Win the Smart Strip Game:
Here is how the game is going to be played. I am leaving town around March 14th, to go to Norman, OK for training on the Bergey wind turbine that I sell and on the way home I will be stopping in Freeport, IL to meet a wind turbine dealer that I know there that has installed the new wind turbine that I have been thinking about carrying. I will be posting some video of this turbine and also blogging about it when I get back to Traverse City.
The game is simple:
1) You have to be a Fan on the J.D. Stratton Electric Facebook page to win.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/JD-Stratton-Electric-Inc/59769692142
2) You will need a Twitter account to follow me at http://twitter.com/JDSElectric or go to my blog there is a Twitter feeder there you can use it to follow along too. http://jdstrattonelectric.blogspot.com/ I have my Twitter account linked to my Fan page, but to be safe I would do one of the other two items just in case.
3) As I am going through different towns along the way I will tweet where I am in my trip. I will be driving to OK one way and to IL a different way.
4) You will have to write the towns down each day, in order, as I tweeted them. When I reach Norman, OK, the first person to post on the JDSE Facebook page the towns in order will win the first Smart Strip for leg number one.
5) I will be there for three days. Don't stop following because I'll be tweeting while there at the training at Bergey's facility. Once I leave there I will start the second part of the game and starting the tweeting again for that leg of the trip.
6) Please pay attention there will be a bonus Smart Strip given away at some point through out my trip for one lucky person. Might be a question, something I posted, or even a video that I have up loaded.
7) Once I've announced that I am back in Traverse City. The second person to post on the J.D. Stratton Electric Facebook Fan page will win the other Smart Strip for use at their home or business.
8) Here's the catch! The winners of the Smart Strips have to give a testimonial on how well the strips have been working out for them after a month has past. Which I will post on my blog and website. You most be willing to do this to win.
9) Only one Smart Strip per winner or household.
Anyone can play along, so tell your friends and family members to signup to become a fan and to follow along. This should be a lot of fun!
ALSO GOOD LUCK !!!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Snake Oil Medicine Salesmen Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon.
I met with my neighbor last night to talk about a possible solar panel system for her house. She had gotten a quote from another guy that is trying to do the same thing as I am. The reason she had gotten a quote from another guy was because she thought that I only did wind turbines, but I don't. I started out to do solar first but just fell into the whole wind turbines by accident.
But my question to her was is this guy even qualified to do something like this? The guy was a roofing salesman for a roofing company in Traverse City. How can a roofing company install solar panels without being a licensed electrical contractor is my question. That would be like me coming over to your house and trying to sell you shingles. I'M NOT QUALIFIED AND/OR LICENSED TO DO IT!!!!
None the less I was able to beat their price by $6000, their price was for $25,000. I quoted her the a little bit smaller system (just .2kw difference) on a tracker. Which is better because it is off the roof and it moves to follow the sun giving her 25% more power. Their system mounted on the roof and faced to the West that's ok, BUT it really needs to be pointed South.
So buyer beware of the Snake Oil Salesman coming to your door. There are somethings you need to be asking these guys:
Solar installer questions:
1. Are you a licensed Electrical Contractor or who do you use and are they licensed and insured?
2. How many systems have they installed?
3. Are you insured to do this type of work?
4. Do you work with the power company?
5. Do you handle all the permits? If they ask you to get them you need to say bye bye.
Wind turbine installer questions:
1. Are you a licensed Electrical Contractor or who do you use and are they licensed and insured?
2. Are you a licensed Building Contractor or who do you use and are they licensed and insured?
3. Do you have a licensed Engineer that you use? Because wind turbines are a structure and when getting a building permit you need a stamped foundation drawing.
4. How many wind turbines have you installed?
5. Are you insured to do this type of work?
6. Do you work with the power company?
7. Do you handle all the permits? The only permit that I do not get is the zoning permit, but will supply all the paper work needed to get that permit.
These are some basic questions that you need to ask your potential renewable energy installer. This is a big investment and if it is not install correctly your going to waste a lot of hard earned money.
So many times since I have started doing this type of work so many guys have since moved on. I know of three companies that all started about the same time as me and they have since disappeared. But I'm still here. I have since taken over one of the companies customers because he is not in business.
