Have you ever been sitting there reading a book and noticed the lights flickering? Maybe you thought it was just your eyes or it didn’t really happen. It wasn’t your eyes. It was very likely your lights. So, why do your lights flicker? A Beverly Hills electrician is here to explain flickering lights and what it means to you and the safety of your home. You can always call the professionals at The Electric Connection if you have more questions or concerns about flickering lights.

It is important to check to see if it is just the light in the living room that is flickering or if it is lights throughout the house that are getting darker and brighter.

Some reasons that your lights flicker are as follows.

1-Bad weather. If there is strong winds or a lightning storm raging, your lights may flicker. This is normal and often an indicator the power may go out.

2-Power to the house is fluctuating. The problem may be with the power coming into the house. You may notice flickering lights during peak hours. This is because there is a higher demand on the power grid than what the grid can handle.

3-If it a single light that is flickering, you may have a problem with the switch or the wiring to the light fixture. This is something that needs to be investigated by an electrician. Beverly Hills homeowners need to understand that a single flickering light is often an indicator of a bigger problem. The bigger problem can lead to an electrical fire.

If you have noticed a single light or random lights flickering at different times, it is a good idea to have an inspection performed by an electrician. This will tell you if there is a problem you need to worry about or you if you simply have a bulb that needs changed. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your inspection.

CaseStudy Design, has become locally popular for their unique light fixtures that are made out of … wait for it … books! If you’re as surprised as I was when I first learned about CaseStudy Design and its owner/founder/designer Chall Gray, who are engaged in the practice of upcycling old things like books into lovely light fixtures, then read on for an interesting interview with a book-lover turned lamp designer.

1. Hello, Chall, and thanks for talking with me. First, can you tell me a little about your background and upbringing?

I’m a native of western North Carolina, and grew up on a farm out in the country. Design was something that gradually became more and more central to my life and predilections the older I’ve gotten.

2. So you’ve grown up surrounded by upcyclable things. That makes me wonder: Why books? Why not make lamps out of tissue boxes, skulls, or aluminum cans?

4. What are your goals with Case Study Design? What does the future look like?

I currently work full-time as VP at Thirsty Monk, where we have a series of beer and cocktail bars and a brewery, so I’m only able to devote so much time to CaseStudy, but it’s a central passion of my life, and luckily production doesn’t depend on my schedule because our Production Manager crafts the lights in our shop in West Asheville. As of this week our lights will be on display in Downtown Books & News, a great used bookstore in downtown Asheville, and we’re also working on a design collaboration with a local audio company on a set of home speakers, actually, which is a fun side-project. I’d love to grow the business to having a larger retail presence over the next couple of years, but really, we’re having a blast just designing and building lights.

6. Who are some of your favorite designers, lighting or otherwise?

My influences are pretty varied, but a few touchstones are the architect Tom Kundig, whose work I go back to time and time again, the shoe designer John Fluevog, and watchmaker George Daniels. The great modernists of the 20th Century, Frank Lloyd Wright, Saarinen, Eames, etc. And in terms of lighting, Ingo Maurer and Ilse Crawford immediately spring to mind.

Conclusion: Chall Gray and his CaseStudy Design Firm are doing impressive things with upcycled materials and here!

Had you taken a public poll 20 years ago about the future of solar power and solar energy, the public would have likely expected the technology to have made leaps and bounds by 2013.  Perhaps many would have expected to see solar panels installed on most homes and businesses by now, or even being used to power cars (ala the 1996 James Belushi / Halle Berry movie Race The Sun.) In 2013, in a technological age where most people use smartphones as pocket sized computers, why does it seem that solar power hasn’t progressed much at all?

There are many reasons to help to understand this phenomenon, so we’ve listed some of the most popular below:

One of the most obvious issues that may be holding solar energy back is the idea that if there is no sunshine, there is no power being generated.  Because of this, solar energy doesn’t have the capability to stand alone which will surely hinder its popularity.  Modern consumers are of the instant gratification mindset and are not always willing to take the inconvenient option, even if it may have strong benefits.

It’s no question that there are huge amounts of money tied up in the corporations and investors who control the major energy companies of the world.  The electricity companies have an interest in limiting their competition and they have lobbyists in that will work to protect their interests.  There is also strong opposition coming from competing industries like coal and nuclear energy, both of which are heavily financed and politically influential.

