The pool at your Tampa home is an excellent place to enjoy recreation, to relax, or even to host events and parties. But are you getting the most out of your pool design? The use of light can add not only dynamic appeal to your space, but provides a greater level of safety. Not to mention the fun of a nighttime pool party!

Welcome to Kolb Electric’s blog! At Kolb Electric, we want to be your number one source for residential and commercial electrical services in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC area, whether we’re on the job or not. To that end, we’ve created this blog to answer any questions you might have about your electrical system and electrical service in general!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be filling this blog with the latest tips, tricks, and trends to keep your home or building’s electrical system running smoothly, so bookmark this page and be sure to check back often!

At Kolb Electric, we’ve built our business around providing the best possible customer service to each and every commercial or residential electrical customer in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC area. If you need electrical service and want to go with the most professional company in the area, call Kolb Electric today!

How many light bulbs have you changed in your lifetime? It’s a simple action, and often one that we don’t put much thought into, but what if the simple act of changing a light bulb could make a profound impact on the environment, and the well-being of future generations?  As experienced Plano Electricians, we at ElectricMan Inc. have made it our mission to help bring knowledge of Alternative Lighting Solutions, electrical efficiency, and environmental responsibility to the forefront of everyone’s minds. The reality is that even small changes can yield huge benefits when it comes to energy savings. According to www.EnergyStar.gov:

“If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a light bulb that’s earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to those from about 800,000 cars.”

Think about the changes that you can make by simply replacing the outdated incandescent bulbs in your home as they burn out with one of the Alternative Lighting Solutions below. Here are some details on a couple of the most popular Alternative Lighting Solutions available.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp: Modern CFL bulbs for use in homes consist of a curved fluorescent tube and electronic ballast in a single unit, designed as a direct replacement for standard blubs. They use 3-4 times less power than comparable incandescent bulbs. These are great options to replace your standard light bulbs, but they do have a few small drawbacks. According to an article by PopularMechanics.com, while CFL’s do have a much longer lifespan than standard bulbs, they often lose some of their brightness long before their expected lifespan is up, and this is increased in fixtures that don’t allow for efficient cooling of the ballast located in the base of the bulb. Another documented fact about CFL bulbs is that they do contain mercury, which means that they must be disposed of properly by taking them your local approved recycling center. You wouldn’t throw a battery out with the daily trash would you? So you shouldn’t throw these out either.

Light Emitting Diodes: LED’s are a form of “solid state” lighting that have become available recently to homeowners as an incandescent and CFL replacement. Using small light emitting diodes mounted directly to circuit boards, these are highly efficient, and have fewer parts prone to failure, allowing for an expected realistic lifespan of 20,000 to 30,000 hours, when operated at recommended temperatures. While initial costs for these bulbs are higher than incandescent and CFL options, long term energy savings are where this alternative lighting option truly shines, with the average LED bulb using approximately 12-17% of the energy that it takes to run an incandescent bulb of similar output, the end result is a bulb that costs drastically less to power over time.

As a point of comparison, here is a simple chart of the energy usage of LED and CFL bulbs compared to incandescent bulbs, and the output associated with them:

Lighting technology has changed a lot in the past decade, and it is pretty amazing to see what could be on the horizon for future lighting innovations. Take this for example. While most homes will never need this amount of output, it’s pretty impressive to see that something the size of a Christmas tree light, like this plasma bulb, can put out more light, more efficiently, than the giant bulbs that we use in street lamps!

The great thing about these changes is that they aren’t something that requires a huge change in your lifestyle, so they are some of the easiest ways possible to help the environment, and lower electric bills while you are at it!

The push for solar power is growing stronger and with good reason. There are several benefits that solar power offers and many homeowners have gained from these benefits. If you’ve been dragging your feet on looking to solar for your electrical needs, you are missing out! Solar panels have a lot to offer your home.

Solar power systems derive clean, pure energy from the sun. Installing solar panels on your home helps combat greenhouse gas emissions and reduces our collective dependence on fossil fuel. Here are a few more benefits that you will get by installing solar panels on your home:

Solar Panels Help Save You Money.

How much can you save on your electric bill with solar panels? Depending on the sun exposure we receive here in Virginia, solar energy could save you well above $100 a month. Multiply that savings times the length of a typical solar panel warranty (25 years) – and that’s some serious cash!

Solar Panels Pay for Themselves.

Panels purchased in cash typically pay for themselves in less than 10 years courtesy of lower electricity costs. In some states, like here in Virginia, as little as five years to pay for themselves. The more sun exposure your solar panels endure, the more they will pay for themselves!

You can Start Saving from Day One.

Solar purchase power agreements (PPAs) and solar leasing has made it possible for homeowners to go solar for little or no money down.

Many homeowners choose to finance their solar panels with one of the “pay-as-you-go” financing options. This means that a third-party company – the solar provider – owns the solar system and takes care of installation, maintenance, monitoring and repairs. You simply pay the solar provider for electricity – less than you would`ve paid the utility company.

As of June 2013, 75% of all American homes have access to pay-as-you-go solar.

Solar Panels Add Value to Your Home.

Solar panels lower your home’s electricity costs, increasing its attractiveness to potential buyers. How much? A National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study showed homes with solar panels sell 20% faster – for 17% more!

Taking Advantage of Solar Energy Offers Tax Incentives.

As of 2009, there is no cap on the Federal Solar Tax Credit, giving you access to up to 30% of total system costs back, including equipment and installation. State, local, and utility incentives may also be available in your area, as well as Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs). Use them while they last – they could cut your costs in half!

Solar Panels Benefit the Environment.

We know that the majority of homeowners choose to go solar because it makes good sense from a financial point of view. That being said, the environmental benefits are also clearly worth mentioning.

The U.S. places second in the world in annual carbon dioxide emissions at 17.9%, right behind China. You can go a long way in lowering your carbon footprint by replacing utility power with clean electricity from solar panels.

A solar panel system can really help you lower your carbon footprint. In fact, the installation of a typical residential system offsets carbon dioxide emissions the equivalent of driving a car for 100,000 miles.