Reversing Ceiling Fans To Save Energy Costs in the Winter

In most homes, those without vaulted ceilings, ceiling fans can lower your energy costs in the winter. With the price of natural gas and other forms of energy surging, this savings can be substantial. To derive this benefit from your ceiling fan, you must first ensure that your ceiling fan can run in reverse (clockwise). If this is the case, please keep reading. If not, you may want to consider buying a ceiling fan that is able to run in reverse. Most of the ceiling fans sold by manufacturers, such as Fanimation Fans and Casablanca Fans, are built to be able to run in reverse.

At this point you may be asking yourself, how does a fan with the ability to run in reverse save me money in the winter? The answer isn’t perfectly intuitive but makes sense when explained. During the winter, houses with central heating systems exhaust warm air into rooms. This warm air quickly rises and pools at the top of the room against the ceiling. Many central heating systems actually exhaust the warm air right at the top of the ceiling in the first place. This warm air builds at the ceiling and eventually fills its way downward to the center of the room, where you are laying on your couch watching television. By the time the warm air makes its way to you though, the air at ceiling level is much hotter. Many BTUs are wasted heating the ceiling of your home where nothing lives but maybe a spider or two.

Ceiling fans offer a straightforward method of manually forcing the warm air at the top of the room to the bottom and center of the room where thermostats monitor room temperatures. By forcing this warm air down to the thermostat, the thermostat will not trigger the heating system as often, thus, saving you money. The air at living level will be warmer with less energy being used. Keep in mind that in most houses central heating systems can cost you between $5 and $30 per day during the winter, where as ceiling fans cost pennies per day to run.

So why does your ceiling fan need to run in reverse? Why wouldn’t I just run my ceiling fan forward? Well, the problem is that even though you’d still save energy costs by running your ceiling fan forward, you personally would feel cooler because ceiling fans work by moving air over your skin at high speeds. The key word here is feels. The air is not actually colder. The air just feels colder. This is the same principal as a wind chill effect. I’m sure if you live in the Northern half of the country, you’ve heard weathermen talk about how it’s actually 10 degrees out, but due to the wind chill factor, it’s going to feel like it’s negative twenty degrees. This is the reason that you do not want to run your ceiling fans forward to save energy costs during the winter.

You want to run your ceiling fans in reverse. By running your ceiling fans in reverse, the hot air pooling at the top of the ceiling will be forced to the outer edges of your rooms and then be forced down along the walls to the floor. After the air hits the floor, it will travel toward the center of the room and then back up through the ceiling fan once again. This will help equalize the temperature of the entire room, saving you energy costs.

Now, you may be asking yourself, I have a two story home, how does that effect this tactic? The second story of your house will likely always be hotter because hot air rises. Yes, warm air does travel up to the second level through escapes, such as a staircase. For the most part though, the first and second floors operate as separate environments with central heating piping hot air into both. Running your ceiling fans in reverse on both floors will cause a warming effect on both levels and more specifically in individual rooms. If you have a ceiling fan in your bedroom, you may find it possible to run it in reverse, shut your door causing a self-contained environment and turn your home thermostat lower at night.

The only time this method may not help lower energy costs much is when you have a large room with vaulted ceilings where the ceiling fan hangs on an extended rod in the middle of your room. In this case, the air forced upward may fall short of the full path upward, to the outer walls and then down them, netting a null effect.

If you do not have a ceiling fan that can run in reverse please call us at 760-200-5991 for a consultation today.

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Techniques For Lighting Your Artwork

Oil paintings can be difficult to light because of the spectral highlights that are created when intense light is directed at the painting. A broad-based light source is best for lighting an oil painting. Acrylic paintings are not glossy and consequently don't have the glare problems associated with oils or artwork framed under glass. Any type of light source can be used.


Reflection and glare are often problems with artwork that has been placed behind glass. Nonreflective glass and proper placement of lighting can help solve these problems. To highlight all dimensions, sculpture is ideally lit from three different angles. Most sculpture, however, is lit by a single light directly above the piece (generally a recessed light).


