Will Los Angeles Drivers Ever Switch to Electric Cars?

Electric cars have been driving L.A. roads in large numbers since 2003. The Toyota Prius is a type of electric vehicle (EV), a “hybrid.” Despite a price tag of about $36,000, Toyota says that by December 2009, it had sold over 800,000 Priuses in the U.S. Its engine is powered by both electricity from a battery and by burning gas in its internal combustion engine. The battery is charged whenever the driver puts a foot on the brake. Braking triggers a mechanism that generates electricity and stores it in the car’s battery. In 2009, the Toyota Prius was rated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the most fuel-efficient car on the road, averaging 50 miles per gallon.

The Big Leap Forward – Plug-in Electric VehiclesA plug-in EV can be plugged into a regular electrical outlet or special charger to charge the battery. It is currently not possible for drivers of a Prius to charge the battery by plugging into anything, only by stepping on the brakes. There is a big change coming this year when the new plug-in electric cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, are fully launched.

The Nissan Leaf, at about $33,000, began deliveries in L.A. in December 2010. The Chevy Volt at about $40,000, will begin deliveries in L.A. early in 2010. While these prices may seem high, they’re effectively lowered by government tax and rebate incentives.

President Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union speech, set an objective of one million EVs on the road in the U.S. by 2015, four years from now. The Administration’s goals, of course, are to reduce our dependence on oil, deal with air pollution and climate change, and create new, green jobs. The federal government gives a tax credit of up to $7,500 to buyers of the Leaf and Volt. The State of California, on a first-come-first-served basis has limited funds available to give EV buyers up to an additional $5,000 as a rebate on purchase. These incentives can lower the effective price of EVs so that they’re competitive with similar gas-burning cars, especially when considering the savings on fuel year in and year out.

The Leaf had a waiting list of 40,000 buyers when it started delivery in L.A. in late December 2010. The Chevy Volt is expected to start delivering vehicles to L.A. buyers early in 2011. Several other car companies are developing EV models. By 2012, there will likely be a dozen different EVs for sale in L.A. including a plug-in version of the Prius.

The actual number of electric vehicles that will be sold in L.A. is hard to predict. A 2009 University of California study determined that even if gas prices rise only slightly, by 2030 about 75% of new car sales will be electric. If gas prices jump, we’ll start hitting 75% of new car sales a lot sooner. The safest thing one can say about plug-in EV sales in Los Angeles is that they’re starting now in a big way and they will be increasing over the years.

We at The Electric Connection install chargers for electric vehicles. Click here for more information on installation of EV chargers. 

Tired of breaking the bank just to keep up with the Joneses? Forget fancy cars and other status symbols. How about a way to maintain a friendly neighborly competition that actually involves saving money instead of spending? Americans have a wealth of resources at their disposal to empower families to cut back on energy consumption and reduce their electricity bills, but we don't do a stellar job of taking advantage of that information. Recent research, however, has shown that homeowners are more likely to take efficiency measures with their electrical work when they can compare their own consumption to that of their neighbors.

Whose Bill is the Lowest?

The experiment took place last summer, when the Vermont utility company Green Mountain Power worked with Opower, a software company that specializes in behavioral economics. During very hot days when air conditioning use was expected to be high, the utility reached out to customers with tips on reducing the amount of energy they need to power their home electrical work.

Afterward, the utility gave a report which ranked households in the neighborhood based on how well they had done on cutting back. By the end of the summer, electricity consumption among Green Mountain customers had dropped by five percent during hot days. That's some serious savings!

Peer Pressure at its Best

That five percent resulted from simple behavioral changes like bumping the thermostat up a few degrees and using curtains to block out sunlight during the hottest part of the day – no major investments or new equipment needed, just a little peer pressure. This research should be useful in helping understand what motivates people to save energy in order to develop more effective outreach programs for utility companies around the country.

One of the big takeaways is that the utility didn't give its customers any kind of incentives or payments to change their behavior – just the money they saved through efficiency, and the bragging rights of being more conservation-minded than their neighbors.

"Some of the decisions we make are not entirely rational, and they are due to a lack of context," Kevin Hamilton, Opower's vice president of marketing, said to Utility Drive, "and by providing that context you can encourage individuals to adjust their usage in ways that can benefit both the customer and the utility as well."

Little Changes Mean Big Savings

People come up with all kinds of reasons not to implement efficiency measures: It costs too much in initial capital, they are too busy to think about it, or they simply don't think the savings are worthwhile. But the reality is that even making small behavioral changes can add up in the long run.

If you want to decrease the cost of your electrical work and impress your neighbors, have a qualified home services technician perform an energy audit on your house to identify the most cost-effective ways for you to cut back.

When in prime working condition, air ducts are a great option for distributing heated and cooled air throughout one’s home. However, serious problems can arise when those air ducts are compromised in any way. If you find that you encounter any of the issues detailed below when heating and/or cooling your home, let a member of our staff know immediately. We are more than happy to meticulously complete your duct testing services in Boston, MA. Armed with the information gathered, our IAQ technicians can go about determining precisely what the best course of action for your situation may be. Give FB Electrical Services a call today to schedule your duct testing services with a consummate professional.

Are you perfectly comfortable in your living room, only to enter your bedroom and feel anything but? It could be due to air leaks in the ductwork servicing that area of the house. If air is leaking out of your air ducts, you really don’t know precisely where it is going to end up; it will not be, though, where it ought to be.

Have you noticed that your heating and cooling costs have spiked, despite the fact that you have not been using your HVAC system in an abnormal manner? It too could indicate that you have leaky ductwork. While the conditioned air distributed by the system will wind up somewhere, it is not guaranteed to wind up where it should be. This can lead your HVAC system to work overtime as it tries to sufficiently heat or cool areas affected by air leaks.

Don’t ignore strange hissing sounds coming from your HVAC system when it is running. Yes, your heater and/or air conditioner is going to make some noise as it operates. However, this hissing sound can actually be the sound of air actively escaping your ductwork. The only way to be sure if your air ducts are compromised is to schedule professional duct testing services.

If you cut back on your energy usage, you will be a happier person -- and not just because of all the money you'll save on your electricity bill. It turns out many of the activities that make people happier, like sleeping and socializing, are those that involve little or no household energy. That's according to a study released by the University of California at Berkeley that found that a blissful lifestyle is perfectly congruent with a low carbon footprint.

"A number of the least energy intensive activities that I found -- sleeping, socializing, hobbies, and so forth -- are enriching personally," study author John Kantenbacher told the Washington Post. "So they make people happy to do them, but they also are relatively low consuming activities."

The report breaks down five of the most beneficial activities and how they help save energy:

So the next time someone asks you why you are so happy, just smile and tell them it's because of your energy-efficient lifestyle.