Now doesn’t that look better?

• It’s sturdy. It’s made of plastic, but heavy-duty plastic. The arm hinges seem like they’ll hold up over time.
• It’s flexible. It swivels 180 degrees and bends at two hinges. I have it on a side table next to an armchair, and it swings back and forth between them, and folds up into a slim tower when I’m not using it.
• It has a USB charging port, so it has become our default cell phone charger.
• It has multiple color temperatures: a sunlight color for reading, a blueish-white color for studying (it’s supposed to trigger the math and science parts of your brain), a dim yellow for relaxing, and an even dimmer yellow for bedtime, with an automatic shutoff after an hour.

And it only consumes 11W at its brightest (1100 lux—or lumens per square meter), with another 3W if it’s charging something. Suck it, Greenlite. Oh, yeah, and thanks, Rob.

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Cambridge has a five-year plan for street reconstruction, and bike facilites are added bit by bit as part of these projects, which is why looks sort of piecemeal right now. But there is a greater plan.

What do you think of the plan? Do you have any questions or comments for the bike committee? I’ll be happy to pass them along.

• How Green is My Electricty? – Green Lifestyle Choices. Jon describes the tradeoffs between natural gas and electric heat. 
• How Diverse Is Your State’s Electricity Generation Portfolio? – Think Progress. Massachusetts has the least diverse mix, relying heavily on natural gas, which is one reason why electricity rates have been so volatile in recent years.
• Cape Wind wins billions in backing, launches offshore wind in the U.S. – Grist. Cape Wind is on track to become the first offshore wind project in the U.S.
• How Smartphones Could Revolutionize the Way We Heat and Cool Our Homes – Atlantic Cities. A smart grid that communicates with customers in real time could help change people’s behavior.
• Gridlock deepens on Beacon Hill over transportation – Boston Globe. The House responded to Patrick’s revolutionary transportation plan with one that seriously doesn’t deal with the problems in the system.
• 15 Ideas for Making Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Better – Atlantic Cities. Amtrak ridership in the Northeast is growing steadily, and the Federal Railroad Administration suggestions for improvements include increasing top speed 70 mph and a new route from Boston to New York through Worcester.
• Taping of Farm Cruelty Is Becoming the Crime – New York Times. State legislatures are drafting laws to require job applicants to disclose their ties to animal rights  groups.
• Open the Slaughterhouses – New York Times. A journalist who has investigated slaughterhouses argues against such “ag-gag” laws.

That’s it for now. If you come across anything interesting (this month), send it my way.

• It’s Not Your Imagination, People Driving To Work Are Miserable – Boston Biker. Yes, people walking and biking to work are happier. And this in January and February, too.
• How Massachusetts Commutes to Work – Boston Magazine. In my neighborhood, only 20-40% of people commute by car, 20-30% take public transit, 22.5-30% walk, and 5-10% work from home.
• Bicycle parking changes in the works for Cambridge - Wicked Local Cambridge. Cambridge is changing its bicycle parking zoning for the first time in 32 years.
• Baby, you can drive my car: How car sharing teaches us to be good neighbors – Grist. I actually like meeting the people who rent my car.
• Your Biggest Carbon Sin May Be Air Travel – New York Times. ”May be”? It almost definitely is.
• New Reasons to Change Light Bulbs – New York Times. The best LED bulb reviewed here is just $10. 
• Styrofoam manufacturer sends letter to Somerville, objecting to proposed ban – Boston Globe. Somerville is seriously considering banning styrofoam.
• Boston makes list of top energy-efficient cities – Boston Globe. We’re #10! We’re #10!
• More Losers Than Winners in America’s New Economic Geography – Atlantic Cities. Talent clustering—such as in Washington, Boston, San Jose, Raleigh-Durham and San Francisco, where at least 50% of residents have college degrees—has been increasing the divide between the haves and have nots.
• These Scary Maps Explain What Sea Level Rise Will Mean in Boston – Atlantic Cities. Ouch.
• America’s Real Criminal Element: Lead – Mother Jones. ”Gasoline lead may explain as much as 90 percent of the rise and fall of violent crime over the past half century.”
• It’s OK To Eat Quinoa – Slate. This is for you, Sharon. Because you’re just as much of a worry-wart as I am.
• Cats Are Evil – Slate. This is true for so many reasons, but specifically because they kill birds. Keep your cats inside, people.

