Monday, 02 January 2012 08:39
a common cause of fatigue and slow metabolism is hypothyroidism, which involves the thyroid gland; a small, butterfly shaped gland that sits at the base of your neck and controls your metabolism or the speed at which your body operates. If functioning properly, secretions from the thyroid gland can elevate your mood and energy. However, when it is not producing enough hormones, such as in the case of hypothyroidism, it can lead to fatigue and many other symptoms.Symptoms of hypothyroidism include:
* Fatigue
* Increased weight gain, even with a low-calorie diet
* Depression
* Constipation
* Overly sensitive to cold weather
* Poor circulation and numbness in hands and feet
* Muscle cramps at rest
* Itchy, dry skin
* Hair falls out easily
* Low basal body temperatures
Some 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease, and up to 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition. Women are five to eight times as likely to develop this problem, and the most prevalent cause of thyroid disorders is Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This condition causes the body to destroy the cells responsible for producing thyroxin and other hormones secreted by the thyroid gland. This will result in a hypothyroid or a slow metabolism.
Monday, 02 January 2012 07:48
The Pitkin County Commissioners hold weekly work sessions on Tuesdays and bi-monthly public hearings on Wednesdays in the Plaza One building (next to the Courthouse) in Aspen. Both meetings are televised live and repeated on locater CG12 TV. They are also streamed live and available on the County website. Agendas are posted in the Aspen/Glenwood newspapers and on-line at www.aspenpitkin.com. In this column, your District 5 Commissioner, George Newman offers his take on current matters. You can reach him at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
2011 YEAR IN REVIEW
2011 was a challenging and productive year for the BOCC. It began with a new Commissioner (Rob Ittner) a new Sheriff (Joe DiSalvo) and a new County Manager (Jon Peacock).
Some exciting accomplishments this year included:
The recently completed 1000’ runway extension at the Pitkin County Airport which allows airlines to utilize more seats and improve passenger safety. In addition, we are in the midst of developing a new master plan for both the airport and terminal. (Public meetings will continue into next year for further input.) This year we also prioritized a future transportation access plan for Highway 82 and the AABC, including ongoing work for a grade-separated pedestrian crossing. The airport master plan will look at how to integrate its traffic flows into this busy intersection.
Based on considerable citizen and Community Development input, we finalized new land use code amendments for agricultural structures and new standards for solar installations. We are now interviewing interested citizens to serve on the new Agriculture Advisory Committee. Also based on community meetings, County staff’s and attorney’s input, the BOCC took a pass on the permitting and licensing of marijuana dispensaries and grow sites in Pitkin County.
In November, we sought and were successful in gaining voters’ approval for the continuation of the Healthy Community Fund enabling us to continue to support human service organizations in the Valley who do so much to meet the needs of our citizens struggling in these tough economic conditions. Thank you to all who voted!
This year, our Open Space and Trails department was awarded a CDOT Scenic Byway grant to begin work on Elk Park as part of the related Redstone Master Plan. We also completed the restoration of the Redstone Coke Ovens; a remarkable project in and of itself.
Monday, 02 January 2012 06:02
All smartphones have a soft reset function, which is similar to restating your computer. Beware that performing a soft reset will cause you to lose any data that isn’t saved, but you will retain information previously stored on your smartphone.Motorola Backflip - Power the phone off. Remove and reinsert the battery, then power the phone back on.
Android (Other) - All remaining Android models use a simple power cycle to perform a soft reset. Just turn the phone off and then back on again.
Blackberry (QWERTY keyboard) - Press and hold the ALT-CAP-DEL key combination. The display goes black for a second and the Blackberry resets.
Blackberry (Sure Type keyboard) - Press the ALT-CAP AND Right Shift-DEL keys. When the screen goes blank, release the keys.
Blackberry (touchscreen) - Turn the BlackBerry off and remove the battery for at least 30 seconds. Reinstall the battery and turn the device back on.
iPhone (all models) - Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button. Hold both buttons until the screen goes blank. The white Apple logo appears as the iPhone reboots.
Nokia (all models) - Power the phone off and remove the battery for 30 seconds. Reinstall the battery and power on the phone. Alternately, you can enter the code *#7380# and select “Yes”.
