Tired of breaking the bank just to keep up with the Joneses? Forget fancy cars and other status symbols. How about a way to maintain a friendly neighborly competition that actually involves saving money instead of spending? Americans have a wealth of resources at their disposal to empower families to cut back on energy consumption and reduce their electricity bills, but we don't do a stellar job of taking advantage of that information. Recent research, however, has shown that homeowners are more likely to take efficiency measures with their electrical work when they can compare their own consumption to that of their neighbors.

Whose Bill is the Lowest?

The experiment took place last summer, when the Vermont utility company Green Mountain Power worked with Opower, a software company that specializes in behavioral economics. During very hot days when air conditioning use was expected to be high, the utility reached out to customers with tips on reducing the amount of energy they need to power their home electrical work.

Afterward, the utility gave a report which ranked households in the neighborhood based on how well they had done on cutting back. By the end of the summer, electricity consumption among Green Mountain customers had dropped by five percent during hot days. That's some serious savings!

Peer Pressure at its Best

That five percent resulted from simple behavioral changes like bumping the thermostat up a few degrees and using curtains to block out sunlight during the hottest part of the day – no major investments or new equipment needed, just a little peer pressure. This research should be useful in helping understand what motivates people to save energy in order to develop more effective outreach programs for utility companies around the country.

One of the big takeaways is that the utility didn't give its customers any kind of incentives or payments to change their behavior – just the money they saved through efficiency, and the bragging rights of being more conservation-minded than their neighbors.

"Some of the decisions we make are not entirely rational, and they are due to a lack of context," Kevin Hamilton, Opower's vice president of marketing, said to Utility Drive, "and by providing that context you can encourage individuals to adjust their usage in ways that can benefit both the customer and the utility as well."

Little Changes Mean Big Savings

People come up with all kinds of reasons not to implement efficiency measures: It costs too much in initial capital, they are too busy to think about it, or they simply don't think the savings are worthwhile. But the reality is that even making small behavioral changes can add up in the long run.

If you want to decrease the cost of your electrical work and impress your neighbors, have a qualified home services technician perform an energy audit on your house to identify the most cost-effective ways for you to cut back.

Custom Electrical Services was able to present this amazing young girl Keeley Keller with a donation to benefit the JDRF or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Keeley has been living with type one diabetes for over 6 years.  Three years ago after trick or treating Keeley’s parents asked her what she would like to do with her candy.  She said trade it in for a cure.  Every Halloween she takes the candy from trick or treating and holds an auction for her bowl of candy.  The benefits from the action go to the JDRF were the money is used to help with research to find treatments and one day a cure to end diabetes.

“Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called beta cells. While its causes are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved. Its onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent T1D, and—at present—nothing you can do to get rid of it.” (JDRF)

Most of us know someone affected by T1D.  Ron with Custom Electrical Services has a close cousin who grew up T1D so he sees the way it effects peoples lives.  It’s more important then ever to get involved with the JDRF.  With scientific advancements researches are closer than ever before in finding the cure.  You can get involved in many different ways.  You can volunteer, donate money, or become an advocate.  The JDRF also allows for a tribute donation, as well as a memorial donation.  Please make a contribution today.  Thousands off kids across the USA are waiting for a cure.

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Scams are nothing new in the Tampa area. For years and years, unscrupulous folks have been trying to cheat homeowners out of their money. And in the dead of summer, scamming is at its worst! All kinds of unsavory folks come out of the woodwork, offering false claims about electrical, lighting, and other contract work that they have no intention of actually doing.

We’re thrilled to offer new LED Skylights! Designed for dental office lighting, hospital lighting, classroom lighting, waiting rooms, basements, or other applications with suspended grid ceilings, the decorative LED light panels are an innovative alternative to window skylights. They feature vivid sky designs that are printed directly on panel lenses. Using Even-Glow® technology and diffused optical lenses, these panel lights deliver smooth, flawless illumination without visible bulbs or hot spots. The 2-by-2-foot and 2-by-4-foot panels are available in dimmable and non-dimmable versions. Dimmable panels offer an alternative ceiling and wall surface-mount option in addition to suspended grid ceiling mounting.

LEDs in the panel lights are designed to last three times longer than fluorescent tube light bulbs without the notorious hum or flicker they produce. Each LED panel light has a slim aluminum alloy frame. Non-dimmable panels are equipped with a UL-Recognized constant-current driver. Dimmable panels have an internal 0-10-volt dimmable constant-current driver. Dimming can be achieved with a 0-10-volt switch or by using the light’s power-cycle feature to activate set brightness levels. The energy-efficient panel lights operate within a wide 100-277V AC range.

Sun Beams

Jet Set

Summer Sky

Balloon 1

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