These systems are still expensive compared to the conventional electric generating plants such as hydro. And since they only generate power during the day, batteries or other storage systems are required to ensure power availability during the night or times when the conversion is low. This means spending more on batteries, which are currently the most popular storage devices.

Another limitation is the intermittent nature of light, making the energy unsuitable for some applications.

Space limitations may influence the maximum power that a consumer can generate. The cheaper panels have a lower conversion rate and require larger areas. However, customers may overcome this by using the more expensive but higher efficiency panels which require less space.

Improved photovoltaic technology, mass production and lower installation costs have seen the cost of photovoltaic systems and components such as batteries fall rapidly. Incentives such as financing, rebates, and wide acceptance by homeowners have influenced the use of the photovoltaic cells.

Many homeowners are DIY enthusiasts and like to tackle various jobs around their home. It’s okay to handle small carpentry tasks, furniture finishing, garden maintenance, indoor and outdoor painting and other repair tasks as a weekend project. It gives you a sense of achievement that you have completed these small jobs on your own. In fact, this can also save you a tidy sum on getting professionals to handle the job for you.

Some people just hone their DIY skills by trying their hand at different projects in their home, while others put in a more concerted effort and take classes to learn more complicated skills required for a particular task. With easy access to the Internet, it’s not uncommon to find many people learning different DIY techniques by watching tutorials online.

However, it’s never a good idea to tackle any electrical repairs on your own. Let’s take a look at why:

Those who have no training and certification to handle electrical jobs aren’t aware of many basic things such as:

These may seem like very simple things, but a novice many not be aware of them. This is exactly why it becomes important to hire the services of a licensed, insured and experienced electrician to handle all the electrical jobs on your commercial or residential property. They will ensure that all the work is carried out legally and safely, without any kind of compromises. This also ensures your home insurance isn’t compromised in any way.

AllRound Electricals is a very reputed and well-established company that handles all types of commercial and residential electrical jobs. On board our team are experienced professionals that fully understand all the technicalities of handling electrical jobs. They wear the appropriate protective clothing and have the right kind of tools to carry out the job in a safe manner.

We handle small and big jobs with the same level of dedication and expertise and always look to provide our customers value for money. Regardless of whether you want to get an electrical fixture installed or need complete rewiring done on your property, we are the professionals to hire. For any information about our services, feel free to call us at 1300 169 263. You can also write to us at this email address.

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Any business knows that productivity is key to growth, let alone staying afloat. Whether you are talking about a production line, a traveling salesperson, and yes even your office space; productivity is going to be the main driving factor which will allow your business to not only stay in business, but also experience growth year over year, month over month.

Here we are going to describe 23 ways to improve office productivity which will in turn allow you to realize higher profits, more output, and less money being wasted to lost productivity.

First on the list? Improving office productivity through computer applications:

Science proves that taking more breaks allows us to be more productive.

How does that work if we technically will have less “work time” by taking all these breaks?

It gives us time to collect our thoughts, time to let our mind roam, and even some time to talk and bounce ideas off of others.

So, instead of making employees hate working because you limit them to one break a day; let them take a short one every hour or two and watch the ideas and productivity outputs increase!

Not only should you be organizing your desk, but also the entire office.

A cleared out area allows for a clear mind to work at much higher levels of clarity. Whether you have a cubical office design or a more open concept; requiring all areas of the office to be clear on either a weekly or daily basis should be a must.

Sure, not everyone likes to clear. But, if you give employees 10-15 minutes to clean their area at the end of every day I’m sure most people will be happy to do so (especially if you explain it is part of your initiative to improve productivity in the office)!

Some people have a habit of checking their email every 10 minutes while they are waiting for someone important to get back to them.

In reality, the likelihood of them replying back right away even if you get back to them quick is slim. On top of that, it seems down right desperate.

By implementing 2-3 time periods (again, depending on the department) that people should check their email; you will end the constant refreshing of email pages by a lot of your work force. This allows people to get back to work and pay much more attention to their work at hand.

There can be multiple things wrong with your lighting system that might be throwing off people in the office.

First of all, if you have fluorescent lights then you might just have a few (or a lot) of lights in your office that flicker or even worse, buzz. This can cause eye stress, annoyance, and a general distraction.

On top of that, you may have either an under-lit or over-lit office. Both are bad, and it’s up to you to find the optimal light output for your office. This can be done by surveying employees on your lighting system and going from there.

Lastly, low quality light can be an issue. An easy way to not only improve the quality of light but also get rid of flickering and buzzing light issues is by upgrading your reduce your energy usage by up to 30% or so. Sounds like a win-win situation here!

Not only will they help with productivity, but they will also clean the air of toxins which will keep the air fresh and not-so-stuffy.

Stop making it so difficult to get around. Make it easy to get to the bathroom, to the trash, or even to an outlet.

Time is money, and if people are having to spend time just to get to the most basic things you aren’t setting up your office for success (literally).

