Better Living Fair in Portland

A short train ride out of the downtown area to the expo fair grounds brings you to the "Better Living" fair that is being held there for the next few days. The exhibitors ranged from electric car companies (the Zap cars and trucks were very cool and all reasonably priced as electric vehicles go) to myriad household products including rain barrels, solar panels and lots of bamboo clothing.

Some of the items that stood out to me were the advancements in LED lighting which is now poised to take over from the somewhat highly touted CFL bulbs. The CFL still contain mercury, if even less than before, which can cause some problems if you break on of the glass housings. The new LED lights are now available in lots of shades of white (not just the ol' blue colour we all remember) and are of solid state construction which makes them, well not indestructible, but very tough. The guy demonstrating them at the expo constantly dropped one on the cermet floor and then plugged it in to prove the point.

LEDs are also more cost efficient, so much so that big corporations like McDonalds, Kohl's, Macy's, Disneyland and Coca Cola are all switching over. Macy's estimates that even with the 15 million dollar upfront cost for the bulbs, it will save over $110 million over the next 10 years. All that time the bulbs will also be under warranty.

LEDs create less heat than CFLs and incandescents, last longer and are tougher. The price is even coming down, now around $20-25 for a regular 60 watt equivalent and about $60-75 for a larger flood light. Still pricey to be sure, but with the savings on usage you will definitely be seeing them pop up all over the place.

For example, Portland just recently replaced all of its traffic signal lights with LEDs and watch for many cities opting for LEDs for street lights in the near future. With the advancements being made in LED lighting technology, the future is looking safer, more cost efficient and brighter.

The main speaker of the first night was Ed Begley Jr. who turned out to be an informative and energetic speaker. He knew his stuff too, ranging from chemical compositions of offending products to an optimistic outlook that really benefited his presentation. For the last half hour, he took questions from an informed and interested audience. Not without a sense of humour, Mr. Begley kicked off the opening night of the expo with green bang and all this on the day that Portland was voted the "most green city in the US" just edging out San Francisco.