You already have a smart phone – maybe even a smart thermostat. What's next? Believe it or not, refrigerators are next in the line of devices with advanced features and technology to improve our domestic lives. A new smart fridge, manufactured by GE, is scheduled to come on the market this spring.

Welcome to the Future

For the average household, the refrigerator is the third-largest energy drain after the HVAC system and the hot water heater. That means there's a lot of room to improve on efficiency.

Your garden-variety refrigerator really only has one setting to manipulate: the temperature. And the EPA recommends setting it between 35 and 38 degrees, so there's not a lot of leeway in that regard before you risk spoiling your food. The real value in a smart fridge  is in its communication with you, reminding you to adjust your behavior and not waste any unnecessary energy.

For example, if you leave the door open, a smart fridge can alert you to close it rather than wasting all that cold air. If it's time to clean the coils, it gives you a heads up, so it can continue to operate at peak efficiency. If the power usage suddenly spikes for no apparent reason, the fridge lets you know so you can have it serviced to correct the problem.

The EPA is encouraging manufacturers to include such smart features in their products. “These features would offer consumers more ways to reduce the energy consumption of their refrigerators and freezers, help lower their utility bills, and better protect the environment and the climate,” the agency says. “Refrigerators and freezers with connected functionality will also be “smart grid”-ready, meaning that with consumer permission, they will be able to respond to utility signals, including curtailing operations during more expensive peak demand times.”

Savings Beyond Belief

If your refrigerator is more than a decade old, it's costing you more money than it should in electricity usage. If it's more than two decades old, it's really draining your finances. That good news is that the new models are so efficient they could pay for themselves in utility savings within a few years. New federal standards kicked in for refrigerators last fall, which means that the latest models are performing at an all-time peak.

When you go fridge shopping, make sure you purchase a model that bears the Energy Star logo, which means it performs at least 10 percent above and beyond the minimum federal efficiency requirements. “We can all do our part in meeting the challenge of climate change,” said Janet McCabe, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, in a press release. “By choosing Energy Star appliances, families can save energy, save money, and reduce carbon pollution.”

If every fridge and freezer in the country were updated to meet just the minimum requirements, homeowners would save a cumulative $890 million annually on their energy bills. Even if your share is just a small fraction of that, every bit counts.

By Clarissa Allison | March 31st, 2017

Of the Cosmic Leaf by Artemide: “It appears as a digital leaf from another World , embedded with scales like a reptile or an insect which gather light and shadow on its body to seduce a mate.” Materials: chromed steel structure; body lamp-diffuser in transparent methacrylate with texture; painted metal lighting unit.

Contemporary lighting design would not exist today without the heavy influence of lighting movements from the past.  Mid-Century, Art Deco, Bauhaus, and various other instantly recognizable “Mad Men” retro looks still have a profound influence on today’s lighting designs and styles. The infinite array of modern lighting fixtures available for purchase on www.LouieLighting.com will dazzle you and are manufactured by the top brands in the industry! Today’s designers are combining timeless materials like glass and wood with natural metals such as copper, and are also marrying classic structures made of chrome with startlingly unique silhouettes. The clean lines of these straight-forward designs create the ideal focal point in the modern home or business. The result is innovative, functional art that boasts optimal functionality and high style! Read on for 4 of the best contemporary lighting fixture collections, and click the photos to learn more.

Ross Lovegrove, an industrial designer based in the UK, is the man behind Artemide’s Cosmic Collection. He is a  visionary who’s work is “considered to be at the very apex of stimulating a profound change in the physicality of our three dimensional World. There is always embedded a deeply human and resourceful approach in his designs, which project an optimism, and innovative vitality in everything he touches from cameras to cars to trains, aviation and architecture.” View the entire Cosmic line and other amazing Artemide fixtures here.

Watch Ross Lovegrove discuss his approach to design:

Bromi Design is a premier lighting brand that works to bring some of the most innovative designs and energy efficient light sources to any user’s space. Whether you are illuminating a cozy bathroom or a sizeable commercial space, their products that are both functional and uncompromising in their high quality design. Bromi has an inspired approach to furnish and finish a space with a piece of architecture that can elevate the aesthetic of any interior motif!

The Hunza® Border Light Twin Head (shown below) is a 12 volt adjustable outdoor light that projects two wide spreads of soft light filtered through its frosted lenses. This Border Light is one of several similar pole lights created by Hunza. Use it for lighting garden paths or low level planting with a soft wash of light. This fixture is precision engineered and hand assembled in New Zealand.  A transformer or LED driver is required. These fully-adjustable lights boast a 360° rotation and 0-90° elevation.  The fixture itself is made of Marine grade 316L stainless steel, solid natural bronze/copper or aluminium powder coated in several colours!

Since 1988, Ultralights Lighting has been in the business of the design and fabrication of lighting for decorative purposes. The company has aimed to achieve “better design, better materials, better construction, better lights” for its clients. Today, Ultralights’ product line includes more than 200 interior and exterior fixtures like wall sconces, chandeliers, pendants, etc., in varied finish, diffuser and lamp choices. With its mix of traditional, modern and transitional products for commercial, ecclesiastical, retail, hospitality and medical applications, Ultralights Lighting offers customers multiple design possibilities for every conceivable usage.

Take advantage of Custom Electrical Services and there partnership with MidAmerican EnergyAdvantage® Trade Ally Partner program.  Receive a free in business assessment on your current lighting.  Let us do the leg work and show you the HUGE savings.  Take advantage of the most current rebates available for your business.  Go green and receive some green at the same time!  LED is here to stay so start saving today!

