Taking on a Thanksgiving get-together is no easy task, and if you’re going to do it, you might as well make it something guests will remember. Fortunately, making it memorable doesn’t have to be complicated. We have some simple LED lighting ideas that will help you dress up your home for the holidays.

When choosing lighting installation in Columbia for your home, office, or business, you may not realize how important your choice of lighting is. Lighting impacts every aspect of your environment – and no one knows this better than the electrical and lighting experts at Kolb Electric! Let’s go over some of our top picks for gorgeous, effective lighting.

Looking for lighting installation in Columbia? Contact Kolb online today!

Lighting – proper lighting – will only add to everything a room has to offer. You want ambient lighting to brighten a general area, without causing any headaches with overbearing, blaring lights. You want to draw visitors’ eyes to furniture, decorations, or other items of interest using accent lighting. And, last but not least, you want to utilize task lighting to keep any potential work areas bright enough to see what you’re doing.

First off, let’s take a look at the different types of lightbulbs, and the types of light they give off:

Now that we’ve touched on the types of bulbs, let’s delve into some types of lighting, what they are, and how they can add to your home, office, or business décor.

Ready to beautify your home and find the ideal lighting solutions to fit and add to your decor? Trust the professionals at Kolb to help you get the job done and done right! Contact us today to strike up a conversation, or to set a date for your consultation!

While some might think of a garage as simply another room where you park your car and use as storage, it’s still part of your home and could be the cause of a higher energy bill. Helping make your garage more energy efficient will in turn lead to higher energy savings for your home.

Find out how to keep your garage energy efficient while saving money with our simple tips.

By insulating your garage and garage doors you can help keep the use of your HVAC down during the cold months. Garage doors tend to have several openings from which cold air can go through, causing the HVAC system to kick in more frequently than usual.

Turning down the temperature of your water heater to 120° F helps keep the water comfortably warm while reducing on unneeded energy waste. Lowering down the heat while on vacation also results in lower energy consumption.

Other tips for your water heater include purchasing a unit with a high Energy Factor (EF) rating that is more energy efficient, and routinely draining a bucket of water to help remove sediment that could cause issues.

Using warm or cold water instead of hot water to wash your clothes helps save energy up to $50 per year. Consider also investing in a front-loading washing machine, which use less water on average than traditional models.

When using the dryer, make sure to add a dry towel to help reduce the drying time. Keep yourself from running an additional cycle by not overloading your washer and dryer, which will cause your clothes to not be cleaned properly, and take significantly longer to dry. Cleaning the lint screen after every load helps keep the exhaust clean while reducing drying time and energy usage.

With the rise of energy efficient electric cars comes the need to keep a steady supply of fuel at home. Electric vehicle charging stations are a good choice, but oftentimes a faulty installation could lead to more serious problems down the line if installed incorrectly.

Having a professional and qualified electrician install EV chargers helps ensure that the correct voltage is being used and that the amperage will work best for your needs. They will also help you choose the correct model so that the installation location fits the length of the charging cable.

Garages are the perfect place for a handyman’s work station or home office and as a result, many might have power tools and various other electronics connected at all times.

As we mentioned in our energy guide for the living room, vampire appliances could result in wasted energy and time on standby mode. So if you’re using power tools or any other electronics, make sure to unplug them after use to help keep the costs down.

Light bulbs usually consume more electricity than an LED so replacing them is a wise choice. LEDs not only help reduce your carbon footprint, but they also need to be replaced less frequently and consume less energy making them a perfect energy efficient option.

Often times, the lights will be left on as you forget and move to other rooms in your home so consider investing in a light timer which can automatically turn the light off after a set amount of time.

While having a spare refrigerator or freezer in your garage might be a good idea for keeping spare food safe, it’s often wiser to get rid of it or replace it with a more energy efficient model.

If you’re not ready to get rid of the appliance, at least unplug it to help keep unneeded energy from being wasted.