Before you deck the halls and transform your Florida home into a festival of lights this holiday, consider how your lighting display will affect your winter electric bills. Monthly bills can be especially expensive when you and your neighbors beautifully decorate your homes with holiday ENERGY STAR® qualified LED light strands you will save on your utility bills this holiday. And that’s not their only advantage—Use a timer to automatically turn on your holiday lights at dusk and turn off in the middle of the night. By limiting the amount your lights are on to times when people can appreciate them, you will reduce your energy bills.

There are plenty of ways to decorate your home for the holidays—ways that don’t impact your electric bills! Make use of other decorations like tinsel, wreaths, and jingling bells! Instead of decorating the front of your St. Petersburg home with strands of lights, consider buying a solar powered spotlight with different color filters. There are many ways to enjoy the beauty of the holidays without raising your electric bills exponentially.

Pool lighting is one of the most impressive outdoor lighting projects you can take on and can totally change the look and feel of your backyard. Pool lighting is also a great way to show off your creativity, and your lighting system can be customized to create any mood you can think of. The following are some of the best pool lighting tips we’ve found, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box!

Some people may be used to having only one light at the deep end of the pool and a few at the shallow end. While this is certainly an option, it’s not a hard rule! Try adding more light throughout until you get the effect you want.

If you have a sitting area on one side of the pool, make sure you point your pool lights away from it. Pool lights tend to be especially bright, so they should be installed facing opposite where people might be sitting.

Using too few lights, or having lights that only face one direction, can create shadows that highlight flaws in your pool’s liner or surface. Shining lights from multiple directions will eliminate these shadows and make the bottom of your pool look flawless.

The color of your pool liner will make a dramatic impact on how the pool looks, day and night. Light colors reflect light and dark colors absorb it, so go light if you want your pool to look bright and exciting at night and choose dark if you want a more subdued landscape.

Pool lighting is one of those projects that many people either put off or try to cut corners on. But if you want a pool that you can really get a lot out of, we recommend spending the extra money. Even though the upfront costs may be higher, you’ll be able to enjoy your investment for years to come.

Back in April, a young boy in South Florida was electrocuted by a faulty pool light while swimming in his family’s pool. Reportedly, the light had been fixed by a contractor the year prior.

While incidents like this are exceedingly rare, we want to use this as an example of why you should always work with an electrical company you can trust. Lighting isn’t the only danger zone in the pool—other potential hazards include:

At Kolb Electric, your safety is our highest priority. We will acquire all necessary permits prior to your pool wiring job, then finish off with a detailed inspection so you can enjoy your pool or hot tub without having to worry. We also recommend having your pool’s electrical system inspected once a year.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has a detailed list of pool safety tips to prevent electrocution:

If you’re thinking about installing pool lighting in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC, call Kolb Electric! We can design a beautiful, long-lasting, and safe pool lighting system that you can enjoy for years.

Last month, I wrote via www.bet.com

2) A Dwarf Makes Giant News

Astronomers are given the spotlight as they announce that Pluto, the dwarf planet with a changing orbit, has passed Neptune to become the ninth planet from the Sun. It had been the eighth farthest since 1979. Of course, we now know that Pluto is not a planet at all but some kind of ball of rock and ice. 

 4) Re-imagining Literary History

Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman win the Writers Guild Award for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Also nominated were Robert Rodat for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and Andrew Niccol for THE TRUMAN SHOW.

6) You’re Still the One

Shania Twain wins a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “You’re Still the One,” in which the Twain passionately announces, “We’re still together, still going strong.”

9) Run to the Hills

Gloriously, and to the headbanging delight of metal heads across the globe, Iron Maiden announces that singer Bruce Dickinson has rejoined the band. 

11) The Tumultuous Days Continue for Kid Dynamite

Early in the month, Mike Tyson is sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting two motorists after a traffic accident in 1998. The judge gives him only one year of jail time, followed by two years of probation and a $5000 fine. Days after he begins his sentence at the Montgomery County Detention Center, he is put in solitary confinement for throwing a TV in the general direction of some guards. He is released from solitary after about six days.

13) Return Mail

TLC releases their third album, FANMAIL, after a five year hiatus. The new album sells 318,000 copies in its first week, and it becomes clear to the world that TLC “don’t want no scrubs.”

15) The Dawning of the Age of the File Share

The Artist Formerly Known as Prince makes headlines a second time as he files a lawsuit against nine websites for copyright and trademark infringement. He accuses websites of selling bootlegged recordings and offering unauthorized song downloads.

By: Jason Lee

It’s that time of year again. Everyone is making resolutions, turning over a new leaf, and looking to make this year better than the last. Make this year great by making sure the leaf you’re turning over is green and consider solar power and the benefits it could bring to your home and/or business. 

Solar power is a popular form of renewable energy that helps keep the planet clean. Oil, gas, and coal will produce energy, but require manpower to refine it into a usable form. With solar power, as long the sun is around, you have power. Solar power can be used for many things around the home or office, including generating heat and electricity and it’s great for indoor and outdoor lighting. In fact, the installation of solar powered outdoor pathway lights is one of the easiest ways to use solar energy in your home or business. One of the best uses of solar power is heating water. Homes that have hot tubs or swimming pools should consider looking into heating them with the help of solar power. Due to low operating costs of the solar power, it is very cost effective.

Benefits to solar power include the slowing of global warming, saving homeowners money, energy reliability, and energy security. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, home values rise an average of $20 for every one dollar of reduction in the annual utility bill. Another great thing about going green this year is that it will continue for years to come. By switching to solar power, homeowners may be eligible for tax credits, rebates or other incentives, and you will be reducing the amount of environmental impact you have on the planet.

So start the new-year off right by looking to make this year and the years to come a brighter and cleaner place not just by turning over a new leaf, but by making sure that leaf you turn over is green.

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Alexai Erchak, while a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is credited with developing the first prototype high efficient LED in 2001.  These LEDs use specialized mirrors and tiny photonic crystals to generate more usable light from the semiconductor materials.  Erchak observed that the Swallowtail butterfly highlights their fluorescent blue and green colors with a natural illumination much like that of his specialized prototype, and he was astounded at the similarity between the natural brightening structures in the butterfly’s wings and his own LEDs.

So much we learn from nature! The appeal of new designer outdoor lighting captures the essence of natural beauty and wonders of the world.  Make way for the butterflies and new designer outdoor lighting.

The “butterfly effect” is a phenomenon or belief that the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in one sector of the universe may be related to a tornado occurring in another part of the world. Could it be possible that the gentle vibrations in the wings of a butterfly could be the pivotal mechanism that leads to the ultimate surge of a storm cloud?  Is it science fiction or is there some truth to it?

Either way, there is no denying that the effect of designer outdoor lighting significantly increases the beauty and property value of our home.  And, the latest designs are eco-friendly, sustainable and made to last.

Bask in the splendor of summer style with these super natural compositions.

Novel summer finishes include this Raw Copper with iridescent glass from Arroyo Crafsman.  Arroyo Craftsman designs and manufactures fine outdoor lighting that honors the traditions of elegant simplicity combined with a quality craftsmanship established by the founders of the American Arts and Crafts movement. Arroyo’s designer outdoor lights are inspired by famed styles such as the California Mission, Swiss Chalet and English Tudor. Each piece from Arroyo Craftsman is meticulously hand crafted in the United States and available with several hand applied finish and glass options.

Glowing Butterflies Shine With Natural LEDs