Posts (page 2)

I have had a number of inquires today about whether or not I train people to become energy managers.  The simple answer is yes I can.  I have developed a training program that is being marketed for electrical contractors.  The reason I chose to focus my efforts on electrical contractors was because they already know and understand the electrical field.  They already have established relationships with clients that are used to dealing with them to repair their electrical system, and I also personally know the business.  I also hold a state of Ohio electrical contractors license. 
The program is not specifically designed to only work for electrical contractors, it would be possible for other building managers, real estate agents, or other construction professionals to also benefit from the training.  The first Seminar is going to be held in Las Vegas on Sat the 24th of January.  If you are interested in the training please visit www.electricalcontractorseminar.com.  You will find more information there, details and specifics of what will be covered, as well as a few surprise tools for you to profit from.

If you have any questions please post them below.  Some other people may have the same question as you do.  I look forward to helping take your business to another level.  Energy management is the future for almost anyone who uses energy, you can be at the for front of this movement

Matthew Shields
Energy Expert

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

I hope you enjoy your time with your friends and family

Matthew Shields
Energy Expert

Yesterday many of you asked the same question about using your other appliances to help heat your home.  There are a couple of things to take note of.  One Steve mentioned that ere were different rates during the day, this is true and running your appliances during the day will cost slightly more then if they were run during the off peak hours. 

Second please do not think that just because the appliance what ever it is, dryer, toaster is producing heat in an efficient way.  Each of these have specific purposes and heating your home is not one of them.  Yes they do give off heat but the amount of heat given off as compared to the price that you paid for that heat is no comparison.

Cold water is very effective at washing clothes, even whites.  Use a good detergent and use cold water when you are washing your clothes and they will come out as good as new.  You will have to use a liquid detergent because the powder tends to cake up in the cold water.  But you can have clean clothes with cold water just as you can with hot water. 

The only exception to this rule is when you wash your bed clothes and towels.  These items should be washed in hot water to be sterilized.  Bed sheets should be washed once a week in hot water and towels, shower curtains and other towels should also be washed in hot water.  This is for sanitary purposes, however.  But other than those items, you can save on your water bill as well as your hot water bill when you use cold water instead of hot. 

And speaking of saving on hot water heat, why not shave with cold water?  Sure, you may use hot water to open your pores, but do you need to keep it running all of the time?  Of course not.  So you are better off to turn the hot water on when shaving, turn it off when lathering up and then turn it back on to cold water when rinsing your face.  This not only saves on hot water heat, but also helps your skin as you want to close your pores after shaving.

Matthew Shields

Energy Expert

When are you washing your clothes or your dishes?  You should do these things in the early morning hours or the evening after the sun goes down.

When you use appliances during the heat of the day, they tend to heat the house up.  If you want to save money on your energy bill, use your appliances such as the dishwasher, washer, dryer and other appliances that tend to give off heat in the morning when it is still cool or in the evening after the sun has gone down.  It will keep your house cooler and allow you to save money on your energy bill. 

Appliances are necessary to daily life but they do make your air conditioning unit work all the harder.  This is why you should use them in the evening or the morning so that they do not end up costing you more energy with your air conditioning costs.  Make it a habit to turn on the appliances at night when it comes to washing dishes and try to do your laundry in the early morning hours before the sun gets too hot.

Matthew Shields

Energy Expert

When was the last time you changed your thermostat?  Do you even check your thermostat and know that it works?  There are gadgets that you can use to check your thermostat to make sure that it is running properly.  Some people who complain that they are not getting enough heat are really suffering because the thermostat that they have is broken.  If your thermostat is broken, you should replace it with a programmable thermostat. 

If you want to save money on your heating energy costs, one way to do it is to install a programmable thermostat.  This will enable you to not have to worry about having to monitor the thermostat.  You can have it automatically turned down when you are in bed as well as when you are out to work.  You can then have it automatically turned up when you are home.   Programmable thermostats are not expensive and can be purchased just about anywhere, including your local hardware store or even discount store.  

