For the average homeowner, electrical panels are not very well understood. Since the job of an electrical panel is to deliver electricity, the common assumption is that if you need more electricity to support your household, you should just be able to add more circuits. This is incorrect, though.

This is only part of your electrical panel’s job. It also acts as a safety device, channeling the electrical flow into circuits so your home gets the amount of electricity that’s allowed by the panel. If your home doesn’t have enough electricity, then it’s time to upgrade your electrical panel, but how do you know when this time has come?

Have you noticed any lights in your home that flicker, dim, or brown out when you turn on major appliances such as your dishwasher or microwave? This is a sign that the draw on your system is too strong, and that you would benefit from adding more amps to your electrical box.

If you have multiple circuit breakers that trip on a regular basis, this is probably a sign that you don’t have enough power coming into your home. If you’re constantly flipping circuit breakers back on in your electrical panel, you could very well need an upgrade.

This is actually an outdated method of managing the electricity in your home. In fact, it can be downright dangerous. Many homeowner’s insurance companies won’t even insure homes that still have fuse boxes instead of an electrical panel. Fuses simply can’t provide the amount of power that the average home needs. The best thing you can do is upgrade your fuse box to a standard electrical panel as soon as possible.

Inventor Thomas Edison is world renowned, not only for the array of inventions which continue to significantly impact the modern world to this day, but also for the positive attitude and relentless approach he took to his endeavors. On this anniversary of Edison’s birthday, February 11, 1847, let us celebrate not only his vast array of contributions, but also the spirit of the man himself.

“I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Though Edison did not invent the first light bulb, as most people believe, he did invent the first incandescent light bulb. Though prior bulbs burned out after only a few minutes, Edison’s incandescents were practical, staying lit for hours and hours, and amazingly are still in use today after over 135 years.

“There are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something.”

Thanks to Edison’s dynamo technology, devices similar to generators, which make direct current (DC) electricity with the help of electromagnetism, a complete system was created capable of delivering DC electricity to large areas. In 1882, the formation of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, constructed the first commercial electricity generation and distribution system. It powered a one-mile square of residences and businesses in Manhattan, offering Americans more affordable, efficient electricity and lighting. The company would later take part in mergers leading to the formation of General Electric in 1892, which would later become innovators in AC electricity, though Edison would not play a starring role.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

One of Edison’s favorite inventions, the phonograph, revolutionized sound recording. Though devices existed capable of recording sound, none had the capability for playback, as Edison’s 1877 phonograph did. The two needled device – one for recording and one for playback – led to the development of recorded telecommunications, improvements in dictation and letter writing, phonographic books for the blind, music boxes and toys, and music portability.

“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”

After the phonograph and with the help of employee W.K.L. Dickson, Edison spent years inventing the motion picture camera. He wanted to do for the eye what the phonograph did for the ear. Following the invention of the kinetograph (motion picture camera) and kinetoscope (peephole motion picture viewer), he constructed a motion picture production studio for filming. The Boxing Gordon Sisters, fighting cats, and films starring Annie Oakley and Native American Dancers from Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West Show” were some of Edison’s first productions. He would later be beaten by Jenkins and Arnat’s vitascope before creating his own device for displaying movies to large groups, the projectoscope, forerunner to today’s movie projectors.

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

After thousands of experiments involving metals and other materials in an attempt to create a lighter, reliable, more powerful storage battery for the electric cars of the time, Edison discovered an alkaline solution, which produced a longer lasting battery. Though gasoline powered cars took over the market before the battery's completion thanks to Henry Ford, it was nevertheless hugely successful in industrial applications and one of Edison’s biggest moneymakers in later years.

"The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” 

Thanks, Mr. Edison, for empowering us all, and to everyone else: always remember, we at Mr. Electric® are here to help power your tomorrow, too!

The following post is from our new blogger Annie Josey, who is joining Pegasus Lighting on May 21, 2012. Annie is a recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who majored in English with a minor in creative writing. Annie wrote this post during the interview process and we loved it so much, and learned a little bit about art in the process, we could not wait to post it to the blog. We hope you like Annie’s first post as much as we do, and can’t wait for her to “enlighten” us even more in the coming months.

In paintings, the depiction of light can create tangible shape, intricate texture and vibrant color. Great painters like Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Manet crafted careers out of working with light, while having very few lighting options for inspiration. Here are a few examples of their work, and how each painter might go about achieving the same schemes with modern lighting:

The employment of lighting in this Manet painting differs greatly from Rembrandt and Caravaggio. Instead of valuing shadow to illuminate dimension, Manet uses full frontal lighting to emphasize color – bright reds, whites and yellows.

You already have a smart phone – maybe even a smart thermostat. What's next? Believe it or not, refrigerators are next in the line of devices with advanced features and technology to improve our domestic lives. A new smart fridge, manufactured by GE, is scheduled to come on the market this spring.

Welcome to the Future

For the average household, the refrigerator is the third-largest energy drain after the HVAC system and the hot water heater. That means there's a lot of room to improve on efficiency.

Your garden-variety refrigerator really only has one setting to manipulate: the temperature. And the EPA recommends setting it between 35 and 38 degrees, so there's not a lot of leeway in that regard before you risk spoiling your food. The real value in a smart fridge  is in its communication with you, reminding you to adjust your behavior and not waste any unnecessary energy.

For example, if you leave the door open, a smart fridge can alert you to close it rather than wasting all that cold air. If it's time to clean the coils, it gives you a heads up, so it can continue to operate at peak efficiency. If the power usage suddenly spikes for no apparent reason, the fridge lets you know so you can have it serviced to correct the problem.

The EPA is encouraging manufacturers to include such smart features in their products. “These features would offer consumers more ways to reduce the energy consumption of their refrigerators and freezers, help lower their utility bills, and better protect the environment and the climate,” the agency says. “Refrigerators and freezers with connected functionality will also be “smart grid”-ready, meaning that with consumer permission, they will be able to respond to utility signals, including curtailing operations during more expensive peak demand times.”

Savings Beyond Belief

If your refrigerator is more than a decade old, it's costing you more money than it should in electricity usage. If it's more than two decades old, it's really draining your finances. That good news is that the new models are so efficient they could pay for themselves in utility savings within a few years. New federal standards kicked in for refrigerators last fall, which means that the latest models are performing at an all-time peak.

When you go fridge shopping, make sure you purchase a model that bears the Energy Star logo, which means it performs at least 10 percent above and beyond the minimum federal efficiency requirements. “We can all do our part in meeting the challenge of climate change,” said Janet McCabe, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, in a press release. “By choosing Energy Star appliances, families can save energy, save money, and reduce carbon pollution.”

If every fridge and freezer in the country were updated to meet just the minimum requirements, homeowners would save a cumulative $890 million annually on their energy bills. Even if your share is just a small fraction of that, every bit counts.