My thing is not just the installation but it's the service after the sale. So many are about the sale and not coming back after the installation. I generally try and make two visits a year to all my installation that I have done because it is important to me that you are happy with the product you bought from me. So many of my customers have become good friends.
So beware of the Snake Oil Medicine Salesmen, one day there here, the next day their gone, never to be seen again with your hard earned money.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Words from the Woman
Greetings from the inside! This is Andrea. I'm Jeff's wife, and the co-conspirator involved in these experiments. I have been teasing Jeff that "the other half" ought to have a chance to voice the impact that trying to be more energy conscious has had on me.
Jeff has graciously given me a moment on this forum, so....
The LED lights weren't so great. Good idea - poor execution. Made our hallway look like an art museum. Not the look I need when heading for the bathroom at midnight!
The CFL lightbulbs have taken some getting used to - but I love the energy savings. The first generation bulbs cast a brownish light, but these current ones warm up to a yellow, and offer plenty of light. They are even in our bedside lamps.
Jeff put in a programmable thermostat (over my boisterous objection!) - but he's right. It does make a difference to have the thermostat set low during the day, and turn on before we get home.
We've got smart strips in a few places in the house- the most efficient one is the one of the TV. Turn the TV off, and it turns off all the accessories (DVD, VHS, video games, whatever) - but leaves the chargers and the cable box on. Really cool - and makes me happy knowing that all that stuff is off.
Last but absolutely NOT least - my favorite JDS purchase for the house: the little electric meter reader. This little gadget is about $100 - and one small piece is attached to your outside electric meter. The larger display is somewhere in your house - ours is in the kitchen. It's free standing, so you can put it wherever you want. This little gadget tell me how much energy is being pulled into the house at any given minute. You can change the read out to show kilowatt hours, or how much money is being spent at that moment. It has become a game I play - to see how low I can get the house while still enjoying life. Currently I can get down to 0.2-0.3 KW/hr while doing computer work, or watching TV, but still going about my life. It is surprsing to see it suddenly spike to 8 or 10 KW/hr - until you realize that you hear the furnace running, the refrigerator cycling, or some other high energy user.
If you have kids that are inconsistent about turning off lights or using too much water - try this gadget! Knowing how much you energy you are using is the first step in changing behaviors to get more efficient.
Thanks to my host for letting me have this space. Let us know what you think as you try some of your energy ideas.
Jeff has graciously given me a moment on this forum, so....
The LED lights weren't so great. Good idea - poor execution. Made our hallway look like an art museum. Not the look I need when heading for the bathroom at midnight!
The CFL lightbulbs have taken some getting used to - but I love the energy savings. The first generation bulbs cast a brownish light, but these current ones warm up to a yellow, and offer plenty of light. They are even in our bedside lamps.
Jeff put in a programmable thermostat (over my boisterous objection!) - but he's right. It does make a difference to have the thermostat set low during the day, and turn on before we get home.
We've got smart strips in a few places in the house- the most efficient one is the one of the TV. Turn the TV off, and it turns off all the accessories (DVD, VHS, video games, whatever) - but leaves the chargers and the cable box on. Really cool - and makes me happy knowing that all that stuff is off.
Last but absolutely NOT least - my favorite JDS purchase for the house: the little electric meter reader. This little gadget is about $100 - and one small piece is attached to your outside electric meter. The larger display is somewhere in your house - ours is in the kitchen. It's free standing, so you can put it wherever you want. This little gadget tell me how much energy is being pulled into the house at any given minute. You can change the read out to show kilowatt hours, or how much money is being spent at that moment. It has become a game I play - to see how low I can get the house while still enjoying life. Currently I can get down to 0.2-0.3 KW/hr while doing computer work, or watching TV, but still going about my life. It is surprsing to see it suddenly spike to 8 or 10 KW/hr - until you realize that you hear the furnace running, the refrigerator cycling, or some other high energy user.
If you have kids that are inconsistent about turning off lights or using too much water - try this gadget! Knowing how much you energy you are using is the first step in changing behaviors to get more efficient.
