• Keep doors and windows closed as much as possible. That includes overhead doors on attached garages.
• Install do-it-yourself plastic-film storm windows. Find them at a local hardware store.
• Seal off unused rooms (as long as the room is less than 100 square feet and isn’t the room where the thermostat is located). Close the floor or wall registers and return air vents, and keep the doors closed.
• Open south-facing window curtains, drapes and blinds during the day. Close window coverings at night to keep the heat in.
• Weatherstrip and caulk windows. Check window frames for cracks and fill them with caulk that contains silicon. Putty-like “rope caulk” can help seal large cracks and save you up to 5 percent on your energy bill.
• Check all exterior doors for air leaks and weatherstrip and caulk as needed. A one-eighth-inch gap around a door is equivalent to a 6-inch-square hole in the side of your house and causes a lot of energy loss. You can check doors two ways:
• Have someone stand on the other side of the door and shine a flashlight around the door’s perimeter. If you can see light through the cracks, your door needs sealing.
• Hold a piece of paper between the door and the frame and shut the door. If you can pull the paper out without tearing it, you should weatherstrip around the door.

Water heater

• Make sure the water heater is set no higher than 125 degrees.
• Drain off a bucket of hot water from your water heater annually to remove sediment that will interfere with the heater’s long-term use.
• Install a water heater blanket if your water heater is older than 5 years.
• Insulate the pipes around the water heater with inexpensive, easy-to-install pipe insulation. This is particularly helpful if the water heater is in an unheated space.

Fireplace

• Never use a traditional fireplace for supplemental heating. A fireplace sucks heated air out of your home to fuel the fire and exhausts it through the chimney, and then your furnace has to turn on to replace that warm air.
• Close the fireplace damper and seal the opening shut when not in use.

More ways to save on your winter utility bill

• Get your furnace inspected and tuned up by a heating professional.
• Have your home properly insulated and weatherized.
• Measure your attic insulation. If you have less than 7 inches of insulation or if it is less than R-38 (the current requirement for new homes), consider upgrading your insulation with spray-foam or batt insulation.
• Look for places where air may be leaking through the insulation – you will be able to tell because there will be dirty spots or holes in the existing insulation. Seal the holes by stapling a piece of plastic sheeting over them and caulking around the edges of the plastic.
• Additional insulation can be blown into walls, and there are even options for insulating flat roofs, crawl spaces and floors.
• Replace any broken window panes and repair any large holes in attics, crawlspaces, or basements.
• Seal exposed ductwork. Ductwork sealing can help your system run more efficiently, and also ensures that heated or cooled air gets to where you want it to go. Instead of duct tape, use mastic (available at hardware stores) to seal ductwork. Mastic provides a better seal and lasts longer.
• Replace older or loose fireplace dampers. Have a sheet-metal insert installed, which will prevent some heat loss and help reflect heat from the fireplace back into the room.
• Consider converting your traditional fireplace to a more efficient pellet or wood-burning stove. Determine your payback time before investing.

The cold months are upon us.  Heating & Air Conditioning account for approximately 43% of your annual electricity usage, so now is the perfect time to start using these do-it-yourself energy savings tips to help lower your winter utility bills that can equal some serious savings on your power and gas bills this winter.

You can also contact us to schedule a FREE Energy Evaluation to determine your home’s total energy usage picture.  We will be more than happy to evaluate your home to let you know of any areas of high usage and investments you should take to ensure your home is at its peak energy efficiency!  Our trained energy consultant will go over all their findings with you and will be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.  To schedule a FREE Energy Evaluation, please call us at (702) 463-0244 today to get started.