That’s all for now. If you come across anything interesting (this month), send it my way.

It doesn’t *look* bad.

When we moved into our new office at work, there was more natural light, but on gray days you still need something extra. So rather than negotiating about the overhead lights (people get really picky about fluorescents!) each person got their own desk lamp. I was excited to get an LED lamp, and rather than doing my usual crazy amount of research, I bought the first one I saw in the MassSave Energy Star lights catalog. Unfortunately, it was the Greenlite LED 5W Desk Lamp.

I cheaped out and got what I deserved. It’s so shoddily made that when I was assembling it, the single screw holding the arm together warped like butter under the hex wrench, so the arm wouldn’t stay up. I returned it for a replacement (at least that process went smoothly), and the second one had loose wiring, which meant that it only stayed on if the cord was in a certain position. So I’m done—this light gets no more chances. I’m so frustrated that I’m sticking with my old one for now, which runs so hot that I once tried to bake cookies under it. But at least it stays on and doesn’t fall onto my computer.

The lamp is no longer listed in the catalog, and I don’t see an Energy Star label for it on the Greenlite site, so maybe the company was making claims that weren’t true.

There are many reviews of LED lamps out there, but it doesn’t seem like the authors have actually tried all of them. I might as well just be reading specs on Amazon for all the good the recommendations do me. Have you found a good (and not too expensive) LED desk lamp?

If you’re a Berklee person, here’s the form to submit your expenses.

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For some reason, Berklee only reimburses $15/month, not $20. I don’t know where the other $5 is going—administrative costs? But that should be enough for me. I just submitted my first receipt last week—a $75 tune-up. I figure I do that about twice a year, so I should be reimbursed for all of my maintenance costs.

There are some limitations to the program. You can’t get both this and other forms of transportation reimbursement (such as public transit or parking) at the same time, so any month you claim one, you can’t claim the other. And there does seem to be some bicycle prejudice: unlike other commuter benefits, this isn’t deducted from pre-tax income, and it isn’t pegged to inflation. It also doesn’t allow as much as other commuter benefits (for instance, $245/month for a T pass), but to be fair, riding a bike is much cheaper.

If your employer isn’t offering this benefit yet, ask them why not? Maybe they’re just waiting for enough demand. It took our benefits administrator, Crosby, years to finally set this up, so yours might already be in the works.

I’ve been contemplating replacing our old TV (a 13-year-old Sony Trinitron KV-27S42) for a while now. Brenda argued that the CRT was perfectly fine, but I’ve finally talked her into a Samsung UN40ES6500 by speaking to her interests: energy efficiency. So why did I wait so long? I was honestly never particularly impressed with the quality of the picture on the LCD TVs that had come out in the last five years or so (at least the ones under $1,000), and plasma TVs were too big for my living room and too energy-sucking. It’s only recently that I’ve felt like LCDs (or LED-backlit LCDs) have hit the picture quality that’s equivalent to my old Sony, making it attractive to switch over.

It’s energy usage is so small, it’s off the chart!

There are three types of TVs on the market today:

• Plasma TVs operate by creating an electrical voltage across a sealed pocket of mercury and noble gases. It’s pretty much like a billion tiny neon signs that can be turned on and off individually.
  • Pros: The best picture quality and deepest blacks.
  • Cons: They pretty much only come in large or extra-large sizes. And they’re so energy hungry that most of them are not Energy Star certified. The average plasma TV draws between 200W and 350W, depending on screen size. For comparison, our 13-year-old Sony TV draws 140W. (If you walk by them at Best Buy, you can actually feel the heat radiating off them.)
• LCD TVs work by layering what are essentially liquid crystal shutters over a light source (in this case, a type of fluorescent light). Opening and closing the shutters lets different amounts of light through colored filters.
  • Pros:  Low power consumption (between 50W and 125W) and cheaper than competing technologies.
  • Cons: Light can sometimes leak between the shutters, especially when the backlight is at its highest. This tends to make the deepest blacks and brightest whites a bit grey.
• LED TVs use the same shuttering system as LCDs but have switched out the fluorescent lights with an array of LEDs, either across the back or around the edges.
  • Pros: Thinnest (only about 2″!) and the lowest power consumption (between 50W and 100W) across a larger range of screen sizes.
  • Cons: Highest price per square inch (between $200 and $500 more than comparable plasma and LCD models).