Using office design to increase productivity can be difficult, sure. But it doesn’t have to be all that complex. You could even get some people together to brainstorm what could be done to best optimize the space you have to best serve efficiency in the office. So while there will never be the “best office design for productivity” hack or tip (due to all offices being different), you can always use some general guidelines and common sense to help you out.

Wherever the noise may be coming from, while it may not effect everyone it may be effecting some people.

Now, this can be an easy fix if the noise is coming from within the office. To solve this issue, all you need to do is address the area of concern and fix it. But, what if the noise is coming externally on a frequent basis?

Well, you can do either of two things. Firstly, you can try to address or confront the external noise producer and see if there is anyway for it to stop at least during your time of work. If that doesn’t work, then you might need to install sound proofing technology into your walls. This can get pricey sure, but you’ve got to weight the benefits of having less noise in the office versus the cost it is going to be to make the upgrade.

Although you might think that you won’t be able to get everything in if you shorten meetings, you would be mistaken!

In fact, having shorter meetings make them much more focused and thus; more productive. Even if you have two meetings over one a week because they are shorter, it is much better to have two 10 minute meetings over one 30 minute one that lacks purpose.

On top of that, do you really need to have a meeting? Or, are you just holding meetings to “have a meeting?” If it is the latter, try scheduling meetings only when they are needed, rather just out of habit.

Looking for ways to motivate the office into getting stuff done? 43Folders.com and it’s a simple concept: work for ten minutes, break for 2, then repeat this 5 times (or an hour).

You might say, “are you mad?! No way I’ll let my employees take a break every 10 minutes.” But here it out…

Maybe you shouldn’t implement this tactic specifically, but make a variation that works for your needs but still allows for productivity to be most optimal. And yes, there will be times when extreme concentration is required for more than 10-20 minutes, and obviously this doesn’t have to be a “set in stone” type deal. Instead, make it a generally accepted practice to partake in such method of break and work balancing.

(We already talked about more breaks in #3, but we thought this hack was worthy of its own).

Have you ever listed a job listing opportunity with one of the qualifications as “multitasking?” If so, you’ve got it all wrong. In fact, you should be listing a qualifications as “the ability to be laser focused on one thing at a time.”

Multitasking Parkinson’s law” in short says that we will fill whatever time is allotted to complete a given task.

Why do you think people with a 3 month deadline to get a presentation done still find themselves struggling to get it ready to go last minute? Because they will fill the entire time they are given to finish it. This goes with any task, and if you shorten the time allotted to finish tasks you will see more getting done because people will work to fill the allotted time given.

This of course can be used too far and not given enough time to get things done with all the proper due diligence required. Finding a good balance of long enough but not TOO long will be difficult, but start looking into deadlines and what exactly defines how far out they get set and start thinking about setting shorter (yet still doable) deadlines.

Studies show that standing will not only improve health, but it will also improve productivity. Focus goes up and thus more work can get done.

call center workers showed that pollution in the office reduced productivity levels. As you can imagine, pollution is a major issue in a lot of places, especially in bigger cities.

Most Maryland, Virginia, and DC homeowners pay little attention to their main electrical circuit panel until something goes wrong, such as a tripped circuit breaker. However, when the areas around your outlets have darkened and/or heat is coming off of your main circuit box, these can be indications that something is wrong with your wiring system even if the circuit breaker doesn’t trip.

Since there are more than 370,000 house fires in the U.S. each year, causing around 15,000 deaths and injuries, paying attention to your electrical panel is more than just a good idea; it’s essential. Catching issues like a hot circuit breaker early can not only help to keep you and your family safe, but can keep the cost of fixing the problem in check and prevent property damage.

There are a number of things that can cause your circuit breaker to give off heat. Some of the more common include:

Electrical work is too dangerous to work on yourself. It’s important to hire a licensed electrician to make sure your wiring is handled properly and safely.

Kolb Electric has the experienced, licensed electricians you need to keep your home and your family safe. If you have questions or concerns about a hot circuit breaker or other wiring issue in your home, call us for an evaluation. Our staff has experience in a variety of home wiring projects, from re-wiring an entire home to fixing loose electrical connections. We’ve been helping Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC area homeowners with their electrical needs since 1925. Call us at 877 287-1179 to schedule an appointment today.

Florida residents, it happens to all of us more often than we’d like. A storm, hurricane, or other catastrophe causes our lights to flicker and the power to go out. Power loss doesn’t just affect the lights—food can begin to spoil in your refrigerator and freezer, cell phone batteries die and are unable to be recharged, furnaces can’t keep your home and your family warm, and hot water to bathe, cook, and clean becomes limited. The list goes on and on. The next time a storm knocks out your power—again—you may find yourself thinking about investing in a standby generator to help you weather the storm.

There are many benefits of installing a standby generator in your Tampa or St. Petersburg home. Unlike a portable backup generator, a standby generator is doing just that—standing by, awaiting its turn to provide power to you and your family. Differences between the two power generators include: