POWER OUTAGES – PART 2 – PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS How much would a generator cost? How much would batteries cost? There are plenty of online tools and other resources available to give you relatively quick answers, but are they the right answers? Backup power systems can run from several hundred to tens of thousands of dollars, [...]
California’s Quantum Leap in Building Standards Last May, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced a ground-breaking update to the state’s building energy efficiency standards. Starting January 1, 2020, all new buildings in California must have solar. The standards (according to Title 24, Part 6, Building Energy Efficiency Standards) also contain a number of energy efficiency [...]
Q and A With Ray This Q & A pertains to California's Quantum Leap in Building Standards. The questions answered here come from inquiries into concepts, technologies and standard specific rhetoric found in our article on California's rooftop solar mandate. What are heat pump water heaters? A heat pump water heater is an electric household water [...]
Affordable Ways to Cool Your Home Are you looking for a more affordable way to cool your home? Unfortunately, many people these days can't afford to spend the money it takes to get air conditioning installed, much less the cost of operation. Fortunately, there’s an affordable solution! Have you seen the new breed of “Evaporative [...]
Dangerous Electrical Panels There’s a fair chance you own one of the many electrical panels known to be dangerous. They can subject the home to fire danger or, for someone working on them, electrical shock. Do you own a dangerous panel? What are the risks? The following will help answer such questions. Safety is a [...]
This one has been making the rounds around Nevada County lately. “Radiant Barrier Insulation”, “Reflective Insulation” or “Radiant Insulation” are various names applied to products that are typically of dubious merit. While it depends on the circumstances under which and the way they’re installed, they generally don’t perform as advertised, don’t save enough to justify [...]
This spring, Energy Savings Solutions, a free public workshop series taught by industry experts, will provide practical information on building-scale energy efficiency to complement the Grass Valley Energy Action Plan. The goal of the series is to educate and inspire community members to take action to reduce their energy consumption while saving money and benefiting [...]
What Does My Electricity Usage Look Like? Have you ever wondered where your power is going or why your electric bill is bigger than you expected, even after you have installed a solar electric system? Consumption monitoring offers an at-a-glance visual glimpse into your electric usage. Nearly all solar electric systems today are equipped with [...]
Save your hard-earned money and ensure your friends or family do not fall victim to an energy saving scam. After reading this article, you will know how to identify one of these scams! A common energy scam you’re likely to come across is a little box, usually about the size of a wall timer, that [...]
When everyone is using power at the same time, it is very expensive to produce that power. Investor-owned utilities pass this expense onto ratepayers in the form of Time-of-Use (TOU) rate schedules. Mandated by the California Public Utilities Commission, TOU rates encourage consumers to change their behavior to save both energy and money, which translates [...]