Palm Pre - If the phone’s menus are active, select Device Info, Reset Options, then select Soft Reset. If it is locked or frozen, hold the power button and cycle the ringer button on and off three times. If that doesn’t work, press and hold the Orange, Sym, and R keys until the device reboots. Turn off the phone, remove the battery for 10 seconds, reinstall the battery, and power up the phone.
All other smartphones - You can generally perform a soft reset by powering off the phone, removing the battery for 30 seconds, and powering on the phone again.
PC Today
Monday, 02 January 2012 05:43
The garden cart has played a fundamental role in the establishment and maintenance of countless gardens. A garden cart is not a wheelbarrow. Instead of having a single, squat tire, a garden cart has a large body boxed in by wood, sometimes aluminum, flanked by two heavy-duty-bicycle –size tires.The tires’ size and the fact that they are centered along the wooden bed make a garden cart useful in a different way than a wheelbarrow. This card lets you move a much heavier load, up to 400 pounds if a high quality cart. That’s because the large wheels move smoothly over bumps, and carry most of the weight.
With a garden cart, you mostly just pull the weight, in contrast to a wheelbarrow, which requires you to lift and push. The large high-walled bed of the cart makes it possible to haul around large amounts of bulky materials. Quantities of organic materials are what make great soils, and great soils are the foundation of great gardens, whether vegetable gardens, traditional flower gardens or stately or fruitful trees. Hauling compost, leaves, or stones for borders is made much easier with the use of a cart.
A garden cart can last many years. The wooden bed can be replaced with new plywood if it falls into disrepair. Save your back…look into getting a garden cart.
Thursday, 01 December 2011 08:36
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; www.cdc.gov), Alzheimer’s disease is perhaps the most common form of dementia, although several other forms exist.Dementia is not a specific disease. Rather it describes a collection of symptoms caused by a number of disorders that affect the brain. Doctors diagnose dementia when two or more brain functions, such as memory and language skills, are significantly impaired without a loss of consciousness that might otherwise occur as a result of traumatic brain injury. Alzheimer’s is the most progressive stage of dementia and affects upwards of 5.3 million Americans.
Because we are a society whose inhabitants are clearly enjoying longer life spans, some experts have characterized dementia as an old person’s disease. Although treatable, dementia is far from curable. Doctors can prescribe medications to improve or slow the progression of patients’ symptoms, while researchers continue to focus on all forms of the illness, including Alzheimer’s.
Risk factors to consider when evaluating those suspected of having dementia include:
- Age—adults 60 and older could develop signs of dementia
- Family history (aunts, uncles, cousins)
- Heredity (parents and grandparents)
Thursday, 01 December 2011 07:11
The Pitkin County Commissioners hold weekly work sessions on Tuesdays and bi-monthly public hearings on Wednesdays in the Plaza One building (next to the Courthouse) in Aspen. Both meetings are televised live and repeated on locater CG12 TV. They are also streamed live and available on the County website. Agendas are posted in the Aspen/Glenwood newspapers and on-line at www.aspenpitkin.com. In this column, your District 5 Commissioner, George Newman offers his take on current matters. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
NEW FOCUS WITH 2012 BUDGET
In 2010, the BOCC and staff held a series of “kitchen talks” throughout the County. The goal was to revisit our mission statement which was last done in a similar format 10 years ago. It provided us an opportunity to share with citizens the current programs and services we offer and to gather input and re-set priorities. This past year at our annual retreat, we reviewed the data collected and created a new mission statement as well as a new vision statement on where we see the County going. This then led to a new strategic plan which all the County departments used in the development of the proposed 2012 budget as well as a 5 year plan; the overall goal being to focus on investing in services and infrastructure that will produce results citizens need and desire.
While our overall budget includes special revenue funds (airport, landfill, library, open space and trails, translator, E-911), this article focuses on the General Fund which includes the County’s core services (road and bridge, human services, public safety, community development, administration, clerk and recorder, attorney’s office, public works/fleet). The projected 2012 budget for these core services is $23,284,930.
