Dear Valued Customer:
An Energy audit is a free onsite evaluation that will identify inefficient lighting and determine where the facility is losing energy and money. One of our Experienced Energy Auditors will show you how the problem areas can be corrected to make your building more energy efficient. This includes evaluating the current lighting, energy use, and cost savings.
Based on the building itself, we will determine what the best lighting options and installations will be. After your Energy audit, we will provide an Energy Analysis outlining this process with the financial opportunities. We can also supply you with a personalized lighting layout for your plans, updated lighting specifications, and photometrics.
The Retrofit Program is designed for the Commercial customer to help replace aging, inefficient equipment and systems with energy efficient technologies. The Retrofit Program provides a customer with incentives and technical services that will facilitate the installation of premium efficient equipment. Call Airhart Electric, Inc. to arrange a convenient time to perform an inspection of the existing equipment or systems.
Sincerely,
Michael D. Airhart
Airhart Electric, Inc.
Owner/President
Static Electricity – refers to the build-up of electric charge on the surface of objects – essentially, when electrons move from one surface to another through contact. If the surfaces are both insulators, they’ll build up an electrical charge. One object will have a positive charge (because it lost electrons) and one will have a negative charge (because it gained electrons). If one of the charged objects then touches a conductor, like a piece of metal, the charge will neutralize itself, causing a static shock. Here are a few ways to help remove static electricity from your life!! Use a humidifier – Static electricity is more active when the air is dry, especially in the winter months when people heat their houses, further reducing humidity in the air. Increase the humidity in your house and workplace by using a humidifier. The moisture in the air can help reduce static charge from building up. – Having plants around the house or workplace can help increase humidity as well. Treat your carpets with an anti-static chemical – Most carpet retailers or carpet companies online offer spray treatments to treat rugs and carpets. There are also some carpets that are specifically made to with an anti-static component. Lightly spray your carpet with an anti-static spray, and wait for it to completely dry before walking on it. This will greatly decrease the amount of static electricity you experience after walking on the carpet. – To make a static reducing spray at home, you can mix 1 capful of fabric softener in a spray bottle of water, shake the mixture, and lightly spray over the carpet. Rub upholstery with dryer sheet – Rub upholstered furniture or your car seats with dryer sheets to reduce the static buildup on those surfaces. Dryer sheets help neutralize the electric charge. – Keep your skin moisturized. Rub lotion on yourself when you get out of the shower and before getting dressed, or rub it on your hands intermittently throughout the day. – Dry skin contributes to static electricity and static shock, so lotions and moisturizers help to prevent static electricity from accumulating on your body Wear shoes that dissipate static – Wear leather-soled shoes, which are excellent for reducing static shock, rather than rubber-soled shoes, which accumulate and create static electricity. – Try experimenting with different kinds of shoes to see which shoes create the least amount of static shock. If you can, walk barefoot in the house. – Add baking soda to the wash. Add ¼ cup of baking soda to your clothes before starting the washing cycle. Baking soda creates a barrier between positive and negative charges from building up and creating static. – Depending on the size of the laundry load, you may need to adjust the amount of baking soda you add in. For bigger loads you can add about ½ cup of baking soda, and for small loads you can use 1 or 2 tablespoons of baking soda. – Baking soda is also considered a water softener and a fabric softener. Attach a safety pin to your clothes – Attach a safety pin to the seam of your pants or at the back neck of your shirt. The metal of the pin discharges the electrical build up in your clothes, preventing static cling and electrical shocks.• – Attaching the pin at a seam allows you to hide the pin, but still reap its static reducing benefits Carry around something metal – Always keep some piece of metal on your person, whether it’s a coin, a thimble, or a keychain. Use any of these items to touch the grounded metal surface before you touch it with your skin. – This is also know as grounding yourself, so you never accumulate electrical charges, but the charges are instead transferred to the metal object. : Inspect and clean gutters and downspouts : Seal gaps and cracks around windows and doors with weather-stripping and caulk. : Inspect your roof for damaged or curled shingles, corroded flashing, or leaky vents. : Take steps to repair damaged sidewalks, driveways, and steps. : Drain and winterize outdoor faucets and irrigation systems. : Clean or replace dirty furnace filters. : Have a professional inspect your heating system. : Check fireplaces for soot or creosote build-up. Better yet, schedule a visit from a reputable chimney sweep. : Wood stoves are making a comeback. To avoid a deadly situation, be sure to inspect yours before firing it