Even with the tax breaks and incentives cited as reasons for solar energy development, the upfront  costs for equipment and installation are still excessively high.   It’s often cited that it would currently cost around $20,000 – $30,000 to install a new solar system on an average American home (before incentives.)  The investment can pay for itself over a 20-30 year period of monthly savings, but most households in the U.S. don’t have the means to spend such a large amount of cash straight away.

As many companies have rushed to be the biggest and best producers of solar panel equipment, the market has seen high competition with most of the solar products being produced cheaply in China.  Because of this, there has been wide concern that modern solar panels are expensive, untested, and of low quality.  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory even estimates that solar panels degrade at a rate of 4.5% annually or more!  At this rate, a new solar panel will lose most of its efficiency before it ever becomes financially beneficial.

We will have to wait and see where solar energy goes in the coming years.  Maybe it won’t be popular for several more decades, or perhaps it will never become popular at all.  Either way, energy is a shifting business that constantly pushes and reinvents itself, so it will be exciting to see what the future has in store for the industry.

Doesn’t it always feel like no matter how well you budget and save, you are always looking in your bank account for just a few extra dollars? Maybe you have already buttoned down your spending and can’t really find any other places in the budget where you can cut back. An electrician in Glendale is here to provide you with some tips that can help lighten the burden of your electric bill. We all know every little bit helps. You can always count on The Electric Connection to answer any questions you may have about energy savings.

1-If you haven’t already done it, get rid of those incandescent light bulbs and replace them with CFLs. You could easily save $15 to $20 a month (possibly more) on lighting costs.

2-Turn down your water heater a couple of degrees. There is really no reason to have scalding hot water coming out of the tap. You can save a few dollars by not making your water heater work overtime heating water to a temperature you will not be able to use it at.

3-Have a ceiling fan installed by an electrician. Glendale homeowners will soon realize the energy savings the fans provide in the winter and the summer.

4-Invest in heavy curtains to block out the heat of the sun in the summer and the cold draft in the winter. This will help cut down on your heating and cooling costs.

5-Skip the drying cycle on the dishwasher and let the dishes air dry or use a towel to dry them by hand.

6-Consider using a clothesline in the summer to dry your laundry. You can also use a drying rack inside the home to cut down on the need for the dryer.

These are just a few things you can do to help reduce your electricity bill. There are plenty of other ways you can save. Give The Electric Connection a call today to learn more.

When we talk about reducing energy use around the house, it’s frequently in the context of saving money on monthly utility bills. It makes sense — money plays a role in so many decisions that we make, from where we work to what kind of car we drive to where we go shopping. But it turns out that people are actually more motived to save energy because it’s better for the environment and their health than because of money, according to a recent study by the University of California Los Angeles. The result is contrary to the expectations of even the test participants themselves.

Money vs. Pollution, Health

The study broke up households into two categories — one of which received weekly reminders about how much money they could be saving by cutting back on their energy usage, while the other was told about all the air pollution they were creating, and how it could play a role in children contracting asthma and cancer. The researchers gave both groups analytical tools to track how and when they used the most electricity, as well as comparisons to their neighbors to give them benchmarks to shoot for.

In the end, the group that was nagged about money failed to change their habits to include any efficiency measures. The health and environment group, on the other hand, slashed their energy usage by an average of 8 percent — and families with children cut back by 19 percent.

Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?

Before the study, participants were asked what message they thought would be effective in persuading them to cut back on their electricity usage, and most of them said that money would be the prime motivating factor. The results proved otherwise.

“We’re finding that you have to bundle the public good with the private good,” said Magali Delmas, the study’s principal investigator and an environmental economist at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, said in a press release. “Our message about health and the environment reminds people that environmentalism is also about them and their kids.”

Researchers speculated that the amount of money at stake simply wasn’t high enough to prompt people to act, but when homeowners were motived by a combination of benefiting their own families and being good citizens, they did take action.

“The message reminds you that you’re hurting people and the planet,” one of the study participants reported afterward. “It made me more conscious of the energy I was using.”

Go Beyond the Pocketbook

The study can be a lesson for officials and utility companies who seek to encourage people to cut down on their energy consumption. While everybody likes saving money, sometimes you need to appeal to more than just their pocketbooks to get people to act.

Why not take advantage of all three benefits? By taking simple steps to lower your energy usage, you can cut back on your bills, help the environment and protect public health all at once. If you aren’t sure how to get started, call an expert to give your home an energy audit and put you on the path to a cleaner, healthier and more frugal lifestyle.