Your computer system is essential to your business. But are you protected in the event of a serious power surge? Most companies aren’t, which means they’re playing with fire when it comes to the essential system that powers their company.

A serious power surge can severely damage your computers, causing thousands of dollars in repairs and replacement—and that doesn’t even account for the priceless data that you could lose. And even aside from serious damage to your computer system, your computers require a lot of electricity, which can cause frequent tripped breakers and power outages, and damage productivity of your office.

The most reasonable solution is to install a dedicated circuit breaker for your computer system. Not only will this protect your computers and your business, but it will improve productivity and give you ease-of-mind. Our licensed, trained electricians can install dedicated circuitry for the computers in your office to prevent slowdown and correct any electrical problems you may experience throughout the day.

Like in any other building, all electricity that enters your office travels through your circuit breaker before being fed into the different parts of your business. Each circuit is protected by a breaker, and to protect against electrical hazards, certain medium and heavy duty appliances require their own circuit or a “dedicated circuit.”

Too many items plugged into the same outlet, or several outlets connected to the same circuit, creates a lot of “noise” that consists of fluctuations in electronic current. This noise can cause problems for sensitive electronic equipment that can be damaged by mini-surges and fluctuations in power.

Without an appropriate dedicated circuit, an appliance may draw more current than the circuit can handle. This can lead to a number of problems, including causing the wiring to overheat and potentially start an electrical fire. Dedicated computer circuitry reduces this danger, allowing you to run your computers without risk of outages or worse.

The type of in-wall wiring and cables you choose for your home will largely depend on what kind of signal you need to carry, where you’re going to route the wire, and how far the signal will have to travel between your various peripherals. Whatever type of wiring you choose to go with, you want to be sure you get one that’s rated for in-wall use by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL). This is usually going to be indicated with a CL2 or CL3 rating when it comes to speaker wire and audio/video cables. A good number of Ethernet cables are rated for in-wall use as well, usually indicated with a CM, CMR, or CMP rating. When choosing the right rating for each specific type of wiring, the UL looks at a range of different factors, including the heat being generated from current flowing through the wire, how quickly the cable will catch and spread fire when exposed to flame, and the wire’s vulnerability to damage from external stresses.

It is also important to look for a cable that’s rated for your specific needs. For instance, you are going to want cable that is rated as CL2P or CL3P if you are planning to run it in your heating ducts, or if you are looking to run your cable underground to connect to your outdoor speakers, you will want to make sure your cable is rated for direct burial. It should also be noted that when you are making the decision of what custom wiring you will need for your home, you need to be aware of your local fire codes and make your selections accordingly.

When you are looking for the right type of speaker wire for your home, there are two things you need to factor into your decision: the gauge and number of conductors. The gauge of wiring you choose should depend on how far the wire is going to have to travel from the receiver to the speaker. Significant power loss can occur over long runs of wiring, reducing your system’s performance. This might not be a significant issue in a single-room setup, but it is something to keep in mind if you are looking at a multi-room system. In terms of conductors, speaker cable comes with two or four. Two should be all you need for wiring a single speaker, but if you are looking at doing a multi-room setup, or a system with volume controls, you will mostly likely want four.

No home wiring setup would be complete without a solid Ethernet setup, but knowing which type of wiring to use can be a little confusing. When you are looking to create a wired computer network in your home, or carrying audio/video and control signals all across the home, CAT-5 cables have been the standard for a long time, but a better option these days might be to look at CAT-5e or CAT-6 cables. These newer cables are able to pass more data along the wire at a much faster rate than the older wires. The CAT-5e and CAT-6 wiring options are also backwards compatible with devices that were designed to work with the older CAT-5 wiring, meaning you won’t have to buy all new equipment. Ethernet cabling actually stands up to interference better than almost all audio/visual cables, which is a large reason it has become so popular in recent years for whole-house audio/video systems. It can also be a more cost-effective option to run long lengths of Ethernet cabling than it can be to run the same length in audio/video cable.

The future of electricity production in the United States is very much in flux. When President Obama introduced his Clean Power Plan, it was an indication that the days of fossil fuel dominance could be on the wane. If coal, oil and natural gas are on their way out as the nation's primary energy sources, however, what will fill the void?

The Game-Changing Energy Option

Renewable resource technologies like wind and solar are an option, or perhaps a resurgence of nuclear fission energy could fill the space left by fossil fuels. There is another dark horse in the market, though – a technology that has long teased cheap, clean fuel but to this day has not yet delivered: nuclear fusion. Although fusion has so far failed to live up to its rosy promises, some analysts believe it could reach the U.S. market in a decade and change the way we power our electrical work forever.

Big names like Lockheed Martin, Amazon, Microsoft and others are all working on or sponsoring various fusion projects that at least have a chance to go commercial. The potential payoff is simply too big to ignore. A functional fusion generator could create power without burning fossil fuels or creating harmful emissions or waste, with no danger of meltdown and at a far greater efficiency than wind or solar. We could power the entire country's electrical work in a green, inexpensive manner.

How Fusion Works

In a way, fusion is already the most common source of energy on Earth – it's how the sun produces the heat and light that help sustain life on our planet. Fusion in the sun occurs when the nuclei of hydrogen atoms bond together to make helium. Humans have been trying for decades to create a similar power source here on Earth, on a much smaller scale, but so far without success. As one popular saying tells us, fusion power is thirty years in the future, and always will be.

However, researchers and entrepreneurs aren't willing to throw in the towel. Scientists are trying to create fusion using other fuels, like deuterium oxide, of which a single gram can create enough energy to power a home's electrical work for a year. The problem is, to create fusion on Earth, we need to create extremely high temperatures (think 100 million degrees Celsius) and don't currently have a way to do it without consuming far more energy than we create.

New Technology Leading the Way

The firms working on fusion today are breaking out new technologies, pumping gas into vacuum chambers to create plasma and bombarding it with microwaves to raise the temperature. Whether anyone can make the process viable in a cost-effective and large-scale way is yet to be seen.

Fusion could be just around the corner, or it could still be a long ways off. In the meantime, if you want to learn about cheaper or more efficient ways to power your home electrical work today, call an expert electrician who can lay out the options available in your area.

The availability of cheap electronic goods combined with our ever-advancing world of technology are rapidly creating a worldwide crisis. E-waste, or electronic waste, resulting from consumers improperly disposing of old equipment without a second glance, is taking its toll not only on the environment, but on the population as well.

The fastest growing waste stream in many countries, e-waste includes any item that utilizes a battery or plugs into an electrical outlet for operation.

Twenty five U.S. states have laws requiring e-waste recycling, which is typically free to consumers, however comprehensive federal laws have not yet been established. 15 states have landfill disposal bans on electronic waste. For information on your state, contact theNational Center for Electronics Recycling.

In cooperation with HirePatriots, a program of parent non-profit Patriotic Hearts dedicated to providing jobs for U.S. veterans and support services for their families, Mr. Electric® offers complete, professional electronic waste management solutions. As part of the Veterans Green Projects, HirePatriots is leading the way in providing safe e-waste recycling and disposal. Contact Mr. Electric today for all your e-waste management needs. With the help of HirePatriots, we can help you safely and responsibly recycle or dispose of your used electronic gadgets and appliances. Your world – and your family - is counting on you.