As summer comes to an end, so do those long days and short nights. Now, when you head to work in the morning or the kids go off to school, there is a pretty good chance the sun is just barely breaking the horizon. Although we move are clocks back to make the best of the short winter days, it isn’t enough and we need extra security lighting to make sure we are coming and going with plenty of light brightening our paths. A Burbank electrician can help you enhance the safety of your family’s comings and goings by installing security lights. The Electric Connection has a team of qualified electricians to make this happen.

You have several choices when it comes to picking the right security lighting for your home. Solar lighting is really not an ideal option for the short winter days. While it works great for summer nights, you will want to have something a little more reliable. Electric pathway lights are perfect for illuminating the path between the door and driveway and can be set up on a timer to come on when you need them. Another option is the mounted security light. This can be put up to illuminate a driveway, the pathway to the door or a dark area in your landscaping. This particular type of light is much brighter and can spread light over a large area.

These will need to be installed by an electrician. Burbank homeowners can choose to have these lights on a timer, a manual switch or the common motion-detector system. The timers and motion-detection systems are a little more energy efficient and prevent the light remaining on when it isn’t needed. If you would like to learn more about your options for security lighting, give The Electric Connection a call today.

So, it’s time to sell your home and you’re making upgrades here and there to increase its value. That’s a great idea, but have you spoken to a Dallas electrician yet about potential lighting upgrades? All it takes is a little lighting knowhow and you can increase your home’s value well beyond the initial investment you make before it goes on the market. Here are a few simple ideas from a certified electrician to inspire you.

For more on how lighting can increase your home’s value, please contact a certified electrician at ElectricMan today. ElectricMan is your trusted, local Dallas electrician with 27 years of experience. For more information, visit the ElectricMan website. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Have you considered the thought your house may be in need of a checkup? We visit doctors to make sure we are in good health even if we don’t have any major symptoms. Your house should be afforded the same privilege to make sure it is in good health and does not pose any safety hazards to you and your family. There are things that could be lurking behind the walls that we would never suspect. Electrical problems are often a hidden danger that many homeowners are not aware of until it is too late. A Burbank electrician, like those at The Electric Connection, can give your home a checkup and look for any underlying problems. Taking care of problems before they become serious is always the best prevention of home fires.

An electric safety inspection is one way for an electrician to check out the wiring in the home. If the home is older, the wiring will be evaluated to determine whether or not it is safe or if it needs an upgrade. This is typically only something that is needed if the home is more than 50 years old. Along with the condition of the wiring, the electric panel will also be inspected by the electrician. Burbank homeowners may need to have a breaker replaced or added depending on the needs of people living in the home.

Another facet of an electric safety inspection is to check out the outlets in the home. Any outlets that are not working or have black streaks around the outer casing typically need to be replaced. Loose wires to the outlet can cause an electrical fire and should be taken care of as soon as possible. If you would like to give your home a checkup, give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your appointment.

Santa Monica is a historic city with many beautiful old historic homes. These old homes are solid and graceful, a treasure to own and a pleasure to live in. However, while those sturdy foundations may stand the test of time very well, electrical systems tend to age much less gracefully. And, wired way back when, they certainly were not designed to handle the plethora of appliances and electronics that we use today. But, a number of things can be done to help your historic home handle your modern lifestyle without that electrical system becoming a fire or electrical safety hazard..

Rewiring is the best solution for an outdated electrical system. An electrician in the area with experience in historic houses will be able to update your wiring system without ruining the old-world charm and character of your home. Of course, this option will require a fairly large investment, but if your budget allows, it is the best way to ensure that your home will be safe from the risk of electrical malfunctions and the hazardous situations they can cause. However, if upgrading on such a large scale is not a practical option for you, there are some simple safety upgrades that your Santa Monica electrician can perform to add some protection against electrical issues in your home.

For instance, having your electrician install crucial safety devices, such as arc fault circuit interrupters, or AFCIs, and ground fault circuit interrupters, or GFCIs, can decrease the risk of electrical injury or fire in your home significantly. Call the Electric Connection for a free electrical safety inspection and advice on electrical upgrades that can help ensure that your Santa Monica home will be safe and secure for many years to come. To find TheElectricConnection.com website, simple type in electrician Santa Monica CA, and you’ll see our website come up on the first page. We’ll give you complete peace of mind, because we’ve been upgrading the wiring on older Santa Monica homes since 1979.

Nearly every single person living in the United States relies on the electrical grid. It's how electricity gets from the power plant to your home, powering your devices and appliances. With no grid, none of the electrical work in your home will function – no television, no air conditioning and no electric lights. Our grid is changing, however, taking advantage of evolving technology on both the distribution and consumer side of the equation. Read on to learn more about how our electrical grid will evolve to meets the needs of the 21st century.

How to Balance Supply and Demand

The electrical grid is not a single object, but rather a giant network of power plants and transmission lines that spans the entire nation. In order for electricity to flow from the generating stations into your home’s electrical work, the grid needs to be able to meet the demand at any given time and place. This can be an enormous challenge – if there is too little production, consumers can be subject to annoying and damaging brownouts. Ramping up generation to meet variable demand is expensive and inefficient, however.

Some utilities solve the problem with time-of-day pricing, charging more during the day and less at night to smooth out demand. Smart technology, however, will allow us to fine-tune the grid even further to increase efficiency, improve communication and mitigate blackouts or other power outages.

Smart Meters and Dispersed Generation

Smart meters are one of the first steps toward our new grid. These meters track residential electrical consumption in real time and can communicate with the utility company instantaneously. They can allow producers to better predict demand, respond immediately to dips and spikes, and further refine variable pricing structures that incentivize people to use less electricity during peak hours. Smart meters also give homeowners the power to see where and when they are putting the most stress on their electrical work, allowing them to adjust their behavior strategically.

Changes are coming to the generation side as well. Traditionally, the electrical grid is powered by large, centralized power plants, but residential solar installations mean that generation is becoming more widely distributed. Wind generation is also becoming an ever-larger factor in our nation's energy supply. This means that the grid needs to be updated to become more flexible and adaptable, but there is a large payoff in sight – the more dispersed that power generation becomes, the more resilient the grid will be in the event of an outage, with smaller regions able to supply themselves with emergency power if they are cut off from the centralized system.

Makes Tomorrow's Energy Grid Work for You

No one knows exactly what the power grid will look like 100 years from now, but the nation is well on its way to updating its electrical infrastructure to meet the needs of this century. If you have any concerns about how your electrical work will interface with the power grid of the future, or need any other work done on the wiring and circuitry in your home, call an expert electrician today.