Heating Tips:

• Install a programmable thermostat and set it to lower the temperature at night and whenever the house is unoccupied. Lowering your thermostat by 10 degrees at night can reduce your heating bill by 10 to 20 percent.
• Make sure your programmable thermostat is:
  • Installed properly.
  • Programmed appropriately – a programmable thermostat only saves energy when it is programmed.
  • Not located in an unheated space, a poorly-sealed or seldom-used room, or in direct sunlight near a heat source. The thermostat should be able to sense the average temperature in your home. If it is not in the right place, contact a heating and air conditioning professional about having it moved.
  • Lower your thermostat and wear socks and a sweater in doors. Lowering the thermostat by just one degree Fahrenheit can reduce energy use by 3 percent.
  • If you have a forced air furnace, inspect your filters at the beginning of the heating season and monthly during the season. Clean or replace them if there is significant dust build up.
  • Get a humidifier to add moisture to the air. The air inside your home can be very dry, especially in the southwest. Moister air feels warmer, so a humidifier can help you feel comfortable even though your thermostat is set at a lower temperature.
  • Install foam insulation gaskets behind electric outlets and switch plate covers.

An evaluation of your furnace and heating system will reveal any flaws and problems in your heating system, ensuring your safety for the coming year. If any problems are brought to your attention, they can be taken care of immediately, before something goes seriously wrong. With this information, you can call for furnace or heating repair in Las Vegas to remedy the situation as quickly as possible, allowing you to have a safe and worry-free winter.

Evaluating your furnace and heating system can also increase its efficiency. The most common problem heating systems face is leakage. If the pipes of your heating system allow the treated air to leak into areas where it is unneeded and unused, not only is the heated air wasted, but extra stress is inflicted on the system—and your check book. Also, air from vents and pipes often travels to the attic or basement, where a continuous stream of warm air may be unnecessary. This can be remedied by sealing the pipes wherever there is a leakage. A specialized heating repair service, like those at http://www.service1stenergysolutions.com/, can make your system run like a charm.

Another problem affecting the efficiency of your heating system could be a malfunctioning furnace. Over time, a furnace slowly loses the ability to produce hot air the way it did when it was new. With an evaluation, you can find out the state of your furnace and get any problems fixed through a furnace repair service in Las Vegas.

By increasing the efficiency of your heating system, you will enjoy a better performance from your heating system and a more comfortable home. The efficiency will translate into a smaller bill, as you will no longer be paying for wasted air or a malfunctioning furnace to guzzle energy in its struggle to perform. With a safe and efficient heating system, you can make this winter more comfortable without burdening your pocket.

Residents of Las Vegas can apply for financing through their investment, making it easier on a hardworking family to increase the efficiency of their home’s heating system. The leading partner of our firm offers financing terms with low rates of interest for durations of up to 20 years. These low interest rates apply to solar panel financing, HVAC financing, and other services.

With financing, you only have to pay a very low monthly amount to cover the costs of your project—a down payment is not even required. The funding process is quick and the interest rates are very low, making a safe and efficient heating system available to every family. This financing option is also ideal for the purchase of new equipment that may be required to fix a problem in the system. The entire process is covered by the financing option.

Get your tune-up through and have your heating system fixed without worrying about huge expenses or a stressful winter. With a low-cost, low-stress solution to your heating system problems, you can be sure of a happy furnace this winter. And a happy furnace makes a happy home.

Habits at Home:

All energy efficient solutions have to be preceded by energy efficient habits. If you integrate some basic energy saving habits into your daily routine, you will very quickly see a drop in your electricity bills at home.

• Turn off electrical appliances and lights when you leave a room. There are so many people who just walk out without bothering to do this. When you leave lights on in empty rooms, you are paying for electricity that benefits no one.

• Use CFL lighting rather than the usual tube lights and lamps. They are more energy efficient and offer more power for the money that you pay.

• Any heavy appliances, such as a washing machine, should be used during non-peak hours, especially during the summer.

Besides these energy saving tips, by ensuring that your HVAC system is properly maintained, it will work as efficiently as possible.

Reduce Leakage:

In the winter you will be using your heater and furnace constantly to escape the chill. However, before you start using your furnace, make sure that the system undergoes an evaluation for energy efficiency. We offer services for Las Vegas furnace repair to ensure that your system is restored and functioning as efficiently as possible. Find out more at http://www.service1stenergysolutions.com/.

After the evaluation, you can identify any problem spots in your HVAC system and use our heating service to fix the issues. Perhaps the most common problem is leakage in your system. Most houses are not really built to be energy efficient. The builder usually includes the bare minimum to make your house a comfort zone in extreme weather. Thus, many home owners find that the air from their HVAC systems escapes into other places, such as the attic, where it is not needed.