The Importance of the Frame

The options for lighting a piece of art depend on how the piece is framed. A piece of art or wall sculpture that does not have a frame can be illuminated with lighting not attached to the artwork, such as a mantel light, spotlight, track light or recessed light. Small frames cannot support an attached picture light. Light them as described above, with a fixture that is not attached to the artwork. A substantial frame can support the weight of an attached picture light. When choosing a picture light, consider the frame's width and depth.


Types of Light


Incandescent Lights: Standard incandescent light bulbs create a warm color that brings out the yellows and reds in art while flattering the blues and greens. Halogen Lights: Halogens cast the purest white light, making them ideal for illuminating most art. They do generate a lot of heat, however, and must be placed far enough away that the heat doesn't affect the artwork.


Fluorescent Lights: Fluorescent lighting distorts the color of artwork, and the high level of ultraviolet rays emitted by fluorescent lights damages works of art by causing accelerated fading. Fluorescents are not recommended for lighting artwork.


Fixture Styles


Picture lights hang directly over a painting or are attached to the frame. A traditional picture light is about 3" in diameter and complements classic and traditional artwork. A slimline picture light is smaller than a traditional picture light, about 1" in diameter, and fits well with more contemporary pieces. Picture lights are available in a variety of styles and finishes and come in lengths ranging from 12" to 48". Both traditional and slimline picture lights use incandescent lightbulbs, and some are battery-powered. 


Mantel lights and spotlights are placed in front of the artwork and usually sit on a mantel or a shelf. They light the artwork from the bottom and are less noticeable than a picture light.


Track lighting is the most flexible way to light art. A track can hold several lights. Track lighting can be used to light a wall evenly from floor to ceiling or to accent one or more pieces of art.


Recessed lights lie flush with the ceiling and are very subtle, but they have a limited range of movement. Recessed lighting is commonly found in newer homes, installed when the homes are built.


Position and Intensity of the Light


Reduce Glare: Place the light at a 30-degree angle to the work of art to minimize glare. Add 5 degrees to the angle for a larger frame, to avoid casting a shadow. Subtract 5 degrees from the position to accent the texture of a painting.


Avoid Heat Damage: Place lights far enough away from a painting to avoid possible heat damage. Heat can crack oil paintings. Take special care when using hot halogen lights. To test the heat from your lights, put your hand between the art and the light source. If you can feel heat from the light, it could potentially damage an oil painting.


Intensity: The general rule for accenting a piece of art is to light it three times brighter than the rest of the room.


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Quick Tips for Lighting Your Office Space

 Lighting Your Office

• Selecting the right lighting can lessen the burden of work and create a pleasant environment.
• The lighting depends upon the location and the work which is done. With the help of the below tips you can increase the efficiency of work and better atmosphere.
• Lights should be parallel with line of sight.
• If you need to highlight pictures, sculptures for visual effect then track lighting is best.
• With light diffusers you can concentrate the amount of light on your work station.
• Overhead lighting should always be dim or else it can get mixed with the track light and give a blur image.
• If diffusers are not present then fluorescent lights can be a superb option as you can adjust the brightness as you want.
• Adjustable desk lamps are a great choice when you need to focus on your work as it can be turned in the direction of your work.
• Task lighting can be used when reading or writing work is done. This will improve the quality and increase concentration.
• Rely more on natural light while working in the office but ensure that there is no glare or refection produced.
• Blinds and drapes are a good option to cover the windows so that the amount of light coming can be controlled.
• Shielded lights can give you a number of benefits and ideal for workplaces.
• For computer users diffusers work best because it has no glare and the contrast is softer.
• Choose light colors for the walls to avoid reflection.
• Screen and the windows should make an angle of 90 degrees so that proper amount of light is received.
• Never work directly below any light source.
• Dust can add glare.
• Filters work well to reduce glare.
• Light diffusers also remove glare and reflection.
• Non-reflective paints can overcome reflection.
• Arrangement of workstations should be done in right manner so that proper light is received.
• Fluorescents do not work for computer users as it gives shadow and glare on the screen.
• Bend the screen to get clear view.
• Digital window can make your working comfortable and remove any error.

With the above tips you can find a proper solution for lighting. We have modern fixtures in stock which are energy efficient and look superb in office environment.