up. : A home safety check should be an annual ritual in every household. Test smoke and CO monitors, inspect (or install) fire extinguishers, review fire escape Switch to LED Bulbs – Comparing the electricity cost for one year, you’ll see that you could save about $10 by switching from incandescent to LED. This isn’t going to yield a huge savings , but it’s enough to make a difference. Use a Power Strip – Even when your electronics are off, they are still energy-suckers if they are plugged in. Televisions and video game consoles are Buy Energy Star Appliances – If you see the “Energy Star” label on an appliance it means it meets the efficiency guidelines that will save you upwards of $100 a year on your electric bill just by replacing one appliance. Wash Cold – If you wash your laundry in cold water, you can save $60 or more in a single year. Hang Dry – We all know the dryer heats up the home, and uses electricity. Drying clothes outside on a line can save you a nice chunk of change and keep your home cooler. Use a programmable thermostat – Set your thermostat a few degrees higher when your not home, but schedule it to turn back down about 30 minutes before you arrive so it’s comfortable when you get home. You can cut your cooling costs by as much as 20% with this one switch. Close your Shades – Not only does the sun come up earlier in the summer, it gets hotter faster. Closing your shades can drastically cut heat loss, especially if the have a insulating layer. Change your filters – Air conditioner filters need to be changed every 30 days. Not only will this help with your electric bill, it’ll help keep the air a bit cleaner. Lower the temp – No, not on the air conditioner. Lower the temperature on your water heater. Water heaters are the largest energy expense. Set your water temperature at 120 degrees. Headed out of town check to see if your water heater has a “vacation” setting. Once summer hits, we all love to keep cool!!! Here are some interesting facts about air conditioning that you may not know: 1. Movie theaters were one of the first public places to have air conditioning, so to get everyone to come to the movies, theaters would release big pictures in the summer. Hence the term “summer blockbuster.” 2. Without air conditioning, we wouldn’t have certain medications today – some medications could only be studied and developed in a cool environment. 3. Each year, the U.S. uses the same amount of energy to power air conditioners as Africa uses to power the entire continent. 4. Before air conditioners, people would keep things cool with big blocks of ice. When air conditioners were introduced, their output ratings were judged based on how much ice you would need to get the same cooling power. 5. The first air conditioner was invented by Willis Carrier in 1902. He worked at a publishing company and needed a way to keep his paper from expanding and ink from running. 6. Kids can thank air conditioning for summer vacation – before air conditioners, it was too hot to learn during the summer, so the kids were granted a break and the idea stayed. 7. Scientific studies have shown that the introduction of air conditioning has actually lowered the natural human tolerance for heat. 8. In 180 AD, a Chinese artisan invented a 10-foot wide rotary fan that had 7 connected wheels. It could cool an entire hall of people just by turning a crank. 9. Air conditioning helped grow populations in states like Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada in the 1960s. Before that, the U.S.’s economic powerhouse was in the Northeast. 10. Contrary to popular belief, closing vents in unused rooms in your home is actually not a good idea – it makes your HVAC unit work harder. 11. Packard was the first automobile manufacturer to include air conditioning in their cars. 12. John Gorrie is considered the father of refrigeration and air conditioning. As a Floridian doctor in 1842, he developed a machine that made ice in order to cool the air for his patients. He was granted a patent to create a similar machine for homes and buildings, but died before he could create it. 13. The New York Stock Exchange Building in NYC was one of the first buildings to use air conditioning in 1903. 14. Every spring, air conditioners have relieved millions of allergy sufferers by providing clean, filtered air. 15. Before air conditioners, architects used to design homes and buildings with high ceilings, porches, breezeways, and landscaping that provided shade in order to keep occupants coolTis the Season for Static Electricity
What does this mean for you? Well, you have a lot of insulators in your home, like the rubber soles of your shoes and that wool carpet in the living room. When you walk on that wool carpet, your body then builds up a charge it can’t get rid of through the insulating soles of your shoes. Then, when you touch that metal doorknob… you know what happens. Dry air is also an insulator, so static electricity is even more common during the dry winter months.
– You can create your own humidifier by simply boiling water on the stove. You can add spices like cinnamon or citrus rinds give off a nice scent while you humidify your house.Check List for your home this Fall
plans, and rid your home of old newspapers and other fire hazards.9 Ways to Lower your Electric Bill this Summer!!
the biggest energy hogs, even when turned off. If you plug them into a power strip, you can power off the strip in just one switch of a button instead of
unplugging each item.Interesting Facts About Air Conditioning