Monday, July 6, 2009

Protecting Diminishing Profits


A recent study by the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy found that small businesses in the commercial sector, for instance, paid 30% more for electricity and 20% more for natural gas than the bigger guys. As the rates go up, energy experts say that people can hold their own electricity costs steady, or even reduce them, by making their homes and businesses more energy-efficient.
All business owners are concerned about keeping their customers comfortable and their perishable goods from spoiling. The cost of keeping the temperature at a comfortable level has reached the point where it is now affecting the ever shrinking profit margin. To do nothing is to accept the status quo and continue to pay the power company for energy we never use. Fortunately we can take advantage of energy saving technology that will control costs and provide a more efficient electrical system without sacrificing comfort.
The POWER FACTOR CORRECTION DEVICES are designed to provide significant savings on electric bills, increase the life of electrical motors through heat reduction and provide surge protection for the entire home or business. What has been widely available to large industry and big business for decades is now available to residential homes and small business. These devices are now being manufactured as compact units that reclaim and recycle electrical energy.
The PFCD fine-tunes the electrical system in your home or business. This fine tuning reduces heat generation, reduces amperage and results in reduced consumption of electricity. It causes less waste of electrical energy while increasing the life of the inductive equipment in your home or office. It protects against power surges and increases the capacity to the electrical panel by making it run cooler. All this means extra dollars in your pocket. There are many different ones on the market today at all different price points. The most efficient, most cost effective and best performing Power Factor Correction Device on the market today is ESS “Electrical Savings System”. It can be used in your home on a single panel breaker box or on a three phase electrical box in your business. One unit per breaker box, connects with three wires- to the neutral and ground. The cost is only $349.00
A small price to pay for a device that requires no maintenance and has a ten to fifteen year life span. There is an online calculator at http://www.a1energydoctor.com/where you can enter your average monthly energy bill and calculate your estimate of savings over a period of years. Everyone will benefit from using this technology. You can expect to see savings of 8-25% without changing anything. No cutting back on A/C, lighting or appliance use!! The ESS helps save on energy costs, eliminate energy waste, increase the life of your appliances, electronics and motors and provide surge protection for your home or business. It also reduces your Carbon Footprint on our planet which means less fossil fuel burning, less stripping our planet for coal, less smog, less Global Warming and less dependency on foreign oil. Call 877-896-2780 for more information.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Instantly increase your profit margin—Cut your energy costs.

Everyone in business knows the high cost of energy is cutting into their profits. To just continue to pay and not be aware of ways to cut that cost is defeating the purpose of being in business. By paying attention and taking advantage of new technology you can take control and cut your costs significantly. I have done the research and am confident that the energy conservation products I have agreed to represent are the best priced and most effective on the market today. You will see immediate results in your energy usage and your energy costs. It costs you nothing to see what your savings could be. Simply send your average monthly energy cost to info@a1energydoctor.com and you will receive and analysis of not only how much you could save but you will also be able to see your