Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Phantom Load

Electrical devises continue to play an increasingly large role in our lives at home and at work.These desvise help us keep our food cold,charge our cell phones operate our televisions keep the house/office light when its dark outside and a wide range of other roles that come with the lifestyle that has become common place.Most of these devises are taken for granted and most of us do not think about the cost of electricity and how much of it is wasted money and costs can be controlled. Many of use will leave lights on when a room is not in use,keep the computers,chargers on when we are not in use.This wasted energy use adds to our electric bill and is known as phantom load. Entertainment devices and other electrical devises left on standby mode can also contribute to phantom load. There are any number of ways that this load can be reduced.Use of smart power strips,timers and sensors can help to reduce phantom load.Learning to keep logs of electric use and learning to turn off electric equipment when not in use can also reduce our electric bills. Purchasing energy efficient appliances that are Energy Star Rated for older devises can also help bring down our energy use. While we will always be using electricial devises,we need to use more efficient devises and lights while using them wisely.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Getting Ready For the Winter

Many of us in the Norteast received a wake up call with the wind storm,Sandy. Communitues in the Norteast and further south suffered power outages, downed trees and power lines and other issues related to the storm. If we can believe the weather forecasters, we can expect more of the same problems that will be compounded by large amouts of snow and ice rather than by water.While we can not prevent the inconviences created by the weather,we can take some actions to limit storm related issues. While the weather is still realatively mild,we can trim trees and bushs. This can help avoid tree limbs causing damage to our or neighbors homes. Cleaning out gutters can help avoid ice dams and other water realated issues.Cleaning and tuning up our heating systems and help to avoid costly mid winter breakdowns and possible freezing of water pipes in the basement. Cleaning air ducts in forced hot air systems,cleaning filters in these systems can be helpful. If you have a hot water tank,try draining part of the water on a monthly basis. These actions can help avoid mid winter issues,help your systems run more economically and help pro long the life of the hot water tanks and heating system.