Halloween is less than one month away! If you’re thinking of decorating your home for the holiday, nothing can help turn your house into a festive sight like lighting. In minutes, you can turn your quaint cottage a ghoulish green, make your bungalow glow orange, or paint your front lawn an eerie yellow. Suddenly, your charming home becomes mysterious and thrilling to trick-or-treaters and passersby.

To audit or not to audit? This can be a simply answered question when you consider the array of benefits gained from an energy audit. The switch to more energy efficient solutions could really be a benefit for your business.

An energy audit is an in-depth, outside to inside, room-by-room examination of your business’ current energy efficiency levels and usage practices. Taking this information and the level of savings you’d like to achieve into account, a customized plan can then be developed, focusing on cost-effective solutions for maximizing functionality and efficiency while minimizing your business’ energy usage and expenses.   

A professional audit pays for itself, offering you the opportunity to discover the most effective ways to cut operating costs through energy efficient improvements. How much can it save? The average commercial building wastes thirty percent of its energy dollars, meaning an investment in efficiency can return, on average, $1.50 for every dollar invested.  

By identifying and rectifying potentially dangerous problems, particularly in older buildings, auditors can detect possible health and safety risks such as carbon monoxide from improperly operating or improperly vented combustion equipment, radon leaks, and more.

Improvements in insulation and air sealing reduce heat transfer, leading to a more stable, efficiently heated and cooling space. This increased comfort through an improved thermal envelope can lead to not only increased productivity, but also a reduction in utility costs for you.

Energy audits not only protect the environment by reducing fossil fuel pollution, but also ensure a more secure energy future for everyone. Even addressing something as simple as lighting efficiency can net big results.

Rebates, tax credits and other incentives may be available toward your energy audit in efforts to encourage reduced energy usage and the conservation of natural resources. Contact your local utility company to learn more about the opportunity for a free or reduced price energy audit for your business. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) website also lists programs available to you, including grants and loans to assist your business in making energy efficient upgrades.

To ensure a successful audit, it’s necessary to provide detailed building information, including function, floor plans, orientation, copies of past utility bills, an equipment list, notes on existing issues, updates you’d like to achieve, and more. Talk to a Mr. Electrical® service professional prior to your audit for details. Please click here to see example energy audits from our company.

Promote the sustainability of your bottom line - and the planet - by contacting Mr. Electric to schedule your commercial energy audit today.

Ready.gov recommends that you keep an emergency kit in your car with a few essentials:

When branches become heavy with ice and fall on power lines, many are left without electricity and need to find alternate sources for keeping their home warm and safe.

If you live in the South, you know this: if it snows, you can pretty much count on school being cancelled. By about day three of last week’s #snowcation, videos started popping up in my news feed of kids dancing on kitchen tables and singing their 800th rendition of “Let It Go” while frazzled parents held onto their sanity. What’s a parent to do? The web is full of great ideas that creative parents have come up with, but here are a few of my favorites:

Growing up in North Carolina, the novelty of a real winter snowfall still catches me by surprise. By being as prepared as I can, I’m able to spend time enjoying the magic of winter with my family. How do you prepare for a winter storm? Do you have any creative ideas for keeping home-bound kiddos entertained?

One of the biggest challenges faced by electrical engineers, while designing and installing circuitry, is ensuring that electrical fittings can accommodate different plugs. The terms ‘electrical outlet’ and ‘electrical receptor’ are interchangeable, and they do a lot more than just provide electrical connectors for devices to plug into.