Are you sick and tired of paying an arm and a leg for your electricity bills? Congress is considering legislation that could bring you some relief. A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives this summer that would update the Title I Home and Property Improvement Loan Program, which helps consumers make efficiency upgrades to their homes. The new bill is intended to help homeowners invest in solar energy to power their home electrical work. Read on to learn more about this legislation and how it can help you.

Upgrading Your Electrical Work

The Title I home loan program has been around since 1934, aimed at helping homeowners with capital for home improvement upgrades. Currently, Title I is working through the Federal Housing Authority's Power Saver program, designed to promote clean energy and fight climate change. Home energy efficiency upgrades like photovoltaic solar panels, therefore, are a natural fit for the program.

The legislation currently in front of Congress, called the “Solar and Water Efficient Homes Act,” would update the Title I guidelines to better accommodate modern technologies, as well as increase the number of loans that are available and reduce the bureaucratic red tape that has bogged down the program in the past.

Bringing the Capital to You

Upgrading your home can require significant costs that are beyond the reach to many low and middle income families, so the Title I program provides capital that allows homeowners to realize energy savings immediately. Those who are eligible can get loans of up to $25,000 to make a variety of efficiency upgrades to their electrical work, most notably by installing solar panels. The program will also help homeowners purchase new HVAC systems, beef up their home insulation, buy new water heaters and even install geothermal heating systems.

“Title I loans have helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners improve their homes,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California), one of the bill's sponsors, said in a press release. “It’s time we make it easier for homeowners to invest in energy efficiency upgrades and improve water conservation, creating good local jobs, and helping the environment.” The legislation also hopes to spur job creation by encouraging consumers to spend more money on home services labor and equipment.

Efficiency Arrives at Your Home

When it's time to boost your home efficiency, Title I is there to lend a helping hand – and if Congress passes the Solar and Water Efficient Homes Act, the incentives will be even stronger. If you want to learn more about the Title I loan program, or need any repairs done on your home electrical work, contact a qualified electrician today.

Here's a novel idea to ponder: One day, your car could be the power source for your home electrical work. That's right, electric cars are being primed to send electricity from their batteries back into the home and even to the electric grid. They aren't full-time power sources, of course, but cars do have the potential to get you through a power outage and even help you save money on your electric bills. Read on to find out how.

Upending the Human-Car Relationship

The typical relationship between electric cars and our home electrical work is a one-way street – you fill up the car's battery from a home charging station, a process that takes hours. However, new fast-charging technology that is becoming available has a second intriguing function: it also allows the car to discharge electricity into the home. Nissan has already developed a system that would allow the car to hook up to home electrical work and keep it running in an emergency.

The battery in the Nissan Leaf holds enough energy to power a typical home for about 24 hours, longer if you take energy conservation measures. It won't keep the power on forever, but it's enough to keep the lights on and the fridge cold for a while during an outage. Even more impressive, since cars are, after all, mobile, the autos could be driven to areas in need of power in the event of a black-out to help with emergency services.

Smoothing Out Demand

The next step would be to use cars to actually sell electricity back to the grid. In a twist on time-of-day pricing, in which electricity costs more during the day and less at night, manufacturers envision a day when our cars are used as giant storage batteries, soaking up electricity at night when it's cheap and then discharging it back to the grid during the day to help even out demand and reduce bills at the same time.

With the right technology in place, utility companies could control exactly how much electricity comes and goes from plugged-in cars. This could reduce expenses dramatically, because it costs a bundle to bring on incremental power sources to meet extra demand during the day.

A Vision of the Future

This futuristic vision of the electrical grid isn't here yet, but the technology already exists. As more and more electric cars hit the road, we get closer to realizing their potential as mobile power storage devices as well as human transportation vehicles.

To find out if your home is suitable for an electric car charging station, call a local electrician today.

As you prepare to spend a lot more time indoors this winter, it is the time to think about making some home improvements that will make your home a little more comfortable and appealing. If you are going to be holed up inside your home, you want to make it as inviting as possible. Sometimes, a little facelift can totally change the look and feel of a room. A new coat of paint, refinishing the floors and adding new lighting are fairly inexpensive home improvement projects that breathe new life into your old space. If you have ever dreamed about a shiny, glass chandelier in your foyer or dining room, now is a great time to make that dream come true with the help of an electrician in Pasadena. The team at The Electric Connection can help you make your goal of adding new lighting a reality.

Chandeliers range from very basic to very elegant. You will get the freedom to choose the perfect fixture for your home’s personality. Spend some time choosing the right chandelier that is functional as well as aesthetically appealing. Once you have chosen the perfect chandelier, give you electrician a call to discuss placement.

If there is an existing light fixture in the room, it is a fairly easy job of switching the old light out and installing the new chandelier. If there isn’t an existing fixture, you will need to have an experienced electrician take care of any Pasadena electrical wiring needed to power the light. This will be discussed with you. At the time of installation, it is a good idea to have a dimmer switch installed as well. Some chandeliers are equipped with several lights can really brighten up an area. You may not always need that much light. A dimmer will give you the ability to adjust the lighting based on your needs. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your chandelier installation.

Generally, it doesn’t cost much to hire an electrician to have repair work or installation done at home. Yet, many homeowners in Oregon feel they can save the money they would have to spend by taking care of the problem on their own, even though they lack the experience and the expertise to do it right. This often leads to greater problems and they have to spend more money on the repair than they would have if they had called in an electrician in the first place. Of course, hiring the right electrician isn’t simply a matter of finding a number in a directory and making a call.

There are thousands of electricians you will find and not all of them are made equal. Not to mention, they don’t all offer the same services. But it is important to understand that even with electricians, there are different types. There are electricians that take care of the big stuff and then there are electricians that handle the small stuff. It is important to identify the kind of problem you are facing before you call an electrician.

What is low-voltage wiring and where can it be found? This covers everything from communications to entertainment systems, for example, televisions and telephones, small electrical devices much like doorbells and thermostats. A low-voltage electrician takes care of these things for you so the next time your TVdoesn’t work, call in a low-voltage electrician as he will be quick to assess what is wrong with it and will fix it much quicker as it is after all, in his job description. He will ensure that the wiring is properly installed and that the device does not malfunction again.

A low-voltage electrician will visit clients that are in need of installation or repair, will scope out the job as well as determine what tools are required and also how long it will take to fix whatever it is that needs fixing. For example, a thermostat which is malfunctioning may be the consequence of a frayed wire or it could it that it happened because of a poor wiring job which needs to be redone.A low-voltage electrician will know just how to do it.

Once thelow-voltage electrician has diagnosed the root cause of the problem, he will correct it. Should you need new installation, he will recommend one that will fit your needs as well as your budget. Once that is done, the process of fixing the problem will start.

Think of them as doctors of electronics making house calls in order to check faulty wiring. It doesn’t matter if it is a doorbell that is no longer working or a cable connection that flakes out on you when you are binge watching the last season of Breaking Bad, a low-voltage electrician will come and fix the problemfor you.

It is as difficult to find a low-voltage electrician as it is to find a high-voltage one. But luckily for you, low-voltage electricians are licensed as well. So, find a contact from your most updated yellow pages and once you have a chance to meet the electrician, ask them to see a license. And there you have it.That is how you find the right AND legally authorized low-voltage electrician for any low-voltage work you need done at home.

To conclude, it is important to acknowledge what low-voltage electricians do and how helpless youwould be without one. No one can imagine their lives without the little technological advances in their everyday lives.