As safe as we may feel in our own homes, it doesn’t hurt to add an extra layer of safety and security. Security lights can go a long way to making your home a little safer. Well-lit homes are deterrents against crime. Perpetrators are less likely to lurk in landscapes that are bright with no dark corners. Walking through your yard or from your car to the front door can also be dangerous if you can’t see well. An electrician in Glendale, like those at The Electric Connection, can help you make your home a little safer by adding security lighting.

You can opt to have the bright flood light variety or the kind that is a little dimmer, but just as effective. Security lights mounted above your driveway, your front door or your back door are all great places to place the lights. Motion detectors or timers are ideal and ensure you will never have to worry about stepping out of your car or your house into the darkness. An electrician will help you set the timer to meet your needs.

A Glendale electrician will need to wire the lights directly into your home’s main power. This is called hard-wiring and ensures the lights are always on. However, you can choose to have your security lights installed with a switch. This gives you the freedom to turn the light off and on whenever you need it. Part of your upgraded security lighting system can also include landscaping lighting. Lighting up darkened areas under bushes and in dark corners can help you keep other unwanted pests out of your yard. Nocturnal creatures will be less inclined to hide in an area bathed in light. If you would like to brighten up your outdoors, give The Electric Connection a call today.

Had you taken a public poll 20 years ago about the future of solar power and solar energy, the public would have likely expected the technology to have made leaps and bounds by 2013.  Perhaps many would have expected to see solar panels installed on most homes and businesses by now, or even being used to power cars (ala the 1996 James Belushi / Halle Berry movie Race The Sun.) In 2013, in a technological age where most people use smartphones as pocket sized computers, why does it seem that solar power hasn’t progressed much at all?

There are many reasons to help to understand this phenomenon, so we’ve listed some of the most popular below:

One of the most obvious issues that may be holding solar energy back is the idea that if there is no sunshine, there is no power being generated.  Because of this, solar energy doesn’t have the capability to stand alone which will surely hinder its popularity.  Modern consumers are of the instant gratification mindset and are not always willing to take the inconvenient option, even if it may have strong benefits.

It’s no question that there are huge amounts of money tied up in the corporations and investors who control the major energy companies of the world.  The electricity companies have an interest in limiting their competition and they have lobbyists in that will work to protect their interests.  There is also strong opposition coming from competing industries like coal and nuclear energy, both of which are heavily financed and politically influential.

Even with the tax breaks and incentives cited as reasons for solar energy development, the upfront  costs for equipment and installation are still excessively high.   It’s often cited that it would currently cost around $20,000 – $30,000 to install a new solar system on an average American home (before incentives.)  The investment can pay for itself over a 20-30 year period of monthly savings, but most households in the U.S. don’t have the means to spend such a large amount of cash straight away.

As many companies have rushed to be the biggest and best producers of solar panel equipment, the market has seen high competition with most of the solar products being produced cheaply in China.  Because of this, there has been wide concern that modern solar panels are expensive, untested, and of low quality.  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory even estimates that solar panels degrade at a rate of 4.5% annually or more!  At this rate, a new solar panel will lose most of its efficiency before it ever becomes financially beneficial.

We will have to wait and see where solar energy goes in the coming years.  Maybe it won’t be popular for several more decades, or perhaps it will never become popular at all.  Either way, energy is a shifting business that constantly pushes and reinvents itself, so it will be exciting to see what the future has in store for the industry.

It may not seem important today, but summer and warm weather is not that far away. It is time to start thinking about how you are going to beat the heat this summer without trying to run your AC at full throttle. That only leads to more problems that will ultimately lead to you spending a lot of money trying to keep cool. There is an option. Ceiling fans are an excellent way to create a cool breeze in the home. All you need to do is call an electrician in Beverly Hills, like those at The Electric Connection.

A fan in the bedroom is a welcome addition that can help you sleep better at night, especially on a day when the temperatures are warm. The breeze is very light. It keeps the air from becoming stale, which can make the room more comfortable. A ceiling fan installed by a Beverly Hills electrician will ultimately save you money on your electric bill. The fan will pull the hot air out of the room, making space for the cold air that comes out of the vents in the floor. This helps reduce how often your AC has to kick on to keep the room cool.

There are various styles and sizes of ceiling fans to choose from. You will want to make sure you choose a fan that is suitable for the size of the room. A nice addition is a remote control feature installed by an electrician. Beverly Hills homeowners won’t have to worry about pulling on a chain to adjust the fan speed or to turn off the light. This is an excellent feature to have, especially when you are lying in bed at night. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your ceiling fan installation.

Maciej Winiarcyzk using more than two thousand digital photographs just over a month ago.

I have never had the privilege of seeing the northern lights in real life, but my sister lives in northern Canada and has told me about them. (She’s a pretty credible source: She even named her daughter Aurora.) After asking her, “What ARE the northern lights,” several times, I now understand the aurora borealis to be a visual effect of the collision of solar wind and magnetospheric charged particles with the thermosphere. Can you see why I had to ask what the northern lights were more than once? The northern lights are most spectacular near the North Pole and during spring and autumn equinoxes. (And, by the way, no. The northern lights are not Santa’s off-season hobby.) But the northern lights, if there are some geomagnetic storms a-brewin’, can be seen closer to home, too, visible occasionally as far south as Chicago or New York.

Anyway, this guy Winiarcyzk is an astronomy enthusiast who lives in Caithness, which is at the tippy top of Scotland. There’s isn’t much light pollution way up there, so it’s a good place for such a sky-minded person to live and enjoy his hobby. Wonderfully, with this time lapse video of the northern lights, we get to enjoy his hobby, too.

Take a look. Have you ever seen anything more lovely occurring in nature? You know, with all this solar wind, magnetospheric particles, thermospheres, and geomagnetic storms, it sure seems like there is a lot more going on in nature than we can readily sense.