Free Republic

Hi Freepers. Question: A neighbor recently cut down some trees in his yard and took the shade off one side of my house with it. The side of the house now getting tons of sunlight has an office over the garage. That office is now a sauna. We finished the room ~10 years ago and it's always been warm. But without the shade, it's unbearable. We're talking 90+ degrees with the main AC on. There are 4 recessed lights. I held my hand up to one light can(?) and it was like a space heater. I moved around until I...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are scheduled to spend part of today at a San Jose networking company in which the governor has an indirect financial stake. The company, Echelon Corp., manufacturers energy-saving control systems and will host the governor and the U.N. chief for a morning tour and press conference where both leaders are expected to praise California companies and their efforts to address global warming issues. But Schwarzenegger, who has a personal fortune estimated at more than $100 million, also has a holding of at least $1 million in an investment fund that...

Eco-friendly lighting company EcoLEDs.com has launched the brightest LED light bulb ever made available to consumers in the United States. Using just 10 watts and a single LED component made in the USA, the LED light uses just 1/10th the electricity of an incandescent light bulb and reduces CO2 emissions by 9,070 pounds over its life. The EcoLEDs 10-watt LED light is available now. Incandescent light bulbs are now being globally recognized as extremely inefficient and outdated. Australia has already banned the energy-hungry light bulbs, and California is considering a state-wide ban. In time, all modern nations will ban incandescent...

NEW YORK (AP) - If a time traveler from a hundred years ago were to visit a home today, much of the technology would be completely alien. The television, cordless phone and computer would probably leave him flabbergasted. But on seeing a light bulb, he might say, "Ah! Here's something I recognize. A few of those grace my home, too." If the visitor comes back in 15 years, the fruit of Thomas Edison's bright idea may be gone. The likely replacement: light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. LED lamps were unthinkable until the technology cleared a major hurdle just a dozen years...