Thanks to my host for letting me have this space. Let us know what you think as you try some of your energy ideas.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
LED bulbs at my home.
Well the other day I was at the Home Depot here in TC and I was walking through the light bulb section. I noticed that they were now carrying LED bulbs. But the problem was they were very expensive, $30 - $50 each. So yesterday I was in Menard's and they had LED bulbs too and they were much cheaper, $14. So I purchased two and put them in the hall recessed can lights.
Currently we have compact fluorescent, CFLs, lights in all our recessed cans. But because I am trying to reduce my energy usage before I install solar, I am looking for additional ways to cut that energy usage. Keep in mind I am looking at a PAR 30 flood bulb which is typically used in recessed can lights.
So after installing them in the hall we were very disappointed in how they were not very bright. They don't have the lumen s that the CFLs have. So I went to the Feit's website to try and find out how many lumen s the bulbs that I have purchased were. But they had nothing listed about them. Only that they were for accenting things. Well that made since because of how dim they are. So I noticed that I should be using their Performance LED bulbs.Well here is the problem with using the Performance LED bulb, it uses 13 watts not any change in power usage between a CFLs which is the same wattage. So really there is no savings in changing the bulbs to LED. Until they get the wattage down then I will continue to use CFLs. I follow a company on Twitter and they make LED lamps in Pennsylvania and their bulbs were 14 watts, actually a little larger. I am going to take the bulbs back sense they really are not going to work in my application.
But the positive side to the LEDs was they were instant on. There was no warm-up time like the CFLs. The LED's color wasn't that bad either. It was a typical bright white like some car lights. The bulbs that I have are 3 watts which is good for energy savings and they also had a 30000 hr rating that is a long time. But if you can not see what you are doing where is the savings.
So after my little test over-night I am going to say wait before running right out to buy these LED bulbs. The technology has not caught up yet. If they are the same wattage as CFLs there is no energy savings.
Currently we have compact fluorescent, CFLs, lights in all our recessed cans. But because I am trying to reduce my energy usage before I install solar, I am looking for additional ways to cut that energy usage. Keep in mind I am looking at a PAR 30 flood bulb which is typically used in recessed can lights.
So after installing them in the hall we were very disappointed in how they were not very bright. They don't have the lumen s that the CFLs have. So I went to the Feit's website to try and find out how many lumen s the bulbs that I have purchased were. But they had nothing listed about them. Only that they were for accenting things. Well that made since because of how dim they are. So I noticed that I should be using their Performance LED bulbs.Well here is the problem with using the Performance LED bulb, it uses 13 watts not any change in power usage between a CFLs which is the same wattage. So really there is no savings in changing the bulbs to LED. Until they get the wattage down then I will continue to use CFLs. I follow a company on Twitter and they make LED lamps in Pennsylvania and their bulbs were 14 watts, actually a little larger. I am going to take the bulbs back sense they really are not going to work in my application.
But the positive side to the LEDs was they were instant on. There was no warm-up time like the CFLs. The LED's color wasn't that bad either. It was a typical bright white like some car lights. The bulbs that I have are 3 watts which is good for energy savings and they also had a 30000 hr rating that is a long time. But if you can not see what you are doing where is the savings.
So after my little test over-night I am going to say wait before running right out to buy these LED bulbs. The technology has not caught up yet. If they are the same wattage as CFLs there is no energy savings.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Not just talking about being "Green". But we're doing it.
I have been pecking away at getting our house's energy cost under control. I want to get everyone up to speed. So far these are the items things that I have done.
1) I did the light bulb thing. Changed at least 95% of our light fixtures now have CFLs in them. I was at Home Depot the other day and saw that they now have LED bulbs but they were at least $30 - $50 each not quite in my budget. But that will be the next item we will be using. I will give it a few more months and they will be cheaper.
2) We replaced all the windows except the two in the basement which we will probably have them done in the Spring.
3) I replaced all the toilets with Dual Flush toilet flush controls. This serves to purposes first we cut down on water usage and second the well doesn't run as much saving power.
4) We had an energy audit done. Which once I am done with everything I will have him come back to do the inferred camera again.
