In other articles on this site, I have talked about using smart plugs for controls with recirc pumps. The beauty of these various smart plugs; however, is that they can control numerous appliances and features–not just a pump. For example, in my own home, I have converted various appliances that Read more…
Some recent research is showing that “zero-energy homes is almost to cost parity”. What does this mean in plain English? First, here’s wikipedia’s explanation of “zero-energy”: [when the] total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the Read more…
When performing in-home audits for our clients, I often find that a number of our clients have bathrooms with heated floors. These are floors that have electric mats wired underneath the surface and the goal of the setup is to provide a warm floor whenever one steps in–day or night. Read more…
One logo. Big impact. Have you ever seen this sky blue logo on an appliance or device? Most people know that it means something good and is probably related to energy efficiency. You’ve seen this logo on everything from dishwashers to light fixtures, housing project signs and even utility company Read more…
When it comes to saving money in your home, we take the biggest hit from our electricity bill more times than not. But if you could spend a little to save a whole lot, would you? One of the biggest trending money-saving methods is use $20 smart power strip. Click Read more…
When you are out shopping for LED lightbulbs you are going to notice a few key terms: Watts (W) Lumens (LM) Base Model Brightness Watts measure the “power” of a lightbulb. For decades, besides the people mainly chose lightbulbs by wattage (25W means 25 watts and 100W means 100 watts). Read more…
Did you know conventional light bulbs produce a large amount of heat that not only leads to them burning out but also makes your utility bills go up for nothing? Well, now I know why my “green friends” have advised me to switch to LED light bulbs for so long. Read more…
I had to look into the rising cost of heating my home recently. For someone new to this, I learned a lot quite quickly about something most of us don’t ever think about: how your home stays warm in the winter. It’s the furnace. Here’s what I learned about how Read more…
Many of our clients have “recirc” (or recirculation) pumps in their utility rooms or basements attached to a hot water heater. Some clients have more than one recirc pump, depending on the size of their home and their needs. The purpose of a recirc pump is to keep hot water Read more…
If you don’t know what a recirc pump does, I explained it previously. It is possible to control the timer for your recirc pump (and other devices) by using the following: a recirc pump with a 110V wire plug Amazon’s Alexa a Smart plug like the TP-Link Kasa plug a 3rd Read more…