You do not want to mess with the thermostat too dramatically as it will take energy for it to get working and warm the room up if you turn it down too low.  You are better off to keep the thermostat at 68 when you are at home and at 65 when you are asleep and at work.  This way, the furnace will not have to work so hard to get the temperature to where it is comfortable.  Some people have their thermostat set a little higher, such as 70 degrees.  Depending on whether you have small children or aged parents living with you will determine how high you want to set your thermostat.  If you set it at 68 degrees, it should be comfortable enough for you. 

If you do not want to install a programmable thermostat, you can monitor the thermostat yourself.  Get yourself into the habit of turning it down a few degrees when you leave the house and go to bed.  Once you start doing this on a regular basis, it will become a habit and will also start to reflect on your heating bill. 

Getting into the habit of checking the thermostat is one way that you an definitely save on your energy bill.  The more conscious you are of what you are spending when it comes to heating costs, the more you will be inclined to turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater.  If you have teenagers or older kids who like to mess with the thermostat and turn it up so that the house seems like a sauna because they do not want to wear a sweater, you can buy a lock case to go over the thermostat so that no one can touch it but you.  Taking control of the thermostat is one of the main things that you need to do when you want to save money on your heating bills. 

Matthew Shields

Energy Expert

Ceiling fans can easily be installed in any room and make much better sense than just a regular light fixture. You can circulate the ceiling fan to move slowly which will allow the warm air, which always rises to the top, to circulate around the room.  Ceiling fans are an excellent way to keep the warm air circulating in the room instead of allowing it to rush out of the house.  

As heat often rises, the higher the ceilings, the more heat you are losing.  When you use ceiling fans, you can move the heat around whenever you turn on the light so that the room stays warmer for a longer period of time.  Although ceiling fans run on electricity, the amount that you will spend with your electric bill is nothing compared to what you will spend in trying to heat a home. As you are turning the light on anyway and the ceiling fan to circulate warm air moves at a slower pace, you will be saving money by using a ceiling fan.

You may already have ceiling fans installed in your home and may think that they should only be used to promote cooling.  This is not true.  If you are building a home, make sure that there are ceiling fans available for each room. This can not only promote warmer air in the winter, but will also save on air conditioning in the summer.  Ceiling fans are easy to install, too.  The only thing you need is for an electrician to cut a hole in the ceiling and pull the wires.  This is not a difficult job although it does require the skill of a trained electrician.  Once the wires are pulled, anyone can install a ceiling fan in any room in the house.  You will need to shut off the electrical circuit and follow the instructions that come with the ceiling fan for installation, but this is well worth the effort. 

The ceiling fan, when turned on low, will circulate hot air that rises to the top of your room all around the room and allow you to stay warmer, using up less heating energy and saving on your energy bill.  They can usually be purchased for less than $100 and are well worth the extra investment as they can save you up to 30 percent on your heating and air conditioning bill. 

Matthew Shields

Energy Expert

Craig and I have gone back a number of years in my electrical business, he is always one client that I enjoy talking to of course there was small talk. He was surprised and said "where's your tan", the last time we spoke I had been invited to Honolulu to evaluate energy expenditures for a number of buildings on the island that a management company over saw.  Incidentally did you know that Hawaii pays almost 3.5 times per KWH as what we do here on the main land, and you thought you had it rough with your energy costs. 

As we went through the meeting I realized that there was so much more that I had to offer this company then just what I currently speaking about.  I was promoting the advantage that business and companies had by knowing and understanding their energy expenses.  This particular energy management software has the ability to tie into any existing electrical service, many times with no added components and monitor the companies usage.  Craig has always been proactive with taking the necessary steps needed to get the job done, he was very interested in details I told him my company could offer his.  As his page of notes filled up he stopped and recalled a few years ago a buzz running around the office about a HUGE water bill.  His company of course questioned it and the water company of course said it was correct.  So what were they to do? 

The company needed water, they couldn't just not pay the bill.

They had no were to turn,  no one to help them with their  problem.

Until  recently  this was the case, more times then not a company receives a bill and it is paid, doesn't matter how much it might be, sure there is a possibility that there is an error with the billing but how can they check it, no one in the office even know how to read one of the utility bills. 

Craig was floored when I told him that I can track water and gas usage as well.  We offer a complete package to help your company save as much as it can on energy bills.  He then asked how much they could potentially save?  Of course that's always on the top of everyones mind.  How much can you save. 

