Green Energy Solutions = $$$$ saved
Here are some “Green” electrical solutions recommendations from Mike Holmes for your home or business!
Green Ideas – to lighten the impact of electricity on the environment and on your wallet:
Electricity is financially costly as well as environmentally costly. By “greening” your electrical consumption, we can lighten the environmental impact and financial impact of your electrical usage.
Holmes Electric has many Bright “Green” Ideas for your consideration:
CEILING FANS
Installing a ceiling fan can bring numerous energy saving benefits to your home. Most ceiling fans use only about as much power as a 100 watt light bulb. When used properly, ceiling fans can save you money in utility bills in both the winter and summer months.
In the summer months, a ceiling fan offers the greatest energy saving benefits. While a ceiling fan does not necessarily lower the temperature, it does make the room feel cooler by providing a circulatory breeze. Effective air circulation can make you feel up to 8 degrees cooler, and reduce air conditioning bills by up to 40%.
In the winter months, by reversing your fan, it will push the warm air back down from the ceiling. This pushes warm air up against the ceiling and then down the walls, gently circulating warm air through the room without causing a chilling breeze. This technique has been proven to lower home or office heating costs by as much as 10% by offsetting the HVAC work load.
DIMMERS
Dimmer switches are a nice touch to any room. They can soften the light level in a home, save you money on your electric bill and also significantly increase the life of your light bulbs.
|
Dimming Your Lights |
Saves you Electricity |
Makes your bulbs last |
|
10% |
10% |
2 times longer |
|
25% |
20% |
4 times longer |
|
50% |
40% |
20 times longer |
|
75% |
60% |
>20 times longer |
This makes a big difference if you happen to use expensive bulbs, or if they are in hard to reach locations.
LIGHT BULBS
There’s no question that changing your existing incandescent bulbs to either a Compact Fluorescent bulb (CFL) or a LED style bulb will give you energy-savings you want and the high quality lighting you expect.
WHY CHOOSE CFL OR LED BULBS?
- Save money: on energy and bulb replacement costs,
- Save energy: up to 75% less energy,
- Lasts up to 10 times longer,
- Turn on flicker free,
- Most provide the same light output but use less wattage,
- If used everywhere in your home, it will cut your total household electricity consumption by 7%.
MOTION SENSORS
Save energy with motion sensors by having them installed into in low-traffic areas of your home, such as your garage, closet, bathroom, porch, basement, attic, or laundry room. When someone enters one of these spaces, the sensor catches their movement and switches on the light. Otherwise, it remains dark. This ensures that your lights don’t get left on needlessly for hours or even days.
PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTATS
The average household spends more than $2,200 a year on energy bills – nearly half of which goes to heating and cooling. You can save about $180 a year by having Holmes Electric install and properly set a programmable thermostat in your home. Using a programmable thermostat in your home is one of the easiest ways you can save energy, money, and help fight global warming. A programmable thermostat helps make it easy for you to save money, by offering four pre-programmed settings to regulate your home’s temperature in both summer and winter, and when you are asleep or away.
SURGE PROTECTORS
Every home gets hit with 8 to 20 surges every day. Most of these surges are minor in nature, however they breakdown many electrical components in your home, ultimately decreasing their life expectancy. Larger surges have a greater effect and may completely destroy electronics in your home. To remedy this problem, we recommend installing a surge protector on your electrical system. This will protect all your electronic components in your home, including your: furnace, washer, dryer, stove, fridge, television, stereo equipment and more; giving them longer life and saving you money.
TIMERS
Timers are an easy way to reduce your energy consumption. The use of timers alleviates the problem of having electricity being left on continuously. You can benefit from timers being installed on various electrical components in your home, such as: lights, ventilation systems, heaters, or even hot water tanks. Timers can be used either indoor or outdoor. They are great for outdoor lighting, holiday lighting, and to leave preset while you are on vacation. Timers provide convenience and safety while saving you energy and money.
SAVE WATER
Use less Hot water. Wash laundry in cold water whenever you can. Install low-flow shower heads.
TURN IT OFF
Shutting off Lights and Electronic Devices when not in use saves 1000’s of lbs. of Carbon Dioxide per year.
SPREAD THE WORD! SET AN EXAMPLE.
Encourage your friends and family to take steps towards a Greener planet!