Leakage of air into unwanted spaces plays a huge role in reducing the performance of your heating system. By putting a heavier load on your heater and furnace it increases your expenditure on heating, sometimes by significant amounts. Use our heating service to seal off any holes or vents that are reducing the efficiency of your HVAC systems.

Fire in the Winter

Another hazard that must be avoided is the possibility of fire in the ducts and the house. Using furnaces during the winter can lead to a fire if safety precautions are not taken beforehand. Thus, it is absolutely crucial to get your air and heating systems checked to prevent a fire from breaking out in your house from excessive heating or improper arrangement of equipment. This process also helps to ensure that your furnace is functioning as efficiently as possible during the cold winter months, rather than sucking your wallet dry. With Las Vegas furnace repair, you can fix any problems with your furnace and check for the possibility of fire from regular use of the service.

A combination of energy saving habits in the house and the Las Vegas furnace repair and heating services that we offer will surely bring down your bills this winter, all the while ensuring that you and your family are comfortable in your home.

Stable Solar Power for Children in Haiti

ROCKLIN, Calif., and ONTARIO-Last week SMA America joined representatives from NRG Energy, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and the Solar Electric Light Foundation (SELF) on a charity mission to Haiti to install a 53 kW solar PV array at the Zanmi Beni Home for Children. The project site is in Santo, Haiti, a town located northeast of Port-Au-Prince.

Zanmi Beni is a project of Partners in Health and its Haitian sister organization Zanmi Lasante. It is designed to provide long-term care to children affected by the devastating earthquake in January 2010. Installing a PV system for the Zanmi Beni Children’s Home will provide these children – many of whom have disabilities – with better, safer living conditions in their everyday lives. Solar power is also an economical option for the home due to Haiti’s traditionally high energy costs and unreliable grid.

“This has been an exceptionally rewarding project and SMA was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the NRG and the Clinton Global Initiative to help improve the lives of these children with solar power,” said Jurgen Krehnke, president and general manager of SMA America and president of SMA Canada . “We were glad to supply the inverters for this system and to have some of our experts donate their time to travel to Haiti and help install the system.”

SMA America supplied six Sunny Boy 9000 TL-US transformerless inverters, six Sunny Island 5048-US battery backup inverters and a Multicluster Box for the installation. The inverters will work with 236 Trina PA05 solar panels to create a hybrid off-grid/on-grid PV system with battery backup. This will allow Zanmi Beni to run most, if not all, of its load from solar electricity, resulting in the stable supply of clean, safe energy. This is one of many projects in progress to help Haiti rebuild from the 2010 earthquake and create a renewable energy infrastructure in the nation.

“In a country of many needs, the orphans of Zanmi Beni stand out as deserving special help,” said David Crane, NRG Energy’s CEO. “NRG was pleased to bring the light of solar power to the children but we could not have done so without the capable assistance of our partner SMA and their state-of-the-art Sunny Boy system.”

The UL listed Sunny Boy 9000 TL-US installed in the system in Haiti features SMA’s H5 topology, which results in efficiencies up to 98 percent and unmatched energy production. SMA’s transformerless inverters are lighter weight and offer higher efficiencies and enhanced safety features to provide optimum value.

SMA’s Sunny Island 5048-US enables off-grid operation with a battery bank. The Sunny Island is a self-sufficient AC voltage grid that meets SMA’s highest quality standards. Each Sunny Island is equipped with best-in-class grid and battery management functions, including monitoring. As system manager, it collects real-time data and makes intelligent decisions based on battery state of charge, state of health, electrical loads and generation capacity. At times when the batteries are discharged and there is little generation capacity, it can activate a backup energy source (such as a generator) or switch off certain consumption loads.

The Multicluster Box, paired with SMA’s US series of Sunny Islands, is an off-grid AC distribution hub that manages a variety of renewable and combustion generation sources for large-scale Sunny Island Multicluster systems. It simplifies the installation of off-grid PV systems, providing superior design flexibility and making rural electrification simple and scalable. It is ideal for installations up to 110 kW.

