Energy Conscious Consultant

Energy Efficiency: Homeowners Save Money

Energy efficiency can start at home.    The Department of Energy announced last week they are releasing additional funds for homeowners to purchase new energy efficient appliances with the Energy Star rating.  Secretary Steven Chu said,  “appliances consume a huge amount of our electricity, so there is enormous potential to both save energy and save families money every month.”  The goal is to make your home more energy efficient.  The Energy Star rating was designed to make appliances more efficient..  If appliances are efficient, you will use less energy and save money on your electric bill.

Generator Installation: Facts Homeowners Need To Know

There are several guidelines to follow when placing a standby generator.  A generator must be placed 3 feet from wood siding, 18 inches from a brick wall and 5 feet from any windows.  If you place it on a platform, that platform must be fireproof.  It must have a fireproof base underneath the generator.  If you place the generator on the ground, it does not need a platform because one comes with the generator already attached. 

Electrical Emergency: What constitutes An Emergency?

As an electrician, I receive phone calls concerning electrical problems.  If a customer calls me and says it is an emergency and something is burning, I would tell them to go turn off the breaker.  If you don’t know which breaker it is, go turn off the main breaker to you house or the service disconnect.  If it’s not smoking, not burning, not on fire, then it may not an emergency.  You may simply have a problem with a loose wire or an outlet not working properly. If you are unsure, then call an electrician.

If there is a fire, you must turn off the service disconnect immediately.  The service disconnect should not be locked and must be readily accessible to turn your power off in any emergency.  Smoke, burning, or fire is an emergency situation.  To correct your problem, I am available to repair, replace, or install what is necessary.  If your fixture is not working that is not an emergency.  I won’t leave a job to go change a light bulb.  If I receive an emergency call and can not respond to it quickly, I will tell the customer. 

Energy Efficient: Passive Solar Homes

A passive solar house means designing the house to be environmentally connected with nature.  By collecting the sun’s heat and distributing it when needed through floors, walls, and windows, you are able to use the sun’s heat in the winter months and keep the heat out in the summer months. By capturing the sun’s heat for your use, you improve the air quality of a house by eliminating the stale air in your home. 

Passively means to design it without a mechanical ventilation or solar panels.  It is designing the construction to be environmentally friendly, like facing your house in the right direction.  For instance, houses are generally faced in the wrong direction because the way neighborhoods and subdivisions are situated to fit the most people in one area.  Maybe they can’t help that but you can if you are not in a subdivision or an area with high restrictions.  You can help during construction through window placement.  You may need to place a window in a place where you may not want a window because of the sun light.

Electrician Restricted From His Own Work

As an electrician, I was called to a customers' house because a situation was quickly developing. He described his problem as half his house was out of power, then it came back on, then half went out again.  When called out to do a job as an emergency, an electrician will listen to the complaint of the homeowner first.  The homeowner will describe their particular situation.  

I started narrowing down the problem.  I started with with most common problems first and eliminate those.  Then I work myself down the list of usual suspects.  I went first to where the customer says it is switched off on another panel.  I checked the breaker where it is switched and found that it is getting no power to that breaker.  Then I go up to the main and I placed my meter on it to make sure there is full power there.  But this customer was only getting half the power there.  So the next step was to check his meter.

Service Disconnect: Electrician Advisory For Homeowners

As an electrician, I went to turn off the breaker for the circuit that I was working on recently at a customer's house.  I went outside to her main service panel and found it locked.  I went back inside and asked the homeowner why she had it locked.  She thought it would be better for security reasons.  Then I asked her what would happen if she saw smoke in her kitchen spreading quickly around the house.  She said she would go turn off the main panel.  What if you go outside to turn off the panel and realize you didn’t have the key?  What would you do?

Alternative Energy: Pickens' Plan

Do we have a plan for alternative energy in place?  Can we decrease our dependency on foreign oil?   How does that affect you?  The cost of a barrel of oil has been up and down over the past year.  When the cost of gasoline was over $4.00 a gallon, the news highlighted alternative plans to our overseas dependency. T. Boone Pickens was one of those people who came forward with a plan to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.  His plan involved setting up a wind farm in Texas generating enough electricity to power over 1000 homes.  Every one wanted to jump on his band wagon and would do anything not to pay over $4.00 a gallon.  But now that prices have dropped, why aren’t people open to any alternative ideas?

Energy Efficiency: Calculate It in Your Home

Energy efficiency in your home will save you money.  How much money you save will depend upon your usage and your homes’ efficiency.  You hold the power within your hand.  By using less, you are using fewer resources needed to make energy like coal and gas.  If you are using fewer resources, you are creating less green house gas emissions.  This will save on your electric bills and will make the air you breathe cleaner.  The Department of Energy has a Tips Booklet designed to help you save money at home.

Independence Day: Energy Efficiency

Independence Day in the United States is to celebrate our freedom on July 4.  You can celebrate your freedom from your local electric company by going green and becoming energy efficient.

The economy may be down but spending wising may boost your bottom line toward becoming green.  In the long term, buying green will save you money. Remember going green is not the same as energy efficiency.  Going green is more environmental issues that may affect the health of you and your family.  Energy efficiency is reducing your dependency upon the local electric company and reducing your carbon footprint.  According to one of the Shelton Group studies, people buy energy efficient products to feel safe and gain control.