Electical Contractor

Many electrical contractors wonder if energy services will remain a viable market in 2013 and beyond. This concern is understandable, given the uncertainty in the domestic and global energy markets today.

With efficiency now occupying a top-tier status in the effort to transform energy use, it was only a matter of time before the spotlight trained on waste and building construction. An architectural firm in Brighton, England, has taken that concept to the extreme.

It is often said there is nothing new under the sun. There’s truth in that statement, but it ignores the fortuitous mistake or “Edisonian” moment. Such game-changers are often the result of exciting work being done in labs and promising technology picked up by enterprising startup companies.

The headquarters for Burbank (Calif.) Water and Power (BWP) has slowly transformed into a green campus. The effort involved repurposing some of the utility’s decaying old facilities, which, in some cases, were more than 100 years old.

Lighting choices can affect how we perceive spaces, even the colors of objects and surfaces.

You’ve heard the claims: This product will save electrical energy! If you install this system, you’ll be the greenest person on the block and will never have to pay another electric bill!

A few months ago, I was driving home from the Los Angeles area and suddenly found myself surrounded by thousands of wind turbines lining both sides of Interstate 10. Even though I have made this trip many times, I am still in awe at the scale of it all.

After much technical discussion in Code-Making Panel 4 and an appeal to the NFPA Standards Council, the requirements for a new product involving photovoltaic (PV) installations was inserted into 690.11 in the 2011 National Electrical Code (NEC).

When the economics of residential solar panels are up for discussion, the phrase “grid parity”—meaning the point at which solar-generated electricity is as cheap as the energy the local utility supplies—can quickly dampen enthusiasm.