It’s no secret that incandescent lights are on their way out—they’re incredibly wasteful, have relatively short lifespans, and are much better at producing heat than light. This leaves us with two alternatives: LED and CFL bulbs. And while CFL bulbs have been steadily gaining traction in many homes in our area over the last several years, some experts see them as little more than a stopgap measure before LED lights become more commercially viable. So what’s the real story? Should you go out and buy up all the CFL bulbs before they’re phased out or should you hold out for LEDs?

The US Department of Energy put together an extremely thorough, 50-page analysis comparing LED and CFL bulbs, which we definitely recommend checking out if you’re interested. In our comparison, we’ll be looking at the following aspects of CFL and LED bulbs:

Note: unless otherwise noted, our comparisons are based on using 30 bulbs simultaneously. So without further ado, let’s take a look at what distinguishes CFL and LED bulbs and which you should install in your home:

Thanks to DesignRecycleInc.com for the information in this chart!

Based on the chart, the clear winner seems to be LED bulbs. And it gets even better—Phillips is expected to release a new LED bulb that gets 200 lumens/watt, more than twice as good as the best LED on the market today. If that bulb performs as expected, it could allow LEDs to declare a decisive victory over other options.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of LED lights, don’t wait—call Kolb Electric today!

Your home is likely one of the biggest investments you have. The people that live in your home are extremely important to you and you probably have plenty of monetarily valuable items in your home. It makes sense you would want to protect your home and the people who live in it. There are a few things you can do to make your home a little safer. With the help of a Beverly Hills electrician, you can rest easy knowing you have taken care of the little things that have been known to cause major accidents.

Updating the Outlets

With technology and electrical science constantly improving and evolving, we have been given something knows as the GFI outlet. The ground fault interruption outlet can prevent electric shock when installed by an electrician in Beverly Hills. These outlets are perfect for placing in the kitchen and bath areas where water is typically used. Should an electrical appliance come in contact with the water, the circuit is shut off in order to prevent the person using the appliance from being shocked.

Hard-Wired Smoke Detectors

You can add seconds or possibly minutes to your family’s notification of a fire in the home with hard-wired smoke detectors. When a single detector is set off, all the alarms in the house will sound, even if they are clear at the other end of the hallway or upstairs. These alarms are hard-wired into the home’s main electric and will need to be installed by an electrician. Beverly Hills homeowners will appreciate knowing the install has been completed by a professional.

Security Lights

Having a light shining on the driveway and a clear path to the front door will make you feel better when you or a family member comes home after dark. Being able to see your surroundings adds peace of mind while repelling predators.

Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your appointment to make your home a little safer.

Are you having problems with some of the outlets in your home? While actually trying to repair an electrical outlet on your own can be dangerous, you can at least diagnose many of the most common electrical outlet problems. Before you call Kolb Electric, see if you can pinpoint the problem by trying the following steps.

If you were trying to plug something into the outlet and it wasn’t working, try plugging it in somewhere else. If it works, it’s likely a problem with the outlet. If it still doesn’t work, the problem is with the device itself.

Look for any wall switches and turn them on. If the appliance works after flipping the switch, you shouldn’t have any further problems.

Check other outlets near the dead one. If any more don’t work, mark them with tape.

Unplug everything from nearby outlets to eliminate the possibility of a short or overload.

Make sure the circuit breaker isn’t tripped. The circuit breaker will be located in the breaker box, usually in the garage, basement, or kitchen. To see if it is tripped, open the box and see if any of the breakers are in the RESET or OFF position. If they are, turn the appliance off, switch the breaker back into the ON position, then try to device again.

Check for blown fuses. To do this, turn off the main switch and use a flashlight to see if any of the fuses are burnt or blackened.

If the dead outlet is a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter), try to find out if there’s any reason it may be tripping. GFCIs shut off power to outlets when they detect a leak in electrical current, so if they continue to trip after being reset, there could be a dangerous current leak that requires an electrician’s attention.

If you have dead outlets in your home, or if you need electrical troubleshooting in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC, call Kolb Electric today!