when needed, have low mercury levels and high luminosity, and save you money! In addition, we always strongly recommend our clients to use our eco-consultants to verify which CFLs should be installed in which fixtures to avoid matching problems.

Second, Green Irene guarantees that its CFLs will work. To fulfill that guarantee, it provides its clients a 30-day (CFLs typically fail within a few days if they will fail, so this is enough time to find out) warranty under which failed CFLs are taken back and clients are either provided with a new one or are refunded. Since Green Irene is a small business, it can handle refund requests from clients much more easily than typical stores that sell CFLs coming from distribution centers.

Finally, Green Irene has spent a significant amount of time researching suppliers to ensure that its CFLs are in fact high-quality and will not fail on clients. We’ve made sure our light bulbs meet most of the requirements typically demanded from CFLs, from having less mercury than the average CFL to having the right lighting color to meet typical needs. We also provide our clients with full instructions about how they should go about installing their CFLs and where’s the best location to place them at home or in the office. Green Irene’s CFLs are among the best in the market and ensure that you will save money while enjoying of high-quality lighting. To purchase CFLs from Green Irene, check out our line of products at ShopGreenIrene.

With green becoming mainstream in the operations of thousands of businesses, you may be wondering what else you can do to further green up. Most offices tend to organize regular events for various reasons. Ever thought your event had a significant environmental impact? Have you ever considered not only greening your event, but cutting event costs at the same time as you green up? You don’t have to think too much any longer; we’re here to help.

Green Irene offers a Green Office Event Checklist. The Checklist allows you to identify aspects of your office’s event that have a significant environmental impact based on categories, such as choosing a venue accessible by public transportation, sending e-mail invitations, and using reusable silverware, and then prepare for them in advance by following the specific recommendations for those items you identify.

Whether your event is in your office or in a large venue, you can identify specific targets for which you can prepare in advance to help you achieve real measurable results. The Checklist provides recommendations to help you reduce energy use and carbon emissions, cut on waste and save resources, and educate your guests, all while reducing your overall costs.

Green Irene believes that greening your event is not just responsible, but also saves you money by eliminating unnecessary costs and sets you apart as a green leader. To find more about the Green Office Event Checklist, ask your Local Green Irene Eco-Consultant.