Lower Energy Costs and Increase the Value of Your Home by Making it More Energy Efficient
A recent article on ECNmag.com, “Building Value with Energy-Saving Upgrades in Homes and Businesses,” discusses how “improving the energy performance of your home can make it more comfortable and attractive, increase its value, and help you save money on your energy bills.
Easy Being Green: Get Out of Your Hybrid Car and Into Your Green Home
Did you know that the average family spends around $1,900 a year on home utility bills? And, a lot of that energy is wasted through inefficiencies in your home, which is both bad for you and the environment. Of course, there are little things we can do like keeping the heat on a lower temperature and putting on a sweater, installing LED light bulbs, and installing low-flush toilets. But if you’re looking to further green your life, there are some more significant improvements that you can make to your home overall that can help reduce your energy consumption, decrease your energy bills, and even increase the value of your home.
Afraid of Vampires? You Should Be. Energy Draining Appliances Could be Costing You a Fortune
Which electronic appliance do you think uses the most energy in your home? The air conditioner? The refrigerator? Guess again. It’s your cable or satellite DVR set-top box, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report, “Reducing the National Energy Consumption of Set-Top Boxes.” Hard to imagine, but it’s true. This is because today’s cable boxes are basically running at full power all the time, even when switched off, which is costing you money.
Vampires No More? NCTA Moves to Make Cable Boxes More Energy Efficient
The NCTA and CableLabs are forming an Energy Lab facility, which will concentrate on improving energy efficiency and promote the development, testing, and deployment of technologies that will enable users to reduce and manage energy consumption in the home. They will work on manufacturing set-top devices that have sleep capabilities that will reduce power consumption when subscribers are not watching television.
Home Lighting Control
Home lighting control solutions are quickly becoming one of the most popular home improvements. One of the main benefits of home lighting control is the potential energy savings. According to the a white paper produced by the Energy Conservation Enhancement Project at Louisiana State University, “20% of all electricity produced in the U.S. is used for lighting, but 50% of that is wasted by inefficient lighting sources or careless consumers.” And, they recommend that home lighting controls should now be part of every family’s home energy plan.
Certified Connection is the premier provider of custom-designed home control systems and home theaters to residential and commercial customers. For more than 10 years, Certified Connection has served homeowners and businesses in and around Boston, throughout the South Shore, and the entire Cape.
By: Certified Connection
If you thought Blu-Ray was the last color you’d be hearing about with regard to your home entertainment, think again. The newest and most exciting color stands ready to change everything: Sony’s UltraViolet.
UltraViolet arrived on the market recently without a whole lot of fanfare. For some time, announcements of new Sony Pictures movies or television shows were accompanied by “Available on Blu-Ray or DVD.” To aid in the still-stubborn transition to Blu-Ray, the two types of disc were packaged together, leading to “Available in a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack.” And then, with little explanation: “Available in Blu-Ray/DVD/UltraViolet combo pack.”
So what’s the story with UltraViolet?
In essence, when you purchase a Sony Blu-Ray or DVD of a title, you’re given an UltraViolet redemption code. When you log in to your UltraViolet account and redeem the code, the title is added to your Digital Library. Since UltraViolet is cloud-based, once you have a title in your Digital Library, you can instantly stream it to computers, tablets, or smart phones, or download it to your PC or Mac. You can also share your collection with up to six family members.
With the proliferation of portable devices and the growing preference of some to watch shows and movies on their computers, the appeal of UltraViolet is clear. But will the technology catch on? Will other companies besides Sony develop their own UltraViolet? Only time will tell.
Are you interested in learning more about UltraViolet? Contact Certified Connection to learn more!
Certified Connection is the premier provider of custom-designed home control systems and home theaters to residential and commercial customers. For more than 10 years, Certified Connection has served homeowners and businesses in and around Boston, throughout the South Shore, and the entire Cape.
By Certified Connection
Everyone knows making cosmetic improvements to your home can increase the value of your home, whether it’s fresh landscaping, granite counter tops, or stainless steel appliances. These days, savvy homebuyers are also looking for more energy efficient homes.
A recent article on ECNmag.com, “Building Value with Energy-Saving Upgrades in Homes and Businesses,” discusses how “improving the energy performance of your home can make it more comfortable and attractive, increase its value, and help you save money on your energy bills.”
These days adding energy-saving components in your home, such as:
- Appliances
- Windows and doors
- Insulation
- Heating and cooling equipment
- Automated thermostats
can increase the value of your home and help attract more potential buyers.
According to the article, the Department of Energy recently announced a partnership with The Appraisal Foundation that will provide information about energy-efficiency and building performance information for commercial buildings. Through this partnership, appraisers will have access to the information they need to evaluate energy performance for building appraisals. It will help improve the availability of tools and data for appraisers so that they can accurately incorporate the value of energy-efficiency upgrades into a building’s appraisal.
Other additions that can help you save money on energy bills and potentially increase the value of your home are:
- Installing home lighting control or other home control systems to manage when home electronics are switched on and off.
- Installing energy monitors to monitor total energy consumption throughout the day, week, month, or year.
Check out the Energy Savers website for additional information on ways to save energy in your home, vehicle, or workplace.
This post is written in collaboration with our friends at Present Value LLC, a worldwide international appraisal and advisory company that provides a range of professional services such as Certified Machinery and Equipment Appraisals, Inventory Appraisals, Asset Verification Services, Business Valuations, and Real Estate Appraisals.
Certified Connection is the premier provider of custom-designed home control systems and home theaters to residential and commercial customers. For more than 10 years, Certified Connection has served homeowners and businesses in and around Boston, throughout the South Shore, and the entire Cape.
By: Certified Connection
Additional Reading:
Easy Being Green: Get Out of Your Hybrid Car and Into Your Green Home
Home Automation: Cool and Cost Effective
The Energy Detective (TED)
You may have the most killer audio/video setup ever conceived by man. You may have the most cutting-edge tech for the sharpest picture, the clearest sound, and the most immersive video gaming experience of your life. If you do, congratulations.
But is it all protected?
Especially in light of the numerous power outages and problems that people are dealing with post Hurricane Irene, this is an important topic. Two of the most potentially catastrophic things that can happen to – and potentially destroy – your electronic entertainment components are an overload and a surge. An overload occurs when there are too many power-drawing components plugged into the same outlet and there isn’t enough juice. A surge is a spike in the electricity being sent to the components, and it can totally fry everything. Surges are often caused by lightning strikes or downed power lines. Please check out our previous post for more information on potential power disturbances.
Luckily, a power surge protector can help protect all your electronic equipment from these types of problems. A power surge protector is a block of electrical sockets that attaches to the end of a flexible cable and allows multiple electrical devices to be plugged in. It has a built-in circuit breaker to protect your devices from surges and overloads. Most also have a self-contained power switch; this is handy if you need to power off all your components at once and don’t want to spend your whole day trying to unplug things; this also can help with energy draining vampire appliances.
But it’s important to keep in mind that not all power strips are the same. A $7.99 power strip is not going to provide the protection you need. You really need a power surge protector and they’re not all created equal. Some are designed for specific components, like computer equipment or home appliances.
Certified Connection offers solutions for home and business owners to limit or eliminate power quality disturbances.
Make sure you’re protecting your investment. Contact us at Certified Connection and we’ll help you choose the right power surge protector for all your needs.
Certified Connection is the premier provider of custom-designed home control systems and home theaters to residential and commercial customers. For more than 10 years, Certified Connection has served homeowners and businesses in and around Boston, throughout the South Shore, and the entire Cape.
By: Certified Connection
Additional Reading
Protect Your Investment
Afraid of Vampires? You Should Be. Energy Draining Appliances Could be Costing You a Fortune
Which electronic appliance do you think uses the most energy in your home? The air conditioner? The refrigerator? Guess again. It’s your cable or satellite DVR set-top box, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report, “Reducing the National Energy Consumption of Set-Top Boxes.” Hard to imagine, but it’s true. This is because today’s cable boxes are basically running at full power all the time, even when switched off.

Vampire Electronics Are Costly for U.S. Households
Approximately 80 % of U.S. homes have set-top boxes, and in 2010, they consumed approximately 27 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity or the annual output of nine average coal-fired power plants. To think of it in another way, it’s equal to the annual household electricity consumption of the state of Maryland. The report estimates it costs households more than $3 billion each year to operate these devices.
What’s the Solution?
Unfortunately, these devices are a necessary evil in today’s world of entertainment technology. And right now, there isn’t a real solution to combat these silent energy suckers.
The report proposes that cable, satellite, etc. companies provide energy-efficient boxes that operate in low-power mode when switched off or comply with ENERGY STAR version 4.0 requirements, but this will only happen if consumers or the government demand it. And, this will take time.
What You Can Do
When you leave the house for long periods of time, like for vacation, disconnect your set-top box. This is also true for many other common household appliances, including your TVs, stereos, computers, monitors, and even your phone chargers – they are silently sucking electricity even when they’re not in use. Over time, this can significantly increase your electric bill. So, whenever possible, disconnect the devices you’re not using so that you don’t incur vampire electricity charges.
Certified Connection is the premier provider of custom-designed to residential and commercial customers. For more than 10 years, Certified Connection has served homeowners and businesses in and around Boston, throughout the South Shore, and the entire Cape.
Additional Reading
Easy Being Green: Get Out of Your Hybrid Car and Into Your Green Home
Keeping Your Home Secure When You’re on Vacation
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