Category Archives: energy savings

Install a Ceiling Fan – Keep Cool, Keep Electricity Consumption Down

Posted on July 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

When you want to install a ceiling fan in a room, you’ll find a dazzling array of styles, shapes and sizes sold at lighting retailers and home centers. Before you choose a fan, measure the room’s length, width and ceiling height. Those dimensions will help you select the correct size fan that will do the best job of cooling the room.

According to the Alliance to Save Energy (http://www.ase.org), a ceiling fan will reduce your energy bills by providing additional cooling and better circulation so you can cut down air conditioning costs. When you’re looking at fans, choose one that’s Energy Star-certified because it’ll move air up to 20 percent more efficiently than a conventional model.

Will ceiling fans add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions.

An electrician will charge $238 to install a moderately priced 52-inch fan in a room with an existing overhead light fixture in the correct position. If the electrical box is not designed to support a fan you must install a fan bracket that is secured to the ceiling joists. Assuming you have experience with electrical projects, you can buy the fan and bracket for $165 and install it yourself, saving 31 percent.

Want to Sell Fast? Green Your Home

Posted on July 20, 2013 | 1 comment

Linda Lee, president of the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors, is the author of this guest post.

Home energy costs can skyrocket during San Diego’s lengthy summer and an 80 degree Thanksgiving is not unheard of. As a result, many local home buyers are looking for energy efficient or “green” homes.

Will “greening” your home add value to it? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com they are the green property specialist in Southern California.

Here are some simple steps you can take to make your home green:

In San Diego, making your home green can have a lot to do with conserving water. Believe it or not, putting an aerator on all the faucets in your home can cut your annual water usage in half. This simple attachment is easy to install and minimally affects the faucets performance.

Installing a programmable thermostat is beneficial, too. The numbers don’t lie — 50 percent of a home’s energy costs typically come from heating and cooling. Each degree over 78 that you set your thermostat during the summer months will save you between 3 percent and 5 percent on your energy bill. A programmable thermostat allows you to closely manage your home’s temperature. While you’re at it, consider buying a new air conditioning unit. Today’s units are as much as 25 percent more efficient than those installed 20 years ago.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

1 Comment

Posted in energy savings

Tagged home energy costs, saving money, utility bills

Power Shift – Utilities Want Consumer Protections Removed

Posted on July 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

California is reconsidering landmark consumer protections and energy conservation measures that were written into residential utility bills during the state’s 2000-2001 energy crisis.

State lawmakers and utility regulators are preparing to restructure utility bills for more than 23 million residents.

In San Diego, proposed changes are likely to spread the pain of pending rate increases to more customers and provide relief for big users of home electricity. They also may usher in an unpredictable era of time-based pricing, in which bills hinge on electricity use during a few hours of the day.

Do you pay over $150 a month for electricity? You may want to consider making your home more energy efficient and adding solar. Will this add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions.

San Diego Gas & Electric views current rates for high-end users as unsustainable and unfair, warning those customers of pending rate hikes last month in a tailored mailing.

Current rates reward conservation by stepping up the price per kilowatt hour for those who use the most in any given month. The arrangement accentuates the savings from green home investments such as energy-efficient windows and light bulbs to rooftop solar arrays.

And all customers are afforded a modest monthly allowance of electricity at below-cost prices.

The price for that allowance has been frozen or capped since the state’s energy crisis, in which market manipulation triggered rolling blackouts and wild wholesale price fluctuations.

Over time, the discount has thrust cost increases for bundled electrical service disproportionately upon large users of home electricity.

The imbalance is set to tip further in September for utility customers in San Diego and southern Orange County, when San Diego Gas & Electric begins the delayed collection of a roughly $500 million revenue increase for the 2012-2015 period.

The trend, regulators and electricity retailers warn, could ultimately threaten the ability to recover revenues to maintain infrastructure and fulfill energy-policy mandates.

Category Archives: energy savings

Install a Ceiling Fan – Keep Cool, Keep Electricity Consumption Down

Want to Sell Fast? Green Your Home

Power Shift – Utilities Want Consumer Protections Removed

Follow Blog