Revenues to the General Fund come from property taxes (28%), sales taxes (28%), program and service fees (21%), intergovernmental revenue (17%) and miscellaneous other sources (6%). Property taxes that go towards the general fund are less than $.06/tax dollar collected. Pitkin County levies a 3.6% sales tax. These funds are split amongst 4 separate authorities: 1.5% for mass transit, 0.1% for the Healthy River and Stream fund, with the remaining 2% shared with Aspen, Snowmass Village and Basalt. The final allocation to the County’s General Fund is 43% of this 2%, which is less than a penny for every dollar spent in Pitkin County.
Based on our strategic plan, we are taking a new approach to our proposed budget and 5 year plan by realigning resources from services experiencing less demand (Community Development) to those experiencing more demand (Human Services and Road and Bridges). In addition, we are increasing our investment in the recruitment, retention and development of a professional and qualified workforce. By merging and reallocating some of our “undesignated” fund balances (facilities fund, tech pool fund, and road fund); we will be able to re-apportion these dollars in conjunction with designating 50% of all sales tax revenues towards capital projects.
Thursday, 01 December 2011 06:15
Both Apples' iOS 4 and iOS 5 have built in location tracking. Apple’s iOS 5 has upgraded tracking features. Each tracks your location at all times and can share it with many apps that allow them to ask your location. These apps don’t even have to be open to allow them to do this. While this can be useful if you are concerned about someone’s whereabouts, it can also be annoying, or ever worse dangerous. If you want to turn the location tracking off though, it is simple. Just go to Settings. In Settings click Location Services and turn it off completely.Thursday, 01 December 2011 05:11
A new outlet saves energy by cutting the power to electronic devices automatically when you don’t need them.The Modlet, short for modern outlet, works a little like a power strip, except you don’t have to flip a switch manually. The two receptacle device communicates wirelessly with a computer via a USB receiver, allowing you to use Web-based software to monitor your energy consumption and schedule when you want the power to your devices turned on or off.
For example, you can tell it to cut the power to your TV or computer printer every day while you’re at work. That stops the device from consuming standby power even when it’s turned off.
A single Modlet can be no more than a room away from the computer. But because Modlets communicate with one another, setting up a network of them can give you wider coverage throughout your home.
A home starter kit costs $49.99 at www.bestbuy.com and each additional Modlet costs $44.99. The starter kit can also be ordered at www.themodlet.com
Mary Beth Breckenridge
Akron Beacon Journal
Tuesday, 01 November 2011 08:00
A TDR, Transferable Development Right, is a development right that may be transferred from a “Sending Site” to lands that are designated as suitable for development (“Receiver Site”).A Sending Site is a lot/parcel of land from which development rights are severed and transferred. The Sending Site is deed restricted against further development. Sending Sites include:
* Any legally created lot/parcel within the Rural/Remote (R/R) or Transitional Residential (TR-1 and TR-2) Zone districts.
* Lands within the Conservation Development PUD (CD-PUD) Zone District
* Lands subject to an Open Space Preservation Master Plan.
* A “constrained site” or a “visually constrained site” not within the R/R, CD-PUD, TR-1 or TR-2 Zone
* A “Limited Development Conservation Parcel” located within the AR-10, RS-20, RS-30, RS-35 or RS-160 Zone Districts
* Properties designated on the Pitkin County Historic Register.
A Receiver Site is a lot/parcel of land within unincorporated Pitkin County to which development rights are transferred from a Sending Site. Special Review approval is required to designate a lot/parcel a Receiver Site for TDR(s), except when a TDR (s) is used for additional floor area within the Aspen Urban Growth Boundary and in certain County approved subdivisions. The purchase of a TDR does not automatically guarantee approval of a receiver site for development. Development of a receiver site is still subject to any applicable land use reviews, including Special Review, Site Plan Review, Subdivision, etc.
(This information is subject to change. Reference the Pitkin County Land Use Code to determine current code requirements.)
Tuesday, 01 November 2011 07:19
The Pitkin County Commissioners hold weekly work sessions on Tuesdays and bi-monthly public hearings on Wednesdays in the Plaza One building (next to the Courthouse) in Aspen. Both meetings are televised live and repeated on locater CG12 TV. They are also streamed live and available on the County website. Agendas are posted in the Aspen/Glenwood newspapers and on-line at www.aspenpitkin.com. In this column, your District 5 Commissioner, George Newman offers his take on current matters. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .MR SMITH (AKA NEWMAN) GOES TO WASHINGTON
In September I was invited by the Wilderness Society to attend the Great America Outdoors conference in Washington, DC. Attendees included conservation advocates, sportsmen, youth leaders and others whose goals were to build support for the protection of America’s great outdoors through increased funding for public lands conservation, access for hunting and fishing. It was an opportunity for participants to visit with their Congressional delegates and other leaders in these areas. For me, it was also an opportunity to arrange a series of meetings to discuss issues of concern in Pitkin County with our Congressional delegates as well as high level staff at the Department of Agriculture (USFS) and Department of Interior (BLM).
