American’s across the nation will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day next weekend.  Green banners, drinks, shirts, and decorations of all kinds will be out in full force as we celebrate heritage and friends.  Then again, why limit being green to just one weekend?  Why limit it to outer colors and anti-pinching shirts?  This weekend is a great time to start planning for how to improve the energy footprint of your home and start the path towards a greener life.  The best news?  While some methods for turning your home green require a little bit of upfront cost, most don’t!

Cleaning – Strange isn’t it?  A clean home, free of dust, actually improves energy efficiency.  Dust clogs air ducts and coats heating elements and pipes.  If the back of your refrigerator is dusty it will cool less efficiently since it can’t release heat properly.  Dusting and cleaning your home will help reduce stress on your appliances and improve their energy efficiency.

Regulate Heat – You can reduce how often your central air runs during the day and night by regulating and preserving the heat within your home.  While you may need to improve insulation to prevent heat transfer, you can reduce it by closing your curtains and opening them.  Just remember that heat always travels to where it’s coldest, so use curtains to block heat from travelling where it shouldn’t.

Turn Off Lights and Appliances – Yes, we use many smart systems today, but turning off lights and leaving power—hungry devices unplugged is still one of the best ways to prevent energy loss each month.

Water Heaters – These units expend a great deal of energy to keep water hot for your home.  Insulate the tank and the pipes around it to keep water warm for longer.  If you haven’t ever had the unit maintained, call a plumber to drain and clean out the tank.  Sediment reduces heating efficiency in the unit.

Expensive but Effective Energy Solutions

If you’re willing to spend a little money you can get even greater increase on home energy efficiency.  The first step is to replace your lighting.  Upgrading to CFL or LED lamps is an excellent way to reduce both your light bill and your cooling costs during the summer.  We recommend swapping out lights as needed to reduce startup costs.  Though it’s best to purchase LEDs in packs from the same manufacturer to make sure that they have the same color temperature.

Upgrades and replacements are ideal for energy efficiency.  Replacing an inefficient appliance, whether it’s a dish washer, water heater, or furnace, is going to have huge benefits when it comes time to pay your monthly bill.  And you’ll find that many of these appliances are eligible for an energy rebate credit to help with the initial costs.

Finally, upgrading your home with solar panels is one of the best ways to turn your home into the greenest building on the block.  They’re expensive, but solar panels can replace the costs for heating, cooling, and light in your home completely.

For the best in quality electrical repair work and installations, contact the professionals at Custom Electric!  Be sure to check back here each week for helpful advice, news, and guides or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Categories: Residential« Extension Cord Safety  |  

Looking to hire the best electrician you possibly can in MD, DC or VA? We don’t blame you. As the economy faces serious challenges and uncertainties, families are forced to live on a stricter budget. Companies throughout the DC Metropolitan area must also operate on a much tighter budget than years past. It only makes sense for you to wonder exactly how to hire an electrician. You want to hire a reliable, quality electrician who can answer your questions and solve any electrical problems you may be having. Here at Kolb Electric, we thought it would be helpful to create a guide for selecting the best electrician.

There are so many electricians in the MD, DC and VA market that it can be difficult selecting one!. To make a list of prospective contractors, get recommendations from your family and friends. If you cannot get any, search online to compile a list of local electrical contractors. This is an important first step in finding the best electrician to meet your needs.

After you’ve prepared a short list of prospective electrical contractors, you may still be wondering how to hire an electrician. One thing you can do is to check the licensing credentials of these electrical contractors. The best electricians are trained, skilled and experienced. You can use the Internet to determine whether a prospective electrical contractor is licensed or not, and you can also check whether the license is still valid or not. An electrician without a license or with an invalid license should raise big red flags!

You should also use the Internet to read reviews posted by others who have some experience working with the prospective electricians you have on your list. This is an excellent way to determine the best electrician for you. However, you should approach these results with a grain of salt. Someone with a bad experience is more likely to post something negative online than someone who has had a great experience. Always put more stock in what you’ve heard from family and friends.

