You may think of a fan as something you would only use in the summer time. It stirs the air and provides a nice cool breeze. You probably already know it is cheaper to run several ceiling fans then it is to lower the thermostat on the air conditioner a couple of degrees. But, did you know, a ceiling fan can also help reduce the workload of your furnace in the winter? An electrician in Santa Monica will explain why a ceiling fan is a valuable addition to any home no matter what the weather is like. The Electric Connection has been installing fans for happy customers for years.

Just like in the summer, the fan rotates the air around. In the summer, it rotates the cooler air ensuring a room is at a somewhat even temperature. This tells the thermostat the room is cool enough and the air conditioner does not need to turn on. In the winter, it is essentially the same idea. Hot air rises. If you are sitting in your chair or lying on the couch, you may feel a bit cool. When you stand up, you can feel the change in temperature. The trick is to push that hot air down to where you are relaxing without adjusting the furnace up a couple of degrees. All this does is create more warm air to rise to the ceiling.

During winter months, the ceiling fan blades should be reversed to run in a clockwise motion. This creates a downdraft. All that warm air will be circulated throughout the room thus taking some of the work off the furnace and saving you money. If you do not have a fan, but would like to have one installed, call your electrician. Santa Monica residents can call The Electric Connection to have one or more ceiling fans installed.

By: Jason Lee

From the standard AA battery to the relatively unknown LR44 battery, everyone everywhere should embrace all things battery operated on February 18, also known as National Battery Day.

The  “battery” can trace its routes to Benjamin Franklin who coined the term. In 1800, another inventor, Alessandro Volta created a steady current for a length of time using zinc and copper plates and brine soaked paper disks. Eventually, this primitive experiment in electricity would lead the way to the batteries we know today.

So don't be negative because Mr. Electric® has some positive reasons to celebrate National Battery Day.

Whether you have four, six or eight cylinders under the hood, chances are you only have one battery. No car or truck can run without it. So when you get in your ride on National Battery Day, take a minute to thank the true workhorse of the vehicle; the battery.

When it comes to handheld and portable electronic devices, not a single one would work if it weren’t for the battery. These devices would do little good for people on the go if they stopped working every time they were unplugged from the wall. Thankfully, batteries that drain slowly over time allow for us to be portable and still be connected to the digital world. All of this is made possible by the battery.

Battery operated drills and saws have made working at the construction site or doing home renovations a breeze. Workers can cut boards and build for hours before simply changing out the batteries. Once the workday is done, workers can charge the batteries over night and start again the next morning. With the advent of cordless tools, tripping hazards can be avoided. Blown fuses and tripped breakers are a thing of the past, all thanks to the battery.

On February 18, go out into the world with a positive attitude and change those who are negative around you by reminding them of everything the battery does on a daily basis. Who knows, doing it may give you a charge!

When your saying goodbye to guests in the evening, you don’t want to send them out in the dark to fumble their way back to their vehicle. Without proper outdoor lighting your front yard can be riddled with hazards at night. Installing outdoor and landscape lighting can add safety in a number of ways as well as add pleasing aesthetics to your home at night.

Outdoor lighting can add functionality in a number of ways – it can illuminate potential tripping hazards, deter criminals, and add a pleasing look to your home at night. The trick is to have the lights positioned correctly to have the desired effects. When placing your outdoor lighting keep these areas in mind:

Installation of outdoor lighting can be different depending on the type of landscape lighting you choose. If you are using solar powered or battery powered you will not require any additional electrical work. If you are looking to install electrical lamps and fixtures on the outside your home or along a pathway it will require the wire to run underground, because of the high voltage, to the home’s electrical system. If you are unsure of how your new outdoor lighting connects to your home, or want to prepare to install new lighting, have an expert electrician do the installation for you.

Three common sources of outdoor lighting are fluorescent lamps, metal halide, and LED lighting. Fluorescent lamps are designed to run efficiently, but can have trouble starting in certain temperatures. Metal halide are highly efficient within a temperature range, but require approximately a minute to warm up – not ideal for motion lights. LED lighting is a popular choice because they are highly efficient, require no warm up time, and the bulb lasts longest, but this all comes at a higher cost.

Outdoor and landscape lighting is very important and something every homeowner should keep in mind. With so many options out there, it can be difficult to know where to start and what will work.

Businesses as we all know, are always thinking about the bottom line. From ways to increase revenues to ways to decrease expenses, it’s all critical stuff for any company to pay attention to.

That’s exactly why we are creating this post on energy saving tips for businesses and companies alike. And while not every business in every building will be able to implement every single tip on this list, there should be numerous ones that will be highly relevant to your business.

Saving energy will allow you to reduce overhead expenses, enhance your public view as a “going green” company (which you could use as a marketing play), or even just have better piece of mind knowing your buildings are just that much greener.

Without further ado, here is the first on the list (out of 25)…

1. Upgrade to a LED lighting system. The benefits of LED technology far surpass any other lighting technology commonly used in buildings or fluorescent, metal halide, HPS, etc). reducing the amount of energy that is going to power those lights as well.

4. Install sky lights. How about all of that natural light that is going to waste otherwise? By installing sky lights in areas where natural lighting would otherwise not get to (e.g hallways and inner rooms), you open yourself up to some huge savings by not having to have nearly as many lights on during the daytime.

5. Switch to green web hosting. This is a huge one for those companies who have lots of traffic and do a lot of business through their website. spam email has a carbon footprint? Although this won’t save your company any money, it will definitely reduce the carbon footprint associated with your company.

14. Only purchase ENERGY STAR equipment. By purchasing office equipment that is ENERGY STAR qualified, you are buying into products that are proven to be more energy efficient than those that aren’t.

15. Switch over to laptops. Desktops are always plugged in, and that can mean a lot of energy consumption. By switching to laptops, you will use 1/4th the energy associated with powering your computers.

16. Update your insulation. Those nasty drafts aren’t only uncomfortable to your employees and / or visitors, but they are also wasting a lot of energy. If you can, consider updating your insulation to stop the escape of that warm (or cold) air you are paying to output.

17. Update your windows. While you are at it, updating your windows to ones that don’t have any leaks in them will stop those drafts too. Both of these go hand in hand, and together will reduce a lot of temperature control going to waste.

18. Hold a virtual meeting. If you have days designated for meetings and not much else, then why power your entire building (and make everyone drive) if you could easily have everyone stay at home? Your employees will probably appreciate it, and you are going to save a lot of energy for that day. Technology these days makes it a whole lot easier to save on energy for business and buildings alike.

19. Take advantage of tax credits. All of this effort on saving energy will not only save you in overhead costs, but it could also phantom load is basically energy that is being consumed through a product that is entirely off. The simple solution is to unplug everything when it is not in use. Alternatively, you could shut off the power to an entire room or area when it’s not in use to ensure no phantom load waste is occurring.

23. Reduce hot water usage. By installing efficient faucets, you will reduce the amount of water that is wasted. And if you do heat that water, reducing the waste of it will reduce the amount of energy you use to heat that water.