Have you been mulling over your electric bill and dreaming of it just going away? Then you remember you like lights and hot showers and your microwave and you pay the bill. Cutting your electrical bill in half or making it disappear altogether is a possibility when you switch over to renewable energy. You can’t go anywhere today or read a paper or magazine without seeing or hearing the term. What is renewable energy? An electrician in Los Angeles is prepared to explain the ins and outs. If you still have questions, you can call The Electric Connection.

Renewable energy is any type of energy that comes from something that will always be replenished. It won’t run out. Currently, our world depends on coal, gas and oil. These things cannot be produced. Once they are gone, they are gone. The natural resources will run out one day, which is why there is such a huge push for renewable energy sources. A Los Angeles electrician can explain the different kinds of renewable energy in more detail. With technology constantly advancing, there always seems to be some new and improved way to harness the energy from renewable resources.

The most common form of renewable energy that is used for residential purposes is solar. The energy from the sun is harnessed and converted into the electricity your home needs. Cities are currently using wind turbines to generate the electricity needed for their needs. These turbines turn when the wind blows. The spinning blades produce energy that is transformed into electricity. It isn’t unheard of for a home to have its own personal turbine to produce the energy needed to power the home. It can all be a bit technical, but you can leave it all up to an electrician. Los Angeles homeowners who want to learn more about renewable energy can call The Electric Connection.

If you ever spend any time studying your electrical equipment, something that you probably come across time and time again is reference to the NEC or National Electrical Code. Whether or not you consider yourself a home improvement expert, or you call an electrician in Beverly Hills with every problem you encounter, it is important to know more about what the NEC is and how it affects you as a home or business owner.

Essentially, the National Electrical Code is a standard for safe installation of wiring and equipment in the United States. It is not a legally binding regulation in and of itself. However, it is regionally adoptable meaning that many states, municipalities and counties have standardized their enforcement of electrical practices by choosing to use the NEC as their code of standards.

The NEC is actually part of the National Fire Codes series of regulations that is published by the NFPA. Since it may or may not be in force in your locale, it is important that you find out before you install an electrical device or change the wiring in your home or office. Because of this, many people find that even if they do have the knowledge that it is easier to call a Beverly Hills electrician—such as one from The Electric Connection.

Electricity is a complex matter and regulations such as the NEC are developed to protect you and help make certain people not injured when working with the wiring around you. The details of the NEC may be a bit complex for some do it yourselfers, but it is worth reading over it and at least trying to understand the basics. This can help keep you safe and make certain that you are in compliance with the regulations in force in your particular community.

You will be spending a lot more time indoors over the next few months as we ride out yet another winter. You will want to do what you can to ensure your family is as safe as possible inside your home. There are a few things you can do today to provide an extra layer of safety. Your Beverly Hills electrician is here to help you. You can count on the team at The Electric Connection to provide you with a knowledgeable, experienced electrician to take care of the following safety features for your home.

• Replace your old, standard outlets in the kitchen and bathroom areas with GFCI outlets. These are designed to cut the electricity the second the circuit is interrupted. These outlets are especially handy in areas where water is present, like the kitchen and bathroom. If an appliance is accidentally dropped in water, the breaker will trip, cutting off the electricity and reducing the risk of electric shock.

• Have hard-wired smoke detectors installed. These smoke detectors rely on your home’s main power rather than a battery. Dead or missing batteries in smoke detectors are often to blame for late warnings in the event of a house fire. The detectors are all interconnected so when one goes off, the rest of the alarms are sounded. You will need the installation completed by a professional electrician. Beverly Hills homeowners will feel better knowing the wiring was handled by somebody trained to work with electrical wiring.

• Carbon monoxide detectors are also handy devices that every home should have. If you use natural gas for your heat or have a woodstove, a carbon monoxide detector can warn you to unsafe levels of carbon monoxide in the home.

Your home is somewhere you should feel safe. These rather easy and inexpensive safety features can eliminate some of the risks in your home. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your safety enhancements.

Recessed lighting is commonly used in rooms where ceiling height is an issue. These fixtures are essentially placed flush into your ceiling and project light from a hole or an opening on an otherwise clear plane.

Often you'll find this kind of lighting in an area that utilizes dropped ceilings with removable panels. Ceilings like these are usually implemented because they are concealing pipes or wiring that is exposed beneath the original ceiling - this practice can commonly be seen in basements and industrial spaces where aesthetics weren't initially taken into consideration.

Since recessed lighting is usually exposed to the underside of sensitive wiring or pipes, there are a number of potential dangers that present themselves when these fixtures are used.

A common mistake is using recessed lighting that produces too much heat for the amount of space left between the dropped ceiling and the original. Be sure when you're installing these devices that a qualified electrician, like the kind employed by John C. Flood, verifies there is enough ventilation and room between objects that excess heat won't make the area a fire hazard.

If you notice that you have a recessed lighting fixture which is dim and periodically flickers back to full brightness, this may be a sign that the wattage of the light bulb is too powerful for the lamp. Most recessed models will have heating sensors built in that automatically dim the light to avoid flames. One solution might be to lower the strength of the bulbs that you use in these features, although the bigger problem may be that your lighting instruments themselves were installed in too close quarters.

Your electric bill may be completely manageable and affordable. However, wouldn’t you like to learn how to save a few extra dollars every month and do something good for the world at the same time? Just because you can afford your current electric bill, doesn’t mean you can’t make adjustments around your home that will reduce the amount of electricity you use. A Santa Monica electrician is here to tell you about a few things you can do around your house to reduce the amount of electricity you use. The folks at The Electric Connection would love to share their knowledge with you.

Of course you know about turning off the lights when you are not in the room and turning off appliances when you don’t need them, but there are even more things you can do that will certainly add up to big savings for you and less burden on the power grid. It is no secret, our booming population has put a serious burden on our current power grids and blackouts from time to time during peak usage times are not uncommon.

You can lessen your impact by changing out your old, energy hot incandescent light bulbs to the more energy-efficient CFLs or LEDs. The CFLs are the spiral shaped lights that can easily be exchanged in your existing light fixtures. If you have a light fixture that will not accommodate one of these environmentally friendly options, talk with your electrician. Santa Monica residents can update their home lighting by replacing old fixtures with new, more modern and energy efficient fixtures.

Placing LED lights under your kitchen counters gives you plenty of light to see what you are doing and is extremely inexpensive to use and the fixtures are relatively cheap as well. If you are interested in doing your part to make the world a better place, give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your light fixture upgrade.