5) I just went through the attic and foamed all the regular fixture boxes and exhaust fans. The recessed can lights I built foam boxes around them.
6) Installed a new attic hatch that I bought from Advanced Insulation Systems here in Traverse City. Which this alone made a huge difference.
7) I will be insulating the area above the shower which has little or no insulation.
8) I installed the new wires for the solar panels and then sealed up the chimney chase which was wide open all the way to the basement.
8) I will also be installing a new door coming in from the garage. Since the old one has a huge gap at the top.
At this point I have only spent less then $650.00 if that, to get all this done, not counting the solar panels and windows.
Here is a list of costs:
Steel Door. $100.00
Insulation (roll and foam). $38.00
Insulated attic hatch cover. $200.00
Light bulbs. $100.00
Material to make the recessed can covers. $75.00
Toilet Dual Flush. $125.00
My time and the willingness to make a better home for my family and help us save money. Priceless
So that is where I am at with this whole process. I have the solar panels in the garage ready to be mounted on the garage. Just waiting for the rack to show up. I also need to make some aluminium brackets to mount them on. Which I will be picking up the aluminium later today to do that.
So I am excited that thing are moving along. I will keep blogging about this experience as I move along with this project.
1) I did the light bulb thing. Changed at least 95% of our light fixtures now have CFLs in them. I was at Home Depot the other day and saw that they now have LED bulbs but they were at least $30 - $50 each not quite in my budget. But that will be the next item we will be using. I will give it a few more months and they will be cheaper.
2) We replaced all the windows except the two in the basement which we will probably have them done in the Spring.
3) I replaced all the toilets with Dual Flush toilet flush controls. This serves to purposes first we cut down on water usage and second the well doesn't run as much saving power.
4) We had an energy audit done. Which once I am done with everything I will have him come back to do the inferred camera again.
5) I just went through the attic and foamed all the regular fixture boxes and exhaust fans. The recessed can lights I built foam boxes around them.
6) Installed a new attic hatch that I bought from Advanced Insulation Systems here in Traverse City. Which this alone made a huge difference.
7) I will be insulating the area above the shower which has little or no insulation.
8) I installed the new wires for the solar panels and then sealed up the chimney chase which was wide open all the way to the basement.
8) I will also be installing a new door coming in from the garage. Since the old one has a huge gap at the top.
At this point I have only spent less then $650.00 if that, to get all this done, not counting the solar panels and windows.
Here is a list of costs:
Steel Door. $100.00
Insulation (roll and foam). $38.00
Insulated attic hatch cover. $200.00
Light bulbs. $100.00
Material to make the recessed can covers. $75.00
Toilet Dual Flush. $125.00
My time and the willingness to make a better home for my family and help us save money. Priceless
So that is where I am at with this whole process. I have the solar panels in the garage ready to be mounted on the garage. Just waiting for the rack to show up. I also need to make some aluminium brackets to mount them on. Which I will be picking up the aluminium later today to do that.
So I am excited that thing are moving along. I will keep blogging about this experience as I move along with this project.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Important News
As of yesterday I have decided not to carry the Skystream anymore. The reason is the price continues to go up at least every three months and I believe for its size you are not getting your moneys worth. I have been finding out that most people need a wind turbine that is at least 3 to 5kw in size, not 2.4kw. I am not saying a system of this size will not work for some people, but I believe for the amount of money that you are spending you might as well go to a bigger wind turbine. If I get asked from someone that they would like one. I will be more than happy to install it for them.
I do have a new wind turbine that I maybe using to take it place soon. But before I make that announcement I will be going to take a look at it in March. I will be visiting some sites with a dealer in Illinois that has installed 4 of them. I need to see how they are doing in really world situations. So stay tune I will have an update later at the end of March.
I do have a new wind turbine that I maybe using to take it place soon. But before I make that announcement I will be going to take a look at it in March. I will be visiting some sites with a dealer in Illinois that has installed 4 of them. I need to see how they are doing in really world situations. So stay tune I will have an update later at the end of March.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Survey says !!! Looking for a new tag line.
I just started a new survey looking for a new tag line. There also is a place to put your own comment if you have an idea for one. Click here to take survey
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