Over the course of 3 days, I met with Senator Mark Udall, Senator Michael Bennet, Congressman Scott Tipton and their staffs, as well as with Congresswoman Diana DeGette’s staff. In addition, I met with Robert Bonnie, senior advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture; and William Falsey, Deputy Chief of Staff (BLM) at the Department of the Interior as well as Neil Kornze, senior advisor to the office of the Director, (BLM) Department of the Interior .
I discussed in depth the County’s position on the Thompson Creek issue and the urgent need for Congressional and Administration leadership to deny SG Interests’ request for the unitization of 18 leases encompassing 32,000 acres, based on public benefit and resource conservation. I requested they at least postpone the permitting until the issue of gap leases (13 of those 18 being gap leases) has been addressed and the Thompson Divide Coalition has had the opportunity to sit down with SG Interests to discuss options and opportunities for the protection of this unique area. On October 12, Senator Bennet and Senator Udall sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar requesting this delay. I am very pleased by their quick action and support. I encourage you to send our Senators thank you letters and ask them to introduce legislation to protect this unique area from future oil and gas exploration and also send letters supporting the request to delay the unitization to Secretary’s Vilsack and Salazar.
Tuesday, 01 November 2011 06:11
How to revive a dead smartphone: All phones have a soft reset function, which is similar to restarting your computer. Beware that performing a soft reset will cause you to lose any data that isn’t saved, but you will retain information previously stored on your smartphone.*Motorola Backflip. Power the phone off. Remove and reinsert the battery, then power the phone back on.
*Android (other). All remaining Android models use a simple power cycle to perform a soft reset. Just turn the phone off and then back on again.
*Blackberry (QWERTY keyboard). Press and hold the ALT-CAP-DEL key combination. The display goes black for a second and your Blackberry resets.
*Blackberry (suretype keyboard). Press the ALT-CAP and Right Shift-DEL keys. When the screen goes blank, release the keys.
Tuesday, 01 November 2011 05:07
If you haven’t done the final garden cleanup, remove the last of the frozen, dead plants. Left in the garden they can harbor insects and their eggs over the winter. Cut back the tops of maturing asparagus and rhubarb plants. Clean out fallen leaves, weeds and other plant refuse. Turn the compost every few weeks while the weather remains open and warm. Lightly water the compost pile if rain or snow is scarce to help microorganisms break down the raw materials. You can also get a compost thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of your pile and “keep it cooking”.Saturday, 01 October 2011 08:19
All removal of live trees require County review and approval, and in most cases, shall only take place within an approved Activity Envelope.Each tree with a six (6) inch or larger “Diameter at Breast Height “ (DBH) removed within an Activity Envelope shall be replaced with one or more trees having a total DBH equal to at least the caliper(s) of the tree(s) removed. See Sec. 7-20-10 of the County Land Use Code for details.
Clearing or grubbing of land, or removal of vegetation and in some instances individual tree removal requires an earth moving permit and re-vegetation plan/tree mitigation plan and shall take place only within an approved Activity Envelope. Refer to the Earthmoving Informational Sheet or the Asset Management Plan for additional information.
Before removing a tree or trees, contact a Planner with the following:
Saturday, 01 October 2011 07:42
The Pitkin County Commissioners hold weekly work sessions on Tuesdays and bi-monthly public hearings on Wednesdays in the Plaza One building (next to the Courthouse) in Aspen. Both meetings are televised live and repeated on locater CG12 TV. They are also streamed live and available on the County website. Agendas are posted in the Aspen/Glenwood newspapers and on-line at www.aspenpitkin.com. In this column, your District 5 Commissioner, George Newman offers his take on current matters. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .VOTE YES ON REFERENDUM 1A FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITY FUND!
