Monday, May 16, 2011

Have You Upgraded Yet?

Get Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)

POSTED ON MAY 15TH, 2011 BY ADMIN | EDIT

So you’ve been thinking about doing what you can to go green, and you want to start with something simple like lighting. Using compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) instead of regular incandescent light bulbs is the right approach because CFLs have a higher efficacy and operating life. Efficacy is a measurement used to describe how much lighting (measured in lumens) can be produced by a bulb after giving it a certain amount of power (measured in watts). In other words, the higher the efficacy the better.

Regular light bulbs have an efficacy of 10-17 lumens per watt, and an average operating life of 750-2500 hours. CFLs on the other hand can generate about same amount of lighting by using approximately a quarter of the power that regular bulbs use, and CLFs can last up to 10 times longer. In addition CFLs produce only about 10% of the heat that regular light bulbs produce.

Sounds great right??? …ehm one of you may say, but wait, I was at the store the other day and I saw that the cost of CFLs was 3 to 10 times MORE than regular bulbs that can give me the same amount of lighting… I wanna save money, CFLs are not for me.. ok, well let’s look at this closely using a US Department of Energy post on CFLs… assuming you leave the light on in a room for 6 hours per day, and your electric utility company charges you at a rate of 11.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, you can look at the table below and see that you would have actually SAVED MONEY by buying CFLs:

	25-Watt Compact Fluorescent	100-Watt Incandescent
Cost of Lamps	$3.40	$0.60
Lamp Life	1,667 days (4.5 years)	167 days
Annual Energy Cost	$6	$25
Lamps Replaced in 4.5 years	0	10
Total Cost	$29	$134
Savings Over Lamp Life	$105	0

Yep, you would have had $105 in your pocket after 4.5 years… I don’t know about you, but I would gladly spend that on Chipotle over the course of 4.5 years.. ok we digress, but you get the point: CFLs for the win! For more information on CFLs and a great buyer’s guide, visit thisgreat Energy Star website. And as always, if you are interested in getting a more thorough energy efficiency audit for your home or small business, where you can learn about other things you can do to become part of the solution, start you search for an auditor on sobuka.com by clicking here.

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DIY Steps to Go Green

DIY Steps to Go Green – Window Weatherization

Posted on May 15th, 2011 by admin

Did you know that there are many simple things that you can do on your own to weatherize your home and save money on your heating bill? One starting point is with your windows. This applies to most windows, but it’s even more useful for people that are living in an old drafty house with original windows. Ok, let’s get started.

Materials

seal and peel caulk, like the one here

heat shrinking film, like the one here (this kit includes 2 rolls of double-sided tape)

scissors and a hair-dryer

The Process

Clean your window first. You want to wipe the windowsill and window frame with a clean wet rag, and remove any moisture with a clean dry rag. Cleaning thoroughly allows for the double-sided tape to stick well.

Apply the caulk to any gaps you have between the window and its frame. This applies to all the windows that you do not intend to open during the Winter. If the gap between the window and the frame is large, just fill it up. The caulk can be easily peeled off later, so don’t worry about losing the chance to open your windows when Spring comes around.

Apply the window film to your window. This process requires several steps:

Apply a single piece of double-sided tape all the way around your window, by starting with the windowsill and going around the entire frame of the window. Make sure you don’t leave any openings at the corners. You should have a single piece of tape spanning the entire circumference of the window when you’re done. Wait a minute or two for the tape to create a nice bond with the windowsill and surrounding frame.

Cut out a good portion of the window film such that it covers your entire window, and it has some excess material all-around, just in case you may need it. Attach the window film to the double-sided tape, all around the window. A good technique is to start at the top middle side of your window, and work your way outward to the left and right sides, and then finish up at the bottom, on the windowsill.

Use a hair-dryer to shrink the film. Start at the top edges/sides, and slowly work your way towards the middle. As you heat-up the window film, you’ll notice the film starts to shrink, making your insulation stretch tight like a drum.

When you’re done stretching the film, and if you’re happy with your results, carefully trim the excess film.

You should now have a nice clean and clear sheet of film covering your entire window, thus allowing you to keep that heat that you pay for inside the house. We’ll add a video to this article as soon as we get to it, so hopefully it will make the process even more clearer and easy to follow

Tags: weatherization, windows

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 15th, 2011 at 11:58 am and is filed under Do it Yourself, Energy Audits, Environment, Featured Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

via sobuka.com

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Sure Glad These Days Are Over. Hate snow

Winter Storm…Power Outages…Good time for Solar!

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 8TH, 2010 BY SULAIMAN

The Blizzard of 2010 dumped 20+ incheson snow in the Washington,DC Metropolitan area leaving many without power. When there is no power there is a lack of other necessities such as HEAT and COMMUNICATION but you can be prepared next time. No I’m not talking about a stock pile of candles or flash lights nor generators…How about SOLAR. That’s RIGHT…Solar Power from the Sun. Solar power can make you INDEPENDENT from your utility company…No need to wait and depend on your utility companies when you have your own power. There are several options which are affordable.

Option # 1 (Permanent Solar Install on your home)

A permanent solar install can be a little expensive just looking at average cost but after many federal and state incentives for homeowners investing in renewable energy the install can become very affordable. The great thing about using solar is that your home will generate its own power without the need of a utility company. Matter of fact, you can even earn money from the utility company when you produce more power than you actually use…this is called “Net Metering”. Another advantage of going solar is that Solar Panels continue to generate power for your home even in the snow! No more Power Outages due to winter storms.

Option # 2 (Portable Solar System)

A portable solar system can be used to power small electronic devices during a power outage such as a portable heater, a small refrigerator, lamps, laptops, radios,and etc. Whatever you decide is the most important thing to have where there is a power outage.

Feel free to take a few steps in the right direction by getting quotes from our green contractors for solar or wind energy services, energy efficiency audits, or green remodeling projects by going to our homepage and doing a quick search with your zipcode (currently supporting DC, MD, VA only).

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