It's different for each building, I can say that just in electrical billing errors we are finding on average 5 - 20 % error.  Now this might not seam like much but when your spending $350,000.00 a year on energy as Craig does even 5% is a chunk.  Then of course if your dealing with a larger building again like Craig's building of 250,000 square feet.  There is no way that you could possibility know everything that is going on in the building. 

I told him about a building in Denver Colorado who was able to save $32,000.00 dollars a month using the soft ware.  Craig really couldn't be leave that after all of this time there was so much potential to save so much money.

As we market our selves in this niche Craig's story is one that is heard almost every day.  So many people just don't realize how much they can save with out having to sacrifice anything.  They think that I tell them to turn off lights and lower down the heat.  There is simply to much to list as to the possibilities of what can be done in a company to save energy. 

The department of energy recently conducted a study saying that 80% of the wasted energy in a building was due to human error.  So how do people deal with that?

In a future post I will describe how I have organized a sustainable energy management program for companies in the past.  Yes it's all about the leadership of the organization.

In closing Craig was telling me how much things have changed and are changing in their industry.  There was certainly concern in his voice.  This is a company that just celebrated it's 100th year anniversary about 3 years ago.  Now they are seeing changes and didn't really know what to do about those changes.

As a new part of our USP we also help clients market them selves as a "green" company.  We set this up using new media outlets.  Blogs, Twitter, and of course websites.  Industries that have always been  known for not being on the internet are finding it more and more difficult to keep up with the times if they don't stake their internet real-estate.  He was excited to hear that I could also offer his company marketing advice as well.

I'd like to know how you are conserving energy in your business ?
How do you know your billing is accurate?
Are you doing everything you can to save money?
Have you been using any new media outlets in your business to grow and profit from?

Matthew Shields
Energy Expert
 

Because you obviously can't see energy what you don't see can hurt you.  In this case we are speaking of hurting your pocketbook.  I have done thermal imaging for commercial clients for a number of year.  The need to have this done in a home has always been there but energy prices were not at a point were people would consider spending the money to have service done.  As energy bill "skyrocket" this need will become more of a necessity.  The average home that is built 15 years ago or later might be looking at a very large savings potential if they knew what to fix.  That is were this technology comes into play.  It will pin point the exact point's in your home that need to be corrected.  that takes all of the guess work out.  With us doing to work for you, you can tell your contractor what work to do for you. 

Matthew Shields
Energy Expert

Use a re-usable filter

Have you seen the new re-usable filters that can be used in your furnace?  These are so much more convenient than the regular filters that have to be changed on a monthly basis.  You can purchase a reusable filter anywhere that sells regular furnace filters. 

You can find a reusable filter that will not only save you money when it comes to your energy bill, but also save you money when it comes to replacing your furnace filters.  Furnaces need to be able to breathe.  When you have a filter that is clogged, your furnace will not only be operating on an inefficient level, but will also be polluting the air that you breathe by spreading around dirty air.   Not only will your furnace not be working properly and efficiently, but it will be spreading around dirty air.  This is not healthy for you and will drain your energy bill.  In order to save money on your energy bill as well as saving on filters, you should try to use reusable filters. 

You should normally change your filter on your furnace once a month.  But did you know, for a couple of dollars more than you would pay for a regular filter, you can buy a reusable filter?  These simply have to be removed and rinsed and are ready to be used again.  These are generally only a few dollars more than a regular furnace filter.  You can simply rinse them in the sink to clean them out and then pop them back into the filter.  You many not want to hold onto this furnace filter forever as it will get cruddy after a while, even with you cleaning it all of the time, but as they cost under $10, it is a good investment and can be changed once a year. 

Change your furnace filter once a month or use a reusable filter that can be cleaned.  The more you change your filter, the more efficient your furnace will run.  One way to remember to do this is to mark it on the calendar.  And remember, you should not just change the filter in the winter months, either.  If you have central air conditioning, you should change the filter in the summer months as well. 

Changing or cleaning your furnace filters is one of the easiest things that you can do to save money on your energy bill as well as breathe cleaner air.