When discussing green energy solutions for the wind, a lot of people get nervous. People say wind turbines are unsightly or dangerous to wildlife. These people don’t realize that civilizations have been using wind power for a very long time.

As an alternative energy source, wind turbines produce a lot of energy and produce very little pollution. They are often are placed on hilltops or offshore. The winds offshore tend to be stronger and more consistent. In order to get the best unobstructed wind, feilds of turbines are usually built far enough offshore that they can’t be seen from the beach.

To understand the green energy solutions provided by the wind, you must first understand how they work. Wind is created by the sun heating the surface of the planet unevenly. With one side of the planet in darkness and the other in daylight, one is hotter than the other. Different air temperatures have different density. When hot air rises over cold air, wind is created. In any attempt to produce power, something is generated to move a turbine around. Common methods to accomplish this include running water or steam from burning coal. These methods are harmful to the environment, as they heat the water to unsafe temperatures or release toxins into the air. A wind turbine is a system that captures the kinetic energy of the wind to turn the turbine. Kinetic energy is energy caused by motion. When the turbine blades rotate, that motion causes a drive train inside the turbine to turn. A generator attached to the drive train captures the energy produced, and power lines whisk that power away to the consumer. There is no steam, no pollutants, and no dangerously hot water, only pure, green energy solutions.

The idea of the windmill dates back to the 7th century. In Persia, windmills were first used to turn the heavy mill wheels needed to crush grain into flour. They were mainly used for this purpose until 1887, when the first turbine was created to charge batteries in rural Scotland. The idea caught on fast, and by 1900, there were over 2500 windmills in Denmark. The Danes used the power of the wind to keep back the power of the sea, creating pumps for flooded areas. By the 1930s, many American farms used personal systems for battery charging, but it wasn’t until 1951 that one was finally connected to the power grid in the UK.

Modern turbines haven’t changed much from their original concept. They are made of modern materials and created on larger scales to capture energy more efficiently. One modern adaptation has been the ability to link several turbines together. This allows their energy to be combined and processed by a single substation, letting less power go to waste than if each were wired separately.

Most new buildings are now using a variety of electrical and electronic equipment. As such, the contractors have to design a wiring schematic that will deliver power to a wide and diverse range of devices that include traditional and modern electrical loads.  The wiring must also provide a means of supplying power to the monitoring and control devices such as wireless sensors, thermostats, automatic light controls, thermostats, the IoT, and other web-based technologies.

The electrical requirements will vary from one building to another and may include a combination of the following components:

The type and use of a building structure influences the type of wiring to use. And the building owner and electrical contractor should consider current and future power requirements when determining the size of conductors, raceways, protective gear and other necessities.

We often find there is a lot of confusion between Lumens and Foot Candles and Lux. And even more confusing is how some represent conversion from traditional light sources like Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium in terms of watts, and not lumens. So why all the confusion. Well, it may be because those who represent this conversion are trying to avoid letting you know about the efficiency of the LED lights, so they claim you can replace X watts of Metal Halide with X watts of LED. What they should really say is that you can replace a 400W Metal Halide with X lumens, and their lights only need Y watts to produce these lumens. We’ll dive into this a little later, but lets first talk about lumens vs foot candles vs lux.

What is a lumen? A lumen is a measurement of light related to (1) fixture or bulb. So when we talk about lumens, we say that a fixture or bulb creates (X) lumens. These lumens are determined by sophisticated measurement equipment.

What is a foot candle? A foot candle is a unit of measurement at a specific location in a room or outdoor location that is created by 1 to many lights. It is a cumulative reading of 1 to many light sources at a specific location. It is both real and calculated. Real in the sense that you can take a light meter and walk to any location in a room or outdoor location and take a reading that represents the amount of light recorded from all contributing lights or fixtures. Calculated in the sense that you can use software to predict the foot candles of a space based on the placement of lights within the simulation.

What is lux? Lux is identical to foot candles. It is a measurement of real or calculated light, but it is done on a different scale. As a rough estimate, 1 foot candle = 10 lux.

So, simply stated, lights produces lumens, and the cumulative lumens of all lights are then determine the foot candle or lux measurement of light at a specific point in an indoor or outdoor space.

Every electrical installation, whether at home or workplace, is bound to experience common electrical problems every now and then. The majority of these problems have noticeable symptoms and are easily identifiable by non-technical users. Others are complex and require qualified electricians.

All electrical issues should be fixed as soon as possible before they become severe and can cause fires or accidents. While the consumer can see the symptoms, it is advisable to isolate the problem. Accomplish this by either turning off the faulty equipment or circuit and then hiring a qualified electrician. The consumer should never try to repair electrical problems unless qualified to do so.