American’s across the nation will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day next weekend.  Green banners, drinks, shirts, and decorations of all kinds will be out in full force as we celebrate heritage and friends.  Then again, why limit being green to just one weekend?  Why limit it to outer colors and anti-pinching shirts?  This weekend is a great time to start planning for how to improve the energy footprint of your home and start the path towards a greener life.  The best news?  While some methods for turning your home green require a little bit of upfront cost, most don’t!

Cleaning – Strange isn’t it?  A clean home, free of dust, actually improves energy efficiency.  Dust clogs air ducts and coats heating elements and pipes.  If the back of your refrigerator is dusty it will cool less efficiently since it can’t release heat properly.  Dusting and cleaning your home will help reduce stress on your appliances and improve their energy efficiency.

Regulate Heat – You can reduce how often your central air runs during the day and night by regulating and preserving the heat within your home.  While you may need to improve insulation to prevent heat transfer, you can reduce it by closing your curtains and opening them.  Just remember that heat always travels to where it’s coldest, so use curtains to block heat from travelling where it shouldn’t.

Turn Off Lights and Appliances – Yes, we use many smart systems today, but turning off lights and leaving power—hungry devices unplugged is still one of the best ways to prevent energy loss each month.

Water Heaters – These units expend a great deal of energy to keep water hot for your home.  Insulate the tank and the pipes around it to keep water warm for longer.  If you haven’t ever had the unit maintained, call a plumber to drain and clean out the tank.  Sediment reduces heating efficiency in the unit.

Expensive but Effective Energy Solutions

If you’re willing to spend a little money you can get even greater increase on home energy efficiency.  The first step is to replace your lighting.  Upgrading to CFL or LED lamps is an excellent way to reduce both your light bill and your cooling costs during the summer.  We recommend swapping out lights as needed to reduce startup costs.  Though it’s best to purchase LEDs in packs from the same manufacturer to make sure that they have the same color temperature.

Upgrades and replacements are ideal for energy efficiency.  Replacing an inefficient appliance, whether it’s a dish washer, water heater, or furnace, is going to have huge benefits when it comes time to pay your monthly bill.  And you’ll find that many of these appliances are eligible for an energy rebate credit to help with the initial costs.

Finally, upgrading your home with solar panels is one of the best ways to turn your home into the greenest building on the block.  They’re expensive, but solar panels can replace the costs for heating, cooling, and light in your home completely.

For the best in quality electrical repair work and installations, contact the professionals at Custom Electric!  Be sure to check back here each week for helpful advice, news, and guides or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Categories: Residential« Extension Cord Safety  |  

Many people have heard about power factor correction, but aren’t too sure about exactly what it means, or is. Here is some basic information about it, in very simple words. Power factor is essentially a measurement of the effectiveness with which your commercial business uses the energy that’s supplied to your location.

In an industrial setting, you are able to reduce the amount you pay as a power bill, by cutting down the power factor surcharges that show up on various electricity accounts; these show up as the peak demand charges from your power company. This is exactly the reason why there is such a huge growth in power factor correction.

Currently, many businesses are being charged via a kVA tariff, rather than a kilowatt one. This also means there is a distinct possibility that your electricity service provider is charging you for power they are supplying to you and which you aren’t really using. In short, you end up paying for power that’s going waste. The other considerations:

Every industrial setup has different power requirements, different types of equipment and tools that run on electricity; and it’s important that you connect with a company that is able to understand your requirements and provides custom solutions. Once they help set up the right kind of power correction equipment, you can benefit in a number of ways.

As a business owner, you know you want to reduce operational costs and while you are sure to have a number of other measures in place, understanding how power factor correction will help you, is one way of making a significant change. For more information, simply speak with the experts at Allround Electrical and take their advice on various aspects of power factor installation solutions. The number to call is – 1300 169 263. You can also write to us at this email address.

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