When you reach the point where you have a list of just a few quality prospective electrical contractors, the next step is to contact them so you can secure and compare quotes. Keep track of exactly what services the contractors claim they will provide when compiling quotes. Since your list now features only quality contractors, cost is the next factor you should focus on.

Finally, in order to really know you’re hiring the best electrician you can, ask a lot of questions to prospective contractors. The quality of their answers can go a long way in helping you hire the best electrician. Ask contractors what experience they have dealing specifically with the electrical problem you have.

We hope this helps you better understand how to hire an electrician. There are several steps involved, but they are all essential to helping you select the best electrician you possibly can!

At Kolb Electric, we have specialized in providing professional electrical service since 1925. Impeccable customer service and attention to detail has allowed us to become one of the best electricians in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia. Our electricians are:

Contact Kolb Electric for all of your electrical needs. Our licensed, professional electricians are ready to service you 24 hours a day, for all of your commercial and residential electrical needs. No job is too small or large!

Summer colors are abloom with table and floor lamps, wall lights, ceiling light fixtures and fabulous wall décor featuring the finest in stained glass and quality finishing from Meyda Lighting.

Choose from all new Meyda Tiffany designs or build your own craftsman style fixtures and customize decorative stained glass lamps; Meyda Lighting offers the finest in stained glass light fixtures, wall art and home décor.

For over 36 years, Meyda Tiffany has delivered top quality stained glass with a magnificent assortment of table and floor lamps, ceiling pendants, wall sconces and decorative accessories.

Named for its founders “Meyer” and “Ida,” Meyda Tiffany took root when Meyer Cohen built a stained glass window for his wife Ida.  What began as a hobby turned into America’s leading and oldest manufacturer of custom and decorative lighting.

Still a family-run business, Meyda remains committed to providing top quality Tiffany-style products, representing a wide range of fashions from traditional to eclectic.  Through a series of strong cooperative relationships with several small handicraft workshops overseas, Meyda’s designers work closely with quality stained glass studios to ensure a superb finished product.

Ever-expanding to offer luminous and brilliant lamps and decorative accessories, Meyda recently acquired Quality Bent Glass Company (QBG). The originator of many notable stained glass concepts, including the famous Coca-Cola chandeliers, QBG has been seamlessly incorporated into the Meyda Tiffany family.

Meyda utilizes QBG’s original tools, molds and techniques to create nostalgic lighting products much like those offered at Tiffany Studios in NYC in the early 1900’s.

With the purchase of Mecco Art, a metal art studio, Meyda Tiffany further expanded their range with state-of-the-art equipment and novel manufacturing techniques to produce spectacular custom crafted lighting and décor under the Meyda Custom Lighting brand.

Under Meyda Lighting Brand, thousands of decorative styles are offered throughout fine home lighting and home decor dealers in the United States and Canada.

The works of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Dirk Van Erp, Gustav Stickley and other outstanding masters inspires many of Meyda’s lighting designs.  Artistic compositions include Arts and Crafts light fixtures, as well as Rustic, Gothic, Revival and Contemporary lamps and decor.

Meyda’s extensive line encompasses outdoor lighting, too. Wall sconces, stained glass windows, fireplace screens, billiard/kitchen island fixtures, and novelty items are also featured in their repertoire of stylized lighting and home décor.

The creative energy at Meyda is astounding, as new styles and magnificent colors in hand-painted glass continue to enchant and illuminate with the utmost in elegance and sophistication. Meyda continues to implement one of the industry’s most extensive product development programs.

Whether you are searching for a bit of nature in sunflowers, wisteria and dragonflies or a hand-painted flush fixture reminiscent of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” Meyda Tiffany will delight your senses with eye-catching illumination.

Special order or choose from a grand selection of table lamps, floor lamps, ceiling pendants, flush fixtures, and wall lights.  Opt for a Tiffany-style table lamp or custom design your signature stained glass kitchen island light with Meyda Tiffany. Now available at 1800lighting.com, Meyda Tiffany is blooming with new summer colors.