L.A. City engineers originally hoped that the LED bulbs would save 40% on electric bills. By the end of 2010, with 20,000 street lights switched over, the City experienced a surprising 55% savings in electricity on the new bulbs. The city has also found that the LED lights create brighter and more uniform visibility, reducing pockets of dark shadow that conventional street lights sometimes leave.

This is the largest LED street lighting project of its type in the world. Mayor Villaraigosa commented proudly, “We’re seeing L.A. lead the way.” The project is being funded, in part, by Federal stimulus dollars as well as the Clinton Foundation. Sarah Potts of the Clinton Foundation said, “The Clinton Climate Initiative was excited to work on this project mainly because L.A. was willing to be a mover on this. They were willing to set the bar for where energy efficiency street lighting could and should go. They took on a project that was much larger than any other cities were considering.”

If you want to go greener in your home or business, you can take steps that range from quick and simple to more ambitious:

Let’s make L.A. the greenest city on the planet!

–Kim Hopkins, Owner

The Electric Connection

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August is here and that means the return to school for your young ones. Shorter autumn days bring a hectic round of sports, activities and events and calendars fill with cryptic notes. The holiday stress will follow and a new schedule will interrupt your relaxing summer. Get organized now with these tips so you can have a great school year!

Ease the Family into a School Year Schedule

The first day of school is no time for a drastic adjustment of household sleep schedules. Instead, ease children back into a school year routine gradually. During the last two weeks of summer, re-introduce a school year bedtime. Begin waking late sleepers earlier and earlier, closer to the hour they’ll need to rise when school begins.

Don’t neglect mealtimes! Younger children, in particular, need to adapt to new meal routines before the school day demands it of them. Plan meals and snacks to accustom little ones to rituals of the school day before the school year begins.

Create a Calendar that Everyone Can Use

Each school year floats on a sea of schedules. School functions. Lunch menus. Scout meetings and music lessons. What do you do when you’re drowning in paper?

You’ll need a family event calendar to track after-school activities, school programs and volunteer work. Add specialized calendars and schedules, and you have it: a one-stop shop for family time management.

Form is less important than function. A paper calendar with large squares lets you enter information easily. Pre-printed white board calendars are easy to revise when necessary. Color-coding entries by family member helps keep busy lives straight.

Paper planner fans dedicate a planner section to serve as the main calendar, while tech-savvy people store the info in a smart phone or tablet and sync with multiple computers. Choose a calendar format that works for your family.

Post the family event calendar in a public place near an area that gets a lot of use (like the kitchen or living room). Use magnets to attach the calendar to the refrigerator, or tack it to a bulletin board. Add other branches to the calendar as well: school lunch menus, class assignment sheets, sports practice schedules. When the teacher calls for field trip volunteers, you’ll know at a glance whether you’re free to join the group on the bus that day.

Plan Before You Shop

August is the second-biggest sales month for clothing retailers. Back to school clothing sales begin as early as July! Are you prepared to run the school clothes gauntlet? An informed shopper is a savvy shopper, so prepare before you shop.

Take an afternoon and assess each child’s clothing needs. Empty drawers and closets of outgrown or worn-out clothing, and either store or donate the discards. Develop a wardrobe needs list for each child. Check for possible hand-me-downs from older siblings as you make your list. If you discuss the needs list and the family budget with your children before you shop, you’ll avoid in-the-store tantrums.

Similarly, ask the school for classroom supply lists before shopping for school supplies. Do shop early! With back-to-school sales beginning in mid-July, tardy shoppers have a tough time locating needed supplies among September’s Halloween costumes and Christmas decorations.

The school year always brings a large amount of stress with it. By utilizing these tips, you’ll be sure to ease into coming months without as many headaches as you’ve had last year. By planning ahead, you’ll make back-to-school time far more easier and you’ll enjoy it more too!

Storm damage electrical repair is a common issue we help customers with in the Des Moines Metro areas.  Storms can cause major damage not only to your homes roof, siding, and windows but also the wiring in and out of your home.  We are not just talking about the major storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes, but storms such as thunderstorms, hail storms, heavy rain and snow storms, and freezing rain or ice storms.  Thunderstorms can cause massive power surges damaging your homes electronics, appliances, and wiring.  Heavy snow and ice storms can damage overhead wiring ripping service mast off the side of your home and cause major physical damage.  Heavy winds can blow down trees hitting overhead service lines.  Even a tree coming in contact with the power grid can cause massive surges and still damage your home even miles away from the incident.

We have electricians available 24 hours for emergency electrical repair.  We realize that with overnight storms you can not always wait for the next day in order to have your home or businesses wiring repaired.  Our emergency team consist of experienced and licensed electricians, 24 hour live answered phones, and a warehouse stocking a full line of parts to repair most major problems.

Not only do we carry our own inventory but we also have 24 hour access to all major electrical supplies stores in the Des Moines metro area.  With our licensed electricians we can make that emergency electrical repair no matter what the time of day or night is.

With no electricity in your home you can often experience more damage than the initial storm presented.  Sump pumps protect your homes basement from incoming water.  Heavy rains and ground water may continue to flow for hours or even days from the time your home or business lost electricity.  Flooded basements depending on the level of finish can cost thousands of dollars or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair.  Even winter time power outages can cause damage.  Your furnace runs on electricity and without it you may not have any heat in your home.  Without heat pipes can freeze and burst flooding your property.

We have equipment that can be used to get to areas not normally accessible or areas not safely reached from a ladder.  Our equipment is designed to safely get your power restored so you can rest comfortably.

Categories: 24 Hour Electrician, Bucket Truck, Uncategorized« Power Surges and Whole House Surge Protection  |  Hot Tub and Pool Wiring Don’t Risk Your Safety! »

This is a great time of year to take advantage of year-end closeouts and end of season sales on things like hot tubs and swimming pools. The height of the outdoor season is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean you will be huddling up inside for the next six months. The weather in southern California will stay mild for months and you can enjoy the luxuriousness of a hot tub in your own backyard. If you have a swimming pool and have been thinking about having it heated, now is the time to buy. An electrician in Burbank can help you take care of the installation process on the deals you score. The team at The Electric Connection is on standby to take care of any of the wiring and electric panel upgrades you may need to make your new addition to the home a success.

Hot tubs require their own breaker in the electric panel. They need a 240-volt outlet as well. This is a big one and not the standard outlet you plug your toast into. Most homes do not come equipped with a spare 240-volt outlet, which means it will need to be installed by an electrician. Burbank homeowners can choose where they want the hot tub placed and the electrician will take care of wiring the outlet and running it back to the electric panel.

Because a 240-volt outlet is going to be a big extra, you may very well need to upgrade your electric panel. Your Burbank electrician will do an inspection of the panel and see if there is enough room to add the breaker that will solely support the hot tub. An upgraded electric panel will give you all the electricity you need to run all the appliances in your home without worrying about tripping breakers or using weak currents that could damage the electronics and appliances. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your new hot tub installation.