These LED lights attach easily to the front and rear of your bike. The white light clips to the front break cables to help you see where you’re going, and signal to others that you’re heading their way. The red light clips to your seat rails, brightly marking your bike’s rear. They both operate in steady beam and continuous flash modes, visible from up to a mile away. They’re weather resistant and have a long battery life.

2. Twist On Bike Lights

You may think that, because your air conditioner has not been in use for some time, you don’t need routine maintenance prior to the cooling season. This is why so many homeowners are caught off-guard when they find that their AC systems are not in prime working condition when summer rolls around, though. By allowing a qualified technician to thoroughly inspect and meticulously tune up your AC system prior to the onset of summer, you ensure that you will receive the quality cooling performance that you both desire and deserve.

As we venture further into the era of climate change, humans are constantly searching for ways to decrease energy consumption and increase efficiency. Unfortunately, there's no silver bullet. Truly reducing our impact on the global climate requires a combination of an increase in renewable power generation, behavioral changes to decrease consumption and increasing the efficiency of our homes and appliances. Even as we strive for improvement, sometimes we fall short. According to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, for example, a federal Weatherization Assistance Program is not bringing in the expected efficiency benefits.

Looking for the Win-Win

Investments in home efficiency are usually considered win-win scenarios. Reductions in energy consumption lessen the impact on the environment and reduce energy bills at the same time. Many upgrades, like replacing an outdated refrigerator with a new Energy Star-certified model, will eventually pay for themselves in energy savings.

However, not every savings promise comes through. The Berkeley study looked at 30,000 households in Michigan that upgraded their home systems with new insulation, weather stripping, HVAC equipment and more. The federal government paid up to $5,000 per house for the improvements, but the average household only realized $2,400 in savings during the lifespan of their new efficiency features. That's not a great return on investment.

Ancillary Benefits

The households saved 10 to 20 percent on their energy costs, on average, which is only about 40 percent of what they were projected to save. The results are discouraging for consumers who are striving to implement any cost-saving measures they can find. Electricians and home service technicians can help you upgrade your home systems, but the changes will only go so far.

There were other benefits to the weatherization program outside the raw financial data, of course. The investments were aimed at low income households, so the money saved helped reduce poverty in the area. Plus, the reduction of carbon in the atmosphere from the program has additional economic benefits. Nevertheless, the disappointing result could be a blow to the willingness of the government to make similar investments in the future.

Let the Buyer Beware

The big lesson for the consumer? Don't believe just any claim about energy efficiency, and do your due diligence before investing in a big-ticket upgrade. You can and should make efforts to reduce your energy consumption, but be careful not to blow your investment dollars on items that don't give you a good return.

"This underscores the value of field-testing," paper author Michael Greenstone said to Vox. "Particularly in a world where economy-wide carbon pricing does not look feasible, we should be redoubling our efforts to find those CO2 reduction measures that have the biggest bang for the buck."

If you need advice on how to get the best return when it comes to energy efficiency, find an experienced electrician who can help you invest your dollars wisely and steer you away from less effective purchases.

The bathroom serves as a place for many different activities. Your morning and evening routines start and end here and you rely on it to keep you looking your best. The importance of this room comes with the need to keep it looking, feeling and smelling clean. The best place to start with a clean bathroom is to install a bathroom exhaust fan.

You have most likely seen a bathroom fan in the past. The switch to them can usually be found next to the bathroom light switch. The reason they are so common in bathrooms is because of the activity that happens there. A bathroom without an exhaust fan can be airtight and offer little to no air circulation. When you add a hot shower and running water to this mix, you have a significant amount of humidity and moisture. If you do not deal with this moisture it can lead to mold and mildew, which can affect your health. The exhaust fan sucks the air from the bathroom and draws in new air, eliminating moisture and humidity in the process.

You can see the urgency and need for having a bathroom exhaust fan installed. But here are a few more reasons you might want to consider having one installed.

In many areas it is a requirement to have a bathroom fan installed, but that is not always the case. If you have a bathroom in your home without a fan then it is time to consider installing one before the damage is done. Because of the high moisture in the air you want to make sure that the exhaust fan’s electrical work is done correctly to prevent contact of moisture and electricity.