LED lighting (Light Emitting Diode) is dramatically more efficient than standard fluorescent lighting.  With T12 fluorescent lamps drawing as much as 40 watts per lamp, LED lamps currently can draw as little as 18 watts per lamp.  That’s over a 50% reduction in energy when compared to a standard T12 lamp!  Not only do you get a 50% reduction in energy cost you can save on cooling cost too!  When replacing LED lamps with standard incandescent, high pressure sodium, and mercury vapor lights the new LED lamps DRAMATICALLY reduce the amount of heat produced.

Not only does the LED lamp save you money in energy cost you can also reduce your maintenance cost!  Currently LED lamps can last as much as 50,000 hours which is a much longer life span when compared to a standard lamp.  Paying a maintenance worker to change lamps can be expensive.  Especially for hard to reach areas that require large ladders or specialized equipment to reach the lamp needing replaced.  Even worse is having unqualified staff change your lamps.  Having unqualified people perform this task can lead to electrical shock, falls, or other injuries.

Contact us today and start saving!  Custom Electrical Services will come to your business and perform a free no obligation assessment.  We have replaced THOUSANDS of fluorescent lamps with the new LED in and around the Des Moines area the past year alone.  Businesses are starting to notice the advantages of LED and the amount of volume has gone up dramatically since!  Call today and schedule your assessment and take advantage of our MidAmerican EnergyAdvantage® Trade Ally Partnership.Thank you and look forward to hearing from you soon!

It used to be that the moon and the stars were the brightest bulbs in the sky. But as anyone who’s flown across a city at night knows, these days, there are an awful lot of outdoor lights shining up from the ground.

Many people assume that an orange nighttime sky is just ugly, not harmful. But recently scientific studies have suggested that light pollution is more than an annoyance; it’s destroying wildlife, damaging human health and costing us a lot of extra money.

That’s why a growing number of cities and towns across the United States are drafting ordinances to try to bring the night sky back. They’re requiring that all new outdoor lighting fixtures that are installed – both commercial and residential – only shine light down onto the place that needs to be lit, not up into the atmosphere.

Known as the Dark Sky movement, these ordinances vary from town to town, but often the requirements are similar. No outdoor lighting fixtures can shine any light above a horizontal line. Instead, everything must shine down.

“We’re not saying you can’t have that aesthetic value, you just light it from the top down,” explains Johanna Duffek, Sections Coordinator with the International Dark Sky Association, a Tucson, AZ-based non-profit group that’s at the forefront of the movement.

Although the original purpose of The International Dark Sky Association was to keep the night sky pristine for astronomers, today the Dark Sky movement is gaining ground because more consumers are interested in reducing their energy usage, and when you’re not wasting light that’s going up into the sky, you can use a lower wattage bulb to achieve the same level of exterior lighting.

For example, if a homeowner used an outdoor sconce that had openings on the top and the bottom, he’d have to use a 100-watt bulb. But if he switches to a Dark Sky fixture that only allows light to shine from the bottom of the fixture, the homeowner could use a 40-watt bulb.

“It’s a more efficient use of light,” explains Tom Patterson, Director of Product Development at Hinkley Lighting, which already offers some Dark Sky light fixtures. “You can use a third of the wattage or half of the wattage and get the same amount of lumens.”

Patterson says consumer awareness of the Dark Sky movement is still very low, but he said awareness has been growing among local government leaders, and that is forcing the manufacturers to come out with more and more Dark Sky-friendly outdoor fixtures.

“Now in Arizona, in all the new construction, you’re going to have to meet the dark sky qualifications,” Patterson says. “It’s catching a little bit more momentum.” Hinkley, for example, advertises that it can make about 25 percent of its outdoor lighting fixtures Dark Sky compliant. Retailers are charged about $15 to $20 to change a regular fixture to a Dark Sky fixture.

Currently, there is no official government standard for a Dark Sky fixture, but the International Dark Sky Association has been in talks with the Department of Energy to incorporate the Dark Sky philosophy into the Energy Star program.

The International Dark Sky Association also independently evaluates fixtures from manufacturers and awards a seal of approval to all of those that meet its requirements.

So far, Duffek says the International Dark Sky Association has awarded Fixture Seals of Approval to 75 different lighting manufacturers, and while many of those have been commercial applications, Duffek says the organization is hoping to increase participation among residential lighting manufacturers.

Hubbardton Forge, for example, makes a sconce that has received the Dark Sky Fixture Seal of Approval that features a slate-colored ceramic shield around the light bulb that forces the light down. And the Minka Group has several outdoor lights with metal crowns that block the upward light.

Both Patterson and Duffek say the biggest resistance to Dark Sky fixtures isn’t coming from manufacturers but from homeowners who are afraid that less exterior lighting around their house will make them less safe.

But Duffek said homeowners need to understand that blocking light from going into the sky doesn’t mean blocking all exterior lighting. Duffek says the Dark Sky movement suggests homeowners buy outdoor lights with movement sensors that will go on if someone enters your yard, which can help alert you to danger and keep your energy usage down at the same time.

“When you keep the lighting on all the time, all you’re doing is lighting for the bad guys,” Duffek says.

Duffek says the biggest challenge now is to educate the public about the benefits of reducing light pollution and encouraging manufacturers to continue to design compliant fixtures.

“We always try to present it as a win, win, win solution,” she says.