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Old Is The New lighting Trend For 2012

What was old is new again


Lately, an array of glamorous antique-style chandeliers and pendants has been sweeping the interior design world. Following the comfortable form and function trend so evident over the last year, modern trends will continue with the “old is new” attitude into 2012, while blending in a bit of traditional and 21st Century influences.

Light fittings with old world flair have become all the rage of late. A truly beautiful and elegant form of lighting, these old world chandeliers and pendants can add a glamorous ambience to any space they grace. 


Today, lighting in general has a larger decorative value than it did some years ago. Homeowners are choosing ‘feature’ light fittings as an important accessory to their overall home design and décor plans – using lighting to give a room that ‘wow’ factor.


Glitzy and full of sparkle, today’s chandelier and pendant designs range from classical to very contemporary. However, the romance of the more antique styles is currently bang on trend. Although their design is based on classical styles drawn from the past, the majority of them have been given a slight contemporary twist – the differences are very subtle, but it does add a modern edge to the fittings; bringing them into the 21st Century.


Adding some twinkle


Traditionally, decorative light fittings were positioned as the main light fitting in the middle of a room.
They featured cascading crystals and gilded gold metalwork that exuded an air of wealth and status. Today however, homeowners can enjoy the beauty of similar fittings without breaking the bank. Modern chandeliers and pendants in old-fashioned styles feature a collection of sparkling droplets generally made from acrylic, and sometimes glass.


The gilded gold metalwork of the main body of the fitting has been replaced with a modern chrome or pewter-coloured finish. Although stunning, the genuine lead crystal of yesteryear is exorbitantly expensive, glass is more affordable, but like crystal, it is also very heavy. Acrylic crystals, on the other hand, are ideal for modern chandeliers – acrylic is just as ‘sparkly’ and aesthetically pleasing, but it’s lightweight and it is the most affordable material out of the three, making good-looking light fittings financially accessible to the majority of homeowners.


All places, all spaces


Previously, it was unusual to see decorative chandeliers and pendants anywhere except in the power positions of the home – they were often reserved only for grand rooms, such as ballrooms, sweeping foyers and dining rooms. Today, however, they are staking their claim throughout the modern home – they can add drama to the kitchen, the guest bathroom, the living room, bedrooms, reception rooms and hallways, and even patios can go upscale by adding some chandelier sparkle.


A variety of sizes


Today’s decorative light fittings are generally smaller than their often-enormous genuine antique counterparts, which better suits the modern home with smaller rooms and lower ceilings. These mini light fittings add a new sense of intimacy to small areas, corner spaces and alcoves.


Mini chandeliers and pendants are a great way of bringing some light and glamour into small or awkward spaces in the home. In fact, grouping these smaller light fittings is a popular design technique – for example, you can hang several fittings above a kitchen island or bar counter for a great display and excellent task lighting. Another novel idea is to hang them from the ceiling on either side of your bed to replace the traditional bedside lamps and in the process, free up some space on your bedside table.


More is more


Even though feature light fittings are gorgeous in themselves, ideally, they should be part of a layered lighting scheme for optimal results: Don’t be tempted to let a decorative chandelier or pendant stand alone in a room – just like a star, any feature fitting should be backed-up with a supporting cast of characters to help them light the space in question.


For supplemental lighting, you can use downlights, recessed lighting, wall lights and or table and floor lamps to create the perfect lighting composition. You could install a dimmer switch to control the light emitted by your main room feature light fittings. For example, in the dining room, it’s a great option to have a dimmable chandelier over the dining room table to create a softer atmosphere whilst eating with guests.

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Chandeliers - For More Than Just The Dinning Room

There is a reason that chandeliers are often thought of as jewelry for the home, they can often be the one piece in the room that completes or completely disrupts the style of that space. There was a time when chandeliers were only used in dining rooms and were highly ornate with crystals and filigree, that time has passed and we now see chandeliers gracing just about any room, in any house and in all price ranges. Chandeliers often add that final touch in bedrooms, bathrooms, foyers, studies and even outdoor applications.