About SMA:
The SMA Group generated sales of (EURO)1.7 billion in 2011 and is the global market leader for solar inverters, a key component of all PV plants. It is headquartered in Niestetal, near Kassel, Germany, and is represented in 20 countries on four continents. The Group employs more than 5,500 people worldwide, plus a number of temporary employees that varies on a seasonal basis. SMA’s broad product portfolio includes a compatible inverter for every type of module on the market and for all PV plant sizes. The product range includes inverters both for grid-connected PV plants and for off-grid systems. SMA can therefore provide an ideal inverter solution for all plant sizes and types. Since 2008, the Group’s parent company, SMA Solar Technology AG, has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (S92) and also in the TecDAX index. In recent years, SMA has received numerous awards for excellence as an employer and in 2011 and 2012 achieved first place in Germany’s nationwide Great Place to Work® competition. www.SMA-America.com

Service 1st Energy Solutions is proud to offer SMA products as a solar option to our customers.

How crowdfunding could revolutionize solar

If just one percent of retail investments in savings accounts, money markets and U.S Treasuries was put into crowdfunding of solar projects — that can provide a 5 to 9 percent return to the investor — then that would deliver more than $90 billion for the creation of clean energy projects, according to a new white paper from Bloomberg.
The idea behind this emerging sector is that investing in the construction of putting solar panels on rooftops can provide a relatively low risk return on the upfront investment. Building owners generally lease solar equipment and enter into a contract to pay a fixed, low, electricity rate, commonly over about two decades. Over the past several years solar financing companies — like Clean Power Finance, Sungevity and Solar City — have emerged to provide the upfront capital, which can generally deliver around a 12 percent return.

But now new startups have emerged that want to leverage crowdfunding to provide that solar project finance capital. Solar Mosaic is the most well known of these companies, and the startup recently raised $2.5 million from venture capitalists and received a $2 million grant from the Department of Energy. Other startups named in Bloomberg’s paper include Abundance Generation in the UK, and SunFunder in the U.S.

Solar Mosaic, when it launches its financial products as soon as this Summer, could offer one- to three-year notes with something like a six-percent return, one of the company’s investors told me last year. The company is in a quiet period right now, but in April filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to offer “Solar Power Notes to the public, with proceeds going to fund solar power projects,” notes the Bloomberg paper.

Beyond the financial return, crowdfunding and solar have other reasons to fit together. Kickstarter has exploded as a way for crowds to fund projects that they connect with from art to technology to videos. The experience is largely an emotional one, where people donate generally small sums of money because they feel compelled to support the project. Solar roofs — with their carbon-free energy potential — could use crowdfunding to benefit from this same emotional connection.

As the Bloomberg paper points out, these crowd funding solar startups will need to build that type of emotional relationship with their potential investors, keeping investors up to date on their projects, clean power produced and communities affected. I bought into Solar Mosaic’s beta solar program last year and helped fund a project in Oakland, and I can report that they were already doing this type of outreach.

The Bloomberg paper also makes a good point about how crowdfunding and solar could work well for solar debt, which is somewhat low risk, but that investors should probably shy away from crowdfunding via equity. Having unsavvy investors buying into high risk technology startups, could be a really bad idea.

Original article can be viewed here.

The refrigerator can be the most energy-sucking appliance in your home. If you’ve got a second fridge out in the garage, you might consider ditching this unnecessary appliance to save money and energy.