If you can wait a few more years before upgrading, OLED TVs look promising. They have better picture quality than plasma, LCD, or LED, with even lower power usage. But they’re super expensive right now (like, $12,000). Also, the technology still has some problems: the blue LED chemicals start to degrade within five years, leading to a short life for a very expensive set.

LEDs are the obvious winners for us right now, but why did I choose the specific model I did? The first thing that I looked at was screen size. I used Samsung’s room size calculator to figure out the best size TV for my living room: 40″ for a 9-foot viewing distance. Internet wisdom seems to indicate that bigger is better, but I couldn’t stand to have the TV dominate our living room any more than it already does. Since plasmas pretty much only come in sizes larger than 40″, they were ruled out right off the bat, without even considering their energy use. My next step was to go straight to the Energy Star Most Efficient HDTV listings. The most energy efficient TVs listed were hospitality TVs and didn’t have the necessary inputs for home use. After ruling those out I compared reviews and features for the remaining TVs on CNET and Amazon. I ended up selecting the Samsung UN40ES6500 because it included a lot of the perks that I liked (Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, 3DTV) and a clean design (so thin!) while still using only about $10 per year of electricity.

How much electricity a TV uses isn’t a big deal when compared with the larger energy hogs in the house, like the hot water heater, washer/dryer, dishwasher, or refrigerator. But if I’m going to make a large purchase every ten years or so, energy efficiency might as well be a factor in my decision making. Over the course of 10 years, the difference in energy use between a 55″ plasma and our 40″ LED could amount to $530. Not bad.

• Governor Patrick’s New Transportation Plan Positive Move For Cycling In Massachusetts – Boston Biker. A large chunk of plan funds is  going to public transit and biking/pedestrian infrastructure.
• “The way forward” to transportation reform in MA – Planning 101. Check out this dollar-by-dollar breakdown of the plan.
• Somerville planners outline walkable city vision – Wicked Local Somerville. Somerville imagines how the new Green Line stops will alter neighborhoods.
• New maps show travel times on the T – Planning 101. Hmm… Does it really take less time to get to Lechmere from Park Street than to Harvard?
• The Best Open Data Releases of 2012 – Atlantic Cities. Hubway’s data visualization challenge makes the Atlantic’s list of best open data releases.
• The Best Bike-Sharing Program in the United States – Slate. Nope, not Boston’s. Washington’s.
• The Roads Not Taken – Architecture Boston. An entire issue devoted to the inner-belt highway that Boston rejected in 1972!
• The 32 most alarming charts from the government’s climate change report – Grist. Best- and worst-case scenarios. Read this if you want to be really depressed.
• Worms Produce Another Kind of Gold for Growers – New York Times. The microorganisms in vermicompost make it better than synthetic fertilizers.
• About That Overpopulation Problem – Slate. Has world population growth actually slowed in recent years?

That’s all until next month. But if you come across anything interesting, send it my way.

Mmm… quinoa with crushed pistachio and za’atar spice…

They’re based on her philosophy that Middle Eastern foods use spices to make a meal flavorful, rather than fat or salt. (She elaborates on this in her book, Spice.) Each box has a whole grain pack (like couscous, quinoa, or barley), an aromatic pack (like za’atar spices, oregano, or spearmint), and a garnish pack (like chopped nuts or dried herbs). You finish it off by adding vegetables and protein (like meat, beans, or cheese). It’s super easy, and it kind of teaches you about cooking. For instance, instructions for the couscous tell you to make the broth and couscous separately and then place the couscous on top of the broth rather than stirring it in, which did make it less squishy and more delicious. And the spice mixtures make very simple meals (just quinoa, beans, and peas, in one case) delicious.

Each two-serving meal is designed to be 500 calories per serving and take just 20 minutes to make. Vegetarian instructions, though not printed on the box, are available online. Yeah, I’m going to have at least one of these in my cupboard at all times, for “emergencies.”