The Healthy Community Fund is a dedicated property tax that provides a stable source of critical funding to local Health and Human Services and Community Non-Profit agencies working to keep citizens independent, healthy and safe.
This fund sunsets in December 2012 and as the need in our Community continues to increase, the BOCC has authorized a ballot issue to continue this property tax starting in 2013 for 6 years. We are asking the voters to approve a marginal increase of the fund by $446,000 to raise the current level of funding from $1,480,000 to $1,944,000. This equates to an additional property tax of only $1.31/$100,000 assessed property value.
For the past 9 years, the Healthy Community Fund has provided millions of dollars to promote the social, emotional, physical and economic well-being of our children, families and seniors. It is estimated that each year, the Fund assists agencies that reach over 10,000 people throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. A volunteer Citizen grant review committee evaluates all grant requests based on “grant criteria” and their recommendations are then approved by the BOCC. Last year, the Fund contributed $1,561,368 to 61 organizations but for the first time had to utilize some of its reserves to do so. 63% of those dollars went to health and human service agencies whose programs support family and youth issues, mental health, substance abuse and legal services. 24% went to programs that support the well-being of our Senior Citizens, and 13% went to community non-profits who address community problems and enhance our quality of life from cultural, recreational and educational programs to natural/environmental concerns.
Saturday, 01 October 2011 06:07
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Saturday, 01 October 2011 05:14
This is the month to amend the bare garden soil, so make plans to stockpile some well-rotted manure, compost shredded leaves, or dried grass clippings. Leaves that have waxy cuticles should be shredded or sent through a grinder before adding to the garden soil. Otherwise, you’ll have a mucky mess come spring.Plan to spread the organic amendment over the bare soil to a depth of 2-3 inches, then turn it under to a depth of 6-8 inches. A rototiller will make this task easier. Do not over-amend the soil, as too much organic material can build up soluble salts that will damage plant roots next year. The general rule of thumb is to add 3-5 cubic yards of organic amendment per 1000 square feet in the autumn.
Leave the surface rough after working the soil so it receives the winter moisture and alternate freezing and thawing effects. This weathering process will mellow the soil and the organic amendments will keep the soil open to allow winter moisture to percolate down more deeply.
By spring, your garden soil will be ready for planting. Remove some of the old, tired soil and add a layer of compost so you can add fertility and refresh the garden bed. Designate an area for a compost pile if you don’t already have one.
Thursday, 01 September 2011 07:13
that midday naps can refuel your brain? Set aside your notion of siestas, those long midday naps, as the lazy person’s excuse to slumber. Numerous recent studies show that shut-eye lasting up to 90 minutes not only helps build and boost brain power, it also might prevent serious disease.Contrary to the notion that naps are needed only if you haven’t slept well the night before, a 90-minute nap, even for those who’ve had a good night’s sleep, clears the brain’s short-term memory storage, which becomes cluttered and sluggish after being awake for several hours, and makes room for new information, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. Previous UC Berkeley sleep research found naps of 60 to 90 minutes that include rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep help increase receptiveness to positive emotions, beneficial for mental health. Taking regular midday naps also reduced the risk of death from heart disease in men, according to a joint study by Harvard University and the University of Athens in Greece.
“Most people think of sleep as something that is passive, like recharging your battery. But it isn’t. It’s actually much more than that,” says Dr. John Wilson, a neurologist and co-director of the Sleep Lab at Loyola University’s Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Maywoood, Illinois. “your brainwaves have more structure when you are asleep than when you are awake. It’s kind of like defragmenting your hard drive, only it’s much more important.
Siestas longer than 90 minutes are not recommended because you just go into another sleep cycle without getting any additional benefits. Additionally, too long a nap can affect your nighttime sleep.
For a perfect beneficial nap:
- Grab a blanket. Your body temperature drops when you sleep.
- Block distractions. Turn off electronic devices and wear an eye mask.
- Watch the clock. Don’t nap within three hours of your bedtime; otherwise you’ll rob yourself of nighttime sleep.
Rita Colorito
Thursday, 01 September 2011 06:06
Knapweeds belong to the sunflower family. They can be distinguished from one another by the patterns on their bracts (the cone-like structure located below the flower head), by their growth, and to some degree by their flowers.