Whether you’ve got one or two of the things, cleaning the refrigerator every few months can increase its efficiency greatly! Just vacuuming the coils can translate into a 30% energy savings. Here are eight easy steps for cleaning out your fridge and reducing its power usage:

1. To get started, unplug the unit and take everything out. Toss whatever rotten food you can into the compost bin and send the rest to the landfill. Stash food you’re keeping in a cooler.
2. Pull out the inner shelves and drawers and wipe them down with a vinegar and water solution.
3. Use the same solution to clean out the insides of the fridge.
4. Pull the unit away from the wall and carefully vacuum out the coils in back. If you don’t see the coils, they may be hidden behind a removable panel. You might need to take out a few screws to get in there, but it’s well worth it. Just be careful when taking things apart – you want to remember what you did so you can reassemble!
5. While you’re back there, why not eradicate the dust bunnies on the floor, too? How did they even get back there? When you push the fridge back, don’t put it flush with the wall – you want air to circulate around the coils.
6. By now, the shelves and drawers should be dry. Put them back in and replace any food you were able to save.
7. Is it looking a bit empty in there? While this seems a little counterintuitive, an empty fridge is less efficient. Stick some pitchers of water in there to help things along. You don’t want it so stuffed that air can’t circulate, though.
8. When you plug the fridge back in, make sure the temperature setting isn’t too cold. Like the thermostat in your house, a small adjustment can make a big difference. You want the temperature between 35 and 38F. This might take some finagling. If yours is anything like the one in our house, it doesn’t list the temperature in degrees. Stick a thermometer in there and play with the settings until you hit your target.

Of course, it helps to have an energy efficient fridge to start with. If you’re shopping for a new fridge, look for an Energy Star model. There should be an info card with more details on efficiency, too, so you can compare models based on energy use.

Yesterday, President Obama visited the Copper Mountain Solar 1 in Boulder City.  Solar 1 is one of the largest operating fields of photovoltaic solar panels in the country; the panels at Solar 1 produce 58 megawatts of power, enough for more than 17,000 average homes.  While Sempra, the company who built Solar 1, is about to break ground on an 150 megawatt expansion dubbed Solar 2, other companies are finding it hard to build big solar energy systems due to the complex nature of environmental studies and available land cleared for use by the BLM.

While some of the larger endeavors are struggling, the valley is seeing a surge in solar electric systems going up on homes and community businesses.  8 News Now reporter Calvert Collins visited Mountaintop Faith Ministries, a previous recipient of the NV Energy Renewable Generations rebate, who have installed a 115 kW solar electric system on their church through Service 1st Energy Solutions.  The system saves the church around $2,000 a month on their utility expenses.  Senior Energy Consultant Quincy Harris spoke with Clavert about the benefits homeowners and businesses can enjoy if they decide to go solar.  He also explained how the price to install solar continues to drop, thanks in part to the newfound push to move the nation’s energy demand to more renewable sources of energy.

Watch the full video below:

Costs Drop For Homeowners Who Want Solar

Obama relying on popularity of energy policy, regardless of GOP’s barbs

Republicans have been pointing an increasingly accusing finger at President Barack Obama’s energy policies the last few weeks, blaming them for gas prices that have steadily risen to more than double what they were when Obama took office.

When the president kicks off a national two-day energy tour today in Nevada, he will be delivering the following retort: Not only are my energy policies great, but you love what they’ve done.

Boulder City’s Copper Mountain Solar 1 facility is the first of four energy backdrops Obama’s selected to highlight his administration’s multifaceted approach to energy development as he moves across the country. It is also the only solar facility on the short list, which includes tours of oil- and gas-drilling rigs in New Mexico, research and development facilities in Ohio, and a pipe storage yard in Oklahoma — where Obama plans to announce the construction of an oil pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico.

There are no similar project or policy announcements scheduled for the president’s turn through Boulder City; for Obama, the Nevada leg of the trip is about highlighting and defending a longstanding renewable energy policy he believes has been productive.

Copper Mountain Solar 1 is no ordinary photovoltaic power plant, even for Nevada, which ranks third in the nation for utility-scale solar projects. The nation’s biggest solar energy generator (the plant has a 58 MW production capacity), which was financed in part with $40 million worth of federal investment tax credits — “part of a set of tax incentives supported by the Obama administration that are helping move private investors off the sidelines,” the White House notes — was recognized by various industry rankings as the No. 1 plant in the nation following its completion in 2010.

The plant has also been roundly praised by Nevada political officials of all party stripes: Last year, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval said Copper Mountain “exemplifies my goal of making Nevada the renewable energy capital of the country.”

