Nearly every single person living in the United States relies on the electrical grid. It's how electricity gets from the power plant to your home, powering your devices and appliances. With no grid, none of the electrical work in your home will function – no television, no air conditioning and no electric lights. Our grid is changing, however, taking advantage of evolving technology on both the distribution and consumer side of the equation. Read on to learn more about how our electrical grid will evolve to meets the needs of the 21st century.

How to Balance Supply and Demand

The electrical grid is not a single object, but rather a giant network of power plants and transmission lines that spans the entire nation. In order for electricity to flow from the generating stations into your home’s electrical work, the grid needs to be able to meet the demand at any given time and place. This can be an enormous challenge – if there is too little production, consumers can be subject to annoying and damaging brownouts. Ramping up generation to meet variable demand is expensive and inefficient, however.

Some utilities solve the problem with time-of-day pricing, charging more during the day and less at night to smooth out demand. Smart technology, however, will allow us to fine-tune the grid even further to increase efficiency, improve communication and mitigate blackouts or other power outages.

Smart Meters and Dispersed Generation

Smart meters are one of the first steps toward our new grid. These meters track residential electrical consumption in real time and can communicate with the utility company instantaneously. They can allow producers to better predict demand, respond immediately to dips and spikes, and further refine variable pricing structures that incentivize people to use less electricity during peak hours. Smart meters also give homeowners the power to see where and when they are putting the most stress on their electrical work, allowing them to adjust their behavior strategically.

Changes are coming to the generation side as well. Traditionally, the electrical grid is powered by large, centralized power plants, but residential solar installations mean that generation is becoming more widely distributed. Wind generation is also becoming an ever-larger factor in our nation's energy supply. This means that the grid needs to be updated to become more flexible and adaptable, but there is a large payoff in sight – the more dispersed that power generation becomes, the more resilient the grid will be in the event of an outage, with smaller regions able to supply themselves with emergency power if they are cut off from the centralized system.

Makes Tomorrow's Energy Grid Work for You

No one knows exactly what the power grid will look like 100 years from now, but the nation is well on its way to updating its electrical infrastructure to meet the needs of this century. If you have any concerns about how your electrical work will interface with the power grid of the future, or need any other work done on the wiring and circuitry in your home, call an expert electrician today.

Electricians exist because of problems with your electrical system. But not every problem requires an electrician to come to your house for a service visit. Often, a simple phone call and a few questions can fix the problem!  Troubleshooting common power problems like this not only lets you get on with your life, but it saves time and money! Not every electrician is willing to tell you this, of course. Too many electricians, even legitimate ones, are motivated only by the money they can get from piling on charges from a service call, instead of being interested in helping their customers. Customer service and caring for families’ situations is more important than money. Remember that gets you better friends, employees, and customers.  I really do wish more electricians remembered that.  Having said that, here are some of the most common problems I solve without scheduling a service appointment and have successfully helped repair over the phone:

Whether you are a contractor working for well-to-do clients, a lighting designer, a home remodeler, or just a fan of carefully planned home design, luxury bathrooms are fun and engaging to admire. Especially when you see something new or innovative that catches you off guard. “I never thought of THAT,” you might say. Well, I’m here today with something good to distract you from whatever else you could be reading or doing – a stream of 11 large, high resolution photos of stunning luxury bathrooms. The topic of focus? Lighting, of course. Check out these awesome luxury bathroom lighting solutions.

1. Cove Lighting Is Ultra Modern Design’s Best Friend

Well, first of all, this bathroom has a sauna in it. It’s awesomeness should be momentarily acknowledged. Now that that’s out of the way, check out the way the cove lighting brings the beautiful wood tones to life. The recessed lights provide great general light. Like the simple angular design motif, the recessed lighting here is not meant to call attention to itself but to do its job humbly. That’s a sign of restraint in design that can really work to create a successful final product.

3. Cove Lighting with Mini Recessed Lights

Oh, look, it’s the old sconce on copper trick! I jest: This is not old hat but highly innovative. I love all the shiny surfaces in this luxury bathroom. That tub isn’t half bad either, and it looks especially alluring with the inconspicuous can lights and cove lighting above it. Full disclosure: I thought that thing on the right was a light bulb, but it’s just the reflection of the ceiling above the tub. That’s the thing about shiny surfaces: They reflect light. The light in this luxury bathroom is really fun.

5. Mega Modern Chandelier

This is just so simple and so perfect. This kind of design is almost difficult to talk about. Instead of laboring over how to say exactly why this design is so cohesive and successful, I think I’ll let it speak for itself. Just notice how that little bit of amber colored cove lighting draws the eye. What a nice focal point, whose position at the back of the room makes the whole luxury bathroom look bigger and more sweeping. The warm light scallop from the recessed spot lights above the tub is nice, too: Just a splash of warm light makes this place very inviting.

7. Recessed on Mirrored Ceilings with Scallops

Again, modern design employs cove lighting. Are you noticing a theme? If you’re trying to create a more modern look in your home, adding via via deehouzz.com

There’s kind of cool thing going on here. The vanity lights match the sconces over the tub, and their shape matches the arched ceiling, large window, and even counters (notice how they bulge out). This luxury bathroom may not be the most expensive of this collection, but it does transmit one very important lesson: Every design element must have a purpose. If all these shapes line up, it’s because careful thought has been put into seeing all the design elements as parts of one visionary whole. For lighting enthusiasts, this means that the shape and look of the fixtures are important in addition to the warmth and color rendering of the light source. I hope this and the other photos of the best luxury bathroom lighting I have recently seen has inspired you and given you a place to return if you’re ever involved in a bathroom lighting project.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911). Her bio is beyond the scope of this entry, but I encourage you to follow the link and check her out. Get a little perspective on life today by reading a paragraph about this amazing human being and poet.

Harper’s poem, “Let the Light Enter,” depicts light in an interesting and fresh way, fresh still, even 100 years after her death. Poetry, generally speaking, is like a vast collection of opportunities to learn about yourself and the world in which you live. I invite you to take a minute to read “Let the Light Enter.”

The Dying Words of Goethe

He just urgently wants to watch the “balmy sunshine/ Play around” his deathbed. He just wants to experience the sensation of light doing it’s thing. “More light!” he demands. It strongly suggests that appreciating and enjoying the beauty of light is what Goethe, a lifelong thinker and poet who lived from 1749 to 1832, finds most worthy of his final precious minutes. That’s a big deal. In choosing between the pleasure of thoughts and the pleasure of the material world, he chooses the latter. It’s like all the things that seem to separate us from the natural world are shown to be false in the final moments. Think of a dog lying on a rock in the sun. Maybe that’s the purest state of being, just lying there, not thinking much, and enjoying the pleasure of the light, the sound of a brook. And maybe that’s why Goethe wants to pass away in such a state.

More and more homeowners are becoming more energy conscious. Concerns about energy use affects everyone. Whether you simply want to save money or you want to reduce your carbon footprint, energy conservation is on everyone’s mind.

One of the biggest ways you can reduce your energy consumption is to install solar panels. Solar panels convert solar energy into usable energy for your home. Powered by solar energy, you can reduce your electricity bills and operate a household that is nearly green.

You may have never consider it, but your electronic devices that are plugged into you wall socket still use energy when they are off. Although these devices consume less energy when they are off, the fact that they are consuming energy means you are wasting money. We can help you develop a strategy by measuring energy use within your house. Based on that assessment, you can prioritize the best use of energy for your family.