Chandeliers are now offered in so many styles that it is easy to find the perfect one for any space. Choose a chandelier that compliments your own style versus the current trend in the market. Who hasn’t seen a chandelier, or any light fixture for that matter, that is clearly from a different era when a particular style was all the rage? This is bound to happen from time to time but if you invest in something you love and that suits your taste, it will have more longevity than the current fad.

Here are a couple things to keep in mind when choosing a chandelier:

1. The first thing to consider is the size of the room where it will hang. A chandelier should be two inches in diameter for every foot that the room is wide.  A chandelier in a dining room should be 12” narrower than the table and should be hung 30” to 32” above the table.
2. If your chandelier is meant to be the primary source of light in a room, it should be bright enough to give off sufficient light for the size of the space. Place the chandelier on a dimmer switch for the most versatility.

Our knowledgeable staff can help you choose a chandelier that will be the perfect compliment for any room.

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Design Tips For Lighting Your Kitchen

Lighting your kitchen doesn't need to be a complex matter, but it is layered. The most common mistake people make is trying to light their entire kitchen with one fixture centered in the ceiling.It ends up being what we call a 'glare bomb,' visually overpowering everything in the space, including family and friends.

The most effective lighting for the kitchen involves four layers blended together: task, ambient, accent and decorative lighting. The end result: a warm and inviting environment that works with your other design elements to create a practical workspace and lively entertainment area.

Task Lighting
Task lighting is what people think of first when designing a lighting system in the kitchen because it's integral to preparing food. However, if task lighting is misplaced it can actually hinder your ability to work efficiently, throwing shadows on your work space. 

Key locations for task lighting include underneath the overhead cabinets and over the island — anywhere you'll be chopping, slicing and reading recipes. The pantry is another place where you'll want bright, focused lighting.

Under-cabinet lights can be a hidden asset in any kitchen, providing task lighting as well as soft ambient lighting to give the room a warm glow with the touch of a dimmer switch. Strip lights are a popular choice, long linear bulbs or a string of lights contained in a single fixture. Another popular option is a puck light system, made up of a series of hockey-puck shaped halogen lights.

Ambient Lighting
Ambient lighting is an important layer that is often overlooked in the kitchen. This indirect lighting is what I like to call the humanizing ingredient to any lighting design. It softens the lines and shadows on people's faces and creates a warm inviting glow in the room.

The kitchen used to be strictly for food preparation and children who were not to be seen or heard. Now, floor plans are more open and parties often flow from the living room through the dining room and into the kitchen. Ambient lighting will attract people into the kitchen and make them feel welcome while eating appetizers and sipping wine at the island. Ambient lighting fixtures may include flush-mounted ceiling fixtures, a pendant hanging over the island and adjustable track lighting.

Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is the least common layer in the kitchen, but it is becoming more common as people spend more time in the kitchen for casual entertaining. You may want to hang a piece of artwork on the wall behind the breakfast table, or a tile splashback over the sink may be a decorative focal point. Occasionally, we install lighting inside glass cabinets to illuminate collections of china and glassware.

Decorative Lighting
Decorative lighting should be considered in direct proportion to the size of your kitchen — the larger the space, the greater importance chandeliers, hanging pendants and other eye-catching fixtures play. There are two major considerations when it comes to decorative lighting. You want to make sure that the scale of the fixtures is right for the space, and that the shade material has enough opacity to effectively hide the light bulb.

Decorative lighting is the most expensive element of your lighting design scheme. If you're on a tight budget, you can install the infrastructure for decorative lighting — the junction box and/or recessed box in the ceiling — then, purchasing the actual fixture down the road.

Making the Layers Work Together
The idea behind a layered lighting design is to have a variety of light levels available at your fingertips. Dimmers and switches are the most economical way to coordinate lighting levels. For about $20 per layer, you're able to do most anything to modulate the mood and environment. Implement zones, wherein each layer of lighting is on a different dimmer for easy adjustability.

The drawback of dimmers and switches is that while it's easy for you to enter a room and tinker with the light levels, it's equally easy for children, grandparents and guests to take the same liberties. If your budget allows, you may want to consider a "scene" integration system that allows you to preset, typically, four different lighting levels. (For example, daytime, food preparation, dinner and evening entertaining.)