Operating company Sempra, based in California, currently has plans to build two more solar facilities with even bigger power-generating capacity on land adjacent to the current Copper Mountain site.

“Thanks in part to commitments we have made, renewable energy from sources like wind and solar is set to double in the president’s first term,” a White House official said Tuesday.

But while the Copper Mountain project is a successful example of how the president’s policies helped turn sunshine into positive energy production, it’s the president who now needs the helpful afterglow of Copper Mountain’s universal popularity to brighten his reputation — even on renewable energy.

Republicans haven’t just been questioning Obama’s contribution to the rising prices at the pump. They’ve also been questioning whether the administration’s focused investments in solar and other renewable energy industries have or really will translate into savings for the energy consumer or the jobs for the nation’s unemployed.

The promise of “green jobs” was one of the driving forces behind public reception in Nevada for the new energy economy, the image of which has been rendered most succinctly as a photovoltaic panel glistening under the hot desert sun. But by various measures, the numbers just aren’t meeting the size of expectations.

Renewable energy jobs are growing in number, but the number remains small: Fewer than 10,000 between 2003 and 2010, according to a study by the Brookings Institution.

Even Copper Mountain is tied to that trend. Though it produced 350 jobs at the peak of construction in 2010, there are only five permanent on-site positions today.

Neither have many of the promised fiscal benefits of investing in renewable energy been realized. According to a clean energy study released earlier this month by Sen. Harry Reid’s office, Nevada’s economy stands to gain more than $1 billion from the renewable energy projects that are already under way — Boulder City stands to gain $12 million per year from the Copper Mountain project alone — but in these early stages, prices of renewable-produced electricity remain high compared to carbon-fueled sources, and local municipalities, because of tax incentives, are not yet seeing a revenue return.

In Nevada, there’s more bipartisan support for a continued focus on renewable energy than in most states. Sandoval, for one, has focused on clean energy as a potential export industry for Nevada. Republican Sen. Dean Heller, too, has supported the development of renewable energy as a state industry as well as portfolio standards and certain tax credits to keep that development humming. But he has also questioned whether the government’s financial policies to support renewable energy — especially loan guarantees, which were the focus of last year’s Solyndra scandal — are entirely necessary.

More recently, Heller has been an extremely vocal critic of Obama’s energy policies vis-a-vis gas prices, though he has joined party colleagues more to decry the president’s lack of movement on theKeystone XL oil pipeline and support for a “cap-and-trade” system of allotting carbon credits than Obama’s specific proposals on renewable energy investments.

Heller has sought to tie his chief rival for the Senate, Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, to Obama’s positions in those areas and use Berkley’s support for those presidential policies to blame her for rising gas prices, as well. Berkley, meanwhile, has accused Heller of favoring oil and sought to reinstate expired tax incentives for renewable energy by stripping similar incentives from oil and gas companies.

The president won’t be engaging in such a war of favoritism as Nevada’s two Senate hopefuls are on Wednesday: Solar is the topic du jour for the first stop only; the rest of his tour through the United States will, in fact, be dominated by conversations about oil, in which the president is likely to try to expand the current cries over gas prices into a broader conversation about the nation’s energy priorities.

Still, national Republicans are seizing on his solar summit in Nevada to try to paint him into another either-or scenario — despite the support of local Republicans for some of the very projects and tax incentive schemes the president will be highlighting.

“President Obama is back in Nevada talking about renewable energy rather than how he will reduce Nevadans’ pain at the pump or help them find a job,” Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement Tuesday. “Nevadans deserve solutions from their president, but they’re only hearing excuses and seeing their tax dollars wasted on the president’s pet projects.”

The president’s supporters, however, believe this is a moment for Nevada to shine on a national stage and cement the promised clean energy future that can be fully realized only in a future much longer than the stormy election season.

“The opponents of renewable energy will continue trying to derail Nevada’s and the nation’s efforts to build a cleaner and safer energy future,” Reid wrote in a Sun op-ed Tuesday. “Nevada’s work to take advantage of its renewable energy resources does not come without risk, but we cannot turn away from clean energy and miss our opportunity to strengthen Nevada’s future with a victory in clean energy.”