There are three main knapweeds in Pitkin County:
Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) has spotted bracts and lavender/purplish flowers. It is a simple perennial that reproduces by seed and forms a new shoot each year from a taproot.
Spotted Knapweed is one of the most invasive, aggressive weeds to plague the Western United States. Very rare in Pitkin County, the largest infestation is found at the base of Independence Pass along State Highway 82 above Tagert Lakes. This infestation has been monitored and treated yearly. It is imperative that it not be allowed to spread into the fragile sub-alpine ecosystem.
Thursday, 01 September 2011 05:42
The Pitkin County Commissioners hold weekly work sessions on Tuesdays and bi-monthly public hearings on Wednesdays in the Plaza One building (next to the Courthouse) in Aspen. Both meetings are televised live and repeated on locater CG12 TV. They are also streamed live and available on the County website. Agendas are posted in the Aspen/Glenwood newspapers and on-line at www.aspenpitkin.com. In this column, your District 5 Commissioner, George Newman offers his take on current matters. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .BOCC opposes Crystal River Project
Pitkin County has filed a statement of opposition to the Crystal River Project as proposed by the Colorado River Water Conservation District and the West Divide Water Conservancy District in their renewal application to water court.
The history of this Project goes back to the 1950’s for conditional water rights to export water from the Crystal River to the Divide and Mamm Creek drainages in Garfield County. The intent was to use this water for agricultural needs and municipal and industrial purposes primarily associated with the development of oil shale. This project known as the West Divide Project included the construction of five reservoirs and many miles of ditches, canals and siphons to store and transport the water. This included the Redstone Reservoir of approximately 129,000 acre feet, the Placita Reservoir at 62,000 acre feet and the Yank Creek Reservoir at about 14,000 acre feet. By comparison, Reudi Reservoir is 100,000 acre feet and Paonia Reservoir is 15,000 acre feet. The federal government withdrew its support for the project in 1982 determining that the potential cost and benefit of the Project did not justify its completion as part of the Colorado River Storage Project Act.
Thursday, 01 September 2011 04:52
If you’ve heard about residential LED lightbulbs, you probably know that they’re energy-efficient, last a long time, and are pricier than other lightbulb technologies. Here are a few things you might not know about LEDs.
LEDs are cooler.
Online retailer Energy Circle actually measured the difference between LEDs, incandescent bulbs, and halogens and found that a halogen bulb, a type of incandescent bulb, ran at 327 degrees! A Cree LED downlight was measured at 107 degrees and a Philips Par38 CFL, worked at 167 degrees.
That is not to say that head isn’t at all an issue. LED bulbs do get hot but the heat is dissipated by metal heat sinks that wick away the heat from the light source itself. Keeping them cool with heat sinks or even liquid cooling, as Switch Lighting is doing is important to ensuring they last as long as advertised.
You get instant full light.
You get the full brightness of an LED bulb when you turn it on, which is an advantage over CFLs in a couple of ways. For starters, you don’t need to wait for full light if you’re running in and out of a room. But frequent cycling also degrades the life of CFLs, one of the reasons that CFLs in some cases don’t last as long as expected.
This suggests you should put LEDs in places where lights are cycled on and off quickly. CFLs, meanwhile, are in light fixtures and lamps which typically stay on for extended periods. Consumer Reports found turning CFLs on and off in less than 15 minutes degraded their life.
LEDs don’t attract bugs.
Pixi Lighting, which makes LEDs, lists “no bugs” (that is, insects) as one of the reasons to use LEDs, but if you look at discussions online, it is not so clear-cut.
The stated reason that bugs don’t fly toward LEDs is because bugs are attracted to ultraviolet light and at least some LEDs don’t give off this type of light.
You will need to learn some lighting lingo.
We still talk about 60-watt and 75-watt equivalent bulbs because that’s what we’re accustomed to, but some manufactures are using new labels that give people far more information than brightness, which is worth understanding as lighting gets more diverse.
Lumens, of course, measure the amount of light , with a 60-watt equivalent giving off at least 800 lumens. But LEDs are also sold by color temperature, either warmer yellow light or cooler white light. There is also a color rendering index, with the highest being the best for light quality.
Warmer color lights will be more familiar since they’re closer to the yellow glow of a CFL, or incandescent.
Martin LaMonica, GREEN TECH
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