Green Ideas editor

The LED revolution has started

Green Ideas editor Greg Roughan 26 March, 2014

Tags cleaning products , editor's e-newsletter , fishing , free-range , LEDs , lighting , upcycling

One of the advantages of working in publishing is that when your magazine has a really great story, you get to read it before everyone else – which is why I dashed down to the hardware store last weekend.

In the latest issue of Green Ideas we’ve looked at LED light bulbs, and some of the savings you can make are head-slappingly huge. When we first looked at LEDs in the mag, bulbs cost around $100 each, but prices have been in free-fall lately and I reckon you’d now be crazy to use any other kind of light as they use so much less power and last for years and years.

In short, with prices between $15-$25 per bulb you can now break even on a switch to LEDs within a year, and by changing just five bulbs you can save over $800 in five years! That means big savings for the environment, too – such a dramatic drop in electricity use means our power stations pump less CO₂ into the air, which can only help slow the effects of climate change.

I'm certainly making the switch. And speaking of being kinder to the environment, I’m also really excited about another article in the latest Green Ideas – check out the cool picnic bike we’ve made.

We first got the idea from a picture we found on the internet of a bike that had a dinky picnic box attached. We posted it to our Facebook page and within minutes the image had gone ‘viral’ with scores of people liking it and commenting – so we asked our talented friends at Lennox Woodcraft to help us make one.

As you can see they did a fantastic job, building the Green Ideas picnic bike by recycling waste wood to make the box and attaching it to an old 1950s bike they found and did up. So if you’re a DIY buff, grab the latest mag for a pictorial step-by-step guide to making your own version – it’ll add some breezy retro coolness to what’s already the greenest form of transport.

And of course if DIY’s not your thing, there’s still plenty in the latest issue for you. We’ve looked behind the spin to find out which free-range egg brands you can trust, investigated seafood with a guide to what companies are fishing responsibly, we have a great story on New Zealand’s rarest whale – and we spoke to Wendyl Nissen to find out why she’s sparking a homemade cleaning product revolution.

So jump on your bike and grab a copy!

Greg Roughan
Editor, Green Ideas magazine