Smart homes are here. You can preset and administer lighting in all rooms of the house through one centralized computer network, all through a computerized keypad. The biggest advantage of smart systems is the high level of control. You can preset a large number of scenes and turn on lights in any room of the house from your car or your bedroom.

Just as the layers of lighting are combined in a variety of ways, so are the methods of controlling them. Homeowners are typically use four-scene presets in all of main rooms, including the living room, dining room, kitchen and master bedroom. Standard switchers and dimmers are usually used in the secondary rooms, such as children's bedrooms, bathrooms, the basement playroom and the office. The best part is that your lighting options just keep expanding.

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Lighting Control Strategies To Save Money At Your Place Of Business

Business owners can significantly reduce lighting expenses through flexible, scalable retrofits with a payback time frame of a few years.

Depending on the investment, business owners can expect to shave 20 to 60 percent from lighting costs. Additionally, lowering lighting costs translates directly to lower HVAC costs. With less heat from the lights, there is less need for air conditioning. The rule of thumb is that for every three watts of lighting cut, a facility manager can reduce HVAC needs by one watt.

Lighting control systems employ a variety of strategies to save electricity use. The strategies and the resulting cost savings compound as each strategy is added to the overall lighting control system. That allows businesses to build a total lighting control system gradually by employing one strategy at a time to suit any space and any budget.

Dimming is the easiest way to cut lighting costs. Dimmers can easily reduce electricity use from 15 to 20 percent through high-end trim, light-level tuning and personal light control.

High-end trimming sets the maximum light level for each space. For example, the human eye can barely distinguish between a light level of 100 percent and a light level of 80 percent. Dimming lights to 80 percent reduces energy use by about 20 percent while keeping light levels comfortable for the human eye.

Light-level tuning sets the appropriate light level for each space. Typical lighting levels in office spaces are much higher than necessary, which is often because of large, outdated banks of overhead lights that were installed before the widespread adoption of computers. Using high-end trim in addition to dimming lights in office spaces, for example, minimizes glare from computer screens and creates a more comfortable lighting environment for the human eye. Even when high-end trim is used, many offices choose to dim the lights even further to minimize glare on computer screens.

Personal light control gives individuals remote-control units to control the lights in certain areas of the office. Studies show that giving people direct control over their own lights can reduce electricity use by at least 10 percent.

Occupancy/vacancy sensing automatically turns off lights after occupants leave a room or space. On average, occupancy/vacancy sensors can reduce lighting electricity use by 15 percent. Depending on the use and size of a space, sensors can save electricity use by as much as 60 percent.

Daylight harvesting automatically dims electric lights when enough daylight is present. Daylight harvesting can save an additional 15 percent in lighting electricity costs in buildings with many windows or skylights. To ensure maximum savings, daylight harvesting lighting controls should be used with continuous dimming ballasts so the light can be gradually and continuously adjusted to maintain the internal lighting level as the availability of daylight externally changes. With continuous dimming ballasts, daylight sensors start to dim the lights as soon as daylight is sensed in the space, thereby immediately saving energy.

Controllable window shades serve a dual purpose to let daylight in and keep excess heat and cold out. For total control of the visual environment, shades can open and close automatically at different times of the day to harvest daylight and reduce HVAC costs by as much as 30 percent.

Demand response/load shedding reduces the overall lighting load at times when electricity costs are the highest. Many utility companies offer incentives to customers who are willing to reduce their electricity use during peak demand periods, i.e., during normal office hours when residents are at work, overnight hours or holiday hours. Lighting control systems are uniquely better suited to load shedding than other energy-saving technologies because they can respond quickly to changing conditions and operate safely at a wide range of power levels.

Scheduling will automatically dim or turn lights off at certain times of the day. Although some large facilities with many occupants operate on 24-hour schedules, most of the common areas are thinly populated during normal office hours, overnight hours and holiday hours. With scheduling, a facility manager does not have to depend on the last person that leaves a common area of the building to turn off the lights. A business owner can use scheduling to automatically dim or turn off lights at appropriate times. Scheduling can reduce lighting costs by an additional 10 percent.

If you would like a personalized energy evaluation of your business, please contact our office.

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