Get Ready for Winter

With winter knocking at your door, keep cold air out and energy bills down (sealing leaks, improving insulation, and maintaining heating and cooling equipment could save up to 35%) by weatherizing your home. This week's tips will help get you started.

 Tip #1: Start with a checklist.

Where do you begin? First, you need a plan. A home energy audit reveals how much your home guzzles and where you can increase efficiency. You could opt for a professional assessment — wherein experts inspect your home's every nook and cranny (prepare by listing the problems you already know about) — or do it yourself, in which case you’ll need a good checklist to walk through. Many local utility providers offer home energy audits for free; check to find out if yours does.

Tip #2: Seal those cracks.

Tip #3: Update your insulation.

Tip #4: Plant trees and shrubs.

LED Lighting

LED lighting offers excellent light quality for both indoor and outdoor uses. It takes 50 incandescent light bulbs or 8 CFL’s to equal the lifespan of 1 LED light bulb. LED light emits 90% less heat than a conventional bulb therefore producing more light than heat and gaining maximum energy efficiency.

An LED light is the bi-product of electricity jumping between two different alloys. This produces a small amount of light and depending upon the alloys, the color is dictated. LED light is truly a solid state light a as there are no gases, no filaments and no moving parts to fatigue.

Environmentally Friendly: They are made from non-toxic materials, contain no mercury and can be recycled. Long Lifetime: an incandescent has a life of about 1000 hours, a halogen about 2000 hours and an LED can last about 50,000 hours.

Durable: LEDs are able to withstand extreme temperatures, magnetic environments and there are no moving parts. Save money & energy: As a rule, an LED consumes less than 0.1 watts to operate. No Heat Output: LED's create a very efficient light source as they convert almost all the energy used into light.

Photo: The City of Waco recently replaced downtown street lights with LED's in an effort to save money on energy and replacement frequency. 

A local company, LED ILLUMINATION in Hewitt, manufactures and distributes LED lighting for home, business and industrial use. Their products are available at Dealers Electrical Supply at 1416 Franklin in Waco.

Solar Energy

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Sunlight can be converted directly into electricity using photovoltaics (PV). The collecting units for this are referred to as solar panels, photovoltaic panels or PV panels.

Solar energy panels work by collecting protons from the sun, which displace neutrons, and create a flow of electrons or electricity. An inverter converts the power generated by the solar energy panels from DC current to AC current, making it usable in homes as a direct electricity supply.

There are many manufactures of solar panels and there are varying types of PV panels as well. The two most commonly used are framed panels and thin film panels. Today, the framed panels are more efficient for the same amount of space, but thin film can be a preferred solution for some applications.

There are different ways of rating solar panels, too. Some panels are rated by flash testing. That means the panel is rated at the peak performance.

Other panels have a plus / minus rating and could be less by whatever the percentage stated may be. That can be disappointing.

Plus rated panels at least give you what is stated and usually more. That is because they are rated at their lowest point. Usually this is a better value to the consumer.

For more information about solar energy:

Solar Energy USA of Waco, TX
481 Texas Central Pkwy.
Waco, Texas 76712
Phone: 254-344-2541

Architectural Recycling

The Waco Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a building materials recycling center that provides a sustainable source of income to Waco Habitat for Humanity. The store accepts material donations from a variety of sources and uses new materials whenever possible in the construction of Habitat homes. The balance is sold to the public at greatly reduced prices in an effort to benefit the community, the environment, and, of course, our Waco Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

Waco Habitat for Humanity ReStore
 1224 Franklin Ave.
Waco, TX 76701

Phone:
(254) 756-0131
Hours:
9am-5pm Tue, Wed, Thu
9am-3pm Sat

 

 

Get Dressed!!!

Keep Waco Beautiful volunteer, Dora Nava, is collecting gently worn prom dresses that she will repair and make available to borrow, free of charge with a deposit, for junior and senior girls in the area.  She hopes to have 25 dresses by January!

Contact KWB or Dora Nava DoraENava@yahoo.com if you would like to donate a gently worn prom dress that is taking up space at the back of your closet.

 

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