INCANDESCENT
After a century of lighting up our lives, it’s time the classic incandescent bulbs got the boot. Sorry. They’re seriously inefficient, wasting most of their energy as heat, and no matter what the package says, 1,500 hours isn’t really a “long life.” As of January 1, 75- and 100-watt incandescents will be MIA, but lower wattages will have until the end of 2014 to clear out. No hoarding, please. $1.50/4.
Score: N
EDISON BULB
These vintage throw-backs are all the rage, but will the nation’s hipsters get to keep their retro incandescents come ban time? Officials say if they’re under 250 lumens (as are all the Edisons I spotted at Canadian Tire), yes, they’re exempt. Now these aren’t exactly efficient, but you can get more life for your buck if you look for Edisons that advertise a lifespan of 3,000 hours. $10/1
Score: NN
HALOGEN
Tungsten halogens are a type of incandescent, and the bulb-shaped ones were going to be phased out. Alas, it looks like Canada will be harmonizing with the U.S. and letting halogens stay. You can even get the exposed raw filament feel of retro Edisons if you like. They’re supposed to burn for 2,500-3,000 hours, though Noma’s seem to burn out fast. The feds say bulb-shaped halogens should be at least 28 per cent more efficient than conventional bulbs. Mercury-free. $5.99/2
Score: NNN
COMPACT FLUORESCENT
Yes, these mascots of the modern green movement are up to 75 per cent more energy-saving than ye olde classics and are supposed to last 10,000 hours. But there’s been a lot of griping about wonky lighting hues, dimming woes, electromagnetic sensitivities and the stress of mercury cleanup if the bulb breaks. Keep in mind, not all CFLs are created equal: Philips, Sylvania and Feit are lower in mercury than most, and some are shatter-resistant. $9.99/2
Score: NNNN
LEDs
Okay, these puppies used to cost a day’s salary and emit less light then a cellphone, but things have changed. You can now get a good 60-watt equivalent in a pretty bulb shape from $10. LEDs are at least 80 per cent more efficient than incandescents, plus they last 20 to 25 times longer than halogens – from 25,000 to 100,000 hours making them cheaper in the long run. Dimmable and mercury-free. Philips makes some good ones in nice warm tones. From $10/1
Score: NNNNN
Greenwash Of The Week
RAW ESSENTIALS
When I first spotted a skin care brand called Raw Essentials in a drugstore, I got a little excited. Then I noticed that only the “active ingredients” are raw (“never heated above 115° ”). Flip the product over and you’ll see that the body oil may have sesame oil and grapeseed oil (which can contain traces of pesticide residue), but the very first ingredient is a synthetic oil derived from propane. Wait! Back up! Doesn’t the marketing material say Raw Essentials doesn’t use synthetic ingredients? It also says these products don’t contain petroleum, but lo and behold, there are plenty of petrochemicals in them. Slippery stuff.
Petrostate politics
Tzeporah Berman on how economic policy is being made in the oil patch, not parliament
Tzeporah Berman is an enviro champ with one fierce CV. Perhaps best known for her leadership role in BC’s Clayoquot Sound logging blockades of the early 90s, she went on to found ForestEthics, where she won knockout rounds against corps like Victoria’s Secret and Home Depot, all in the interests of old-growth forests.
Over the last several years, her practised tactical gaze has fallen on the fossil fuel biz. Berman, author of the recent autobiog This Crazy Time, spoke on Pipelines And Petrostate Politics on October 24 at the Centre for Social Innovation. Here are the highlights.
TAR SANDS FAKE-OUT
“Not long ago my son told me that he’d seen on TV that ‘the oil sands were all fixed. They just pat the earth back into place and all the trees and butterflies come back.’ We keep hearing that great strides are being made in reclamation. ‘We’re going to make a lake district out of toxic ponds! A forest out of old mines!’
“So how many toxic ponds have been rehabilitated? Zero. How much land has been successfully reclaimed? Less than 1 per cent. Yet we are bombarded with multi-million-dollar ads about the oil sands being ‘green’ – as toxic as peanut butter. This is peacetime propaganda.”
REGULATION NO-SHOW
“I was shocked when I found out that there are no laws governing the most toxic pollutants, like naphthenic acid (NA). Both Alberta and Environment Canada acknowledge that NA is the primary source of toxicity in the oil sands, but facilities are not required to report how much they release. Most Canadians would also be horrified to know there are no regulations limiting the amount of fresh water that oil companies can withdraw from our wildest rivers.”
CARIBOO AND CANCER
“Canada’s tar sands are located under one of the last intact forests on earth. To access the oil, intact boreal forest is being logged, rivers moved or buried and peat scraped away. The size and scale of this project is staggering. The result is the loss of focal species like woodland caribou, which have declined in the region by 50 per cent in the last 10 years.
“Canada is now home to 170 square kilometres of toxic tailings ponds. Close to 300 million litres of toxic water are dumped every day into unlined pits, with only earth dams holding toxins back from some of the wildest rivers left on the planet. The governments’ own reports show that these dams are leaking up to 3 million litres a day. The result is rare cancers in downstream communities and tumour-ridden fish in First Nations communities.”
TAR SANDS’ GASSY SECRET
“Environment Canada projects that oil sands emissions will more than double over the next decade. Already, the oil sands are the single reason Canada isn’t meeting its climate pollution commitments. Growth of the oil sands effectively cancels all the good efforts of Canadians to reduce pollution.”
STAND UP TO BIG OIL
“Companies have the technology to eliminate the need for new tailings lakes, to significantly reduce GHGs through carbon capture and storage, to drastically cut the amount of acidifying emissions. Further improvements can be made, but they require the government have the chutzpah to stand up to Big Oil, to actually govern, to regulate.”
SLOW IT DOWN
“Ultimately, we need to slow production down and phase it out, because we will not be able to avoid runaway climate change unless we keep the oil in the ground.
The pace is too fast for responsible development, and let’s not forget that 71 per cent of all oil sands investors are foreign. We have a precious and dangerous resource – we need to make sure we use it to benefit Canadians. Our national laws, budget and policies are being designed in the oil patch.”
HOPE IN A PIPE
“The spiderweb of pipelines being pushed down our throats is the best thing that ever happened to the climate movement. It’s a tangible focus, with clear timelines, and it happens in people’s backyards. This is a tipping-point moment. I’m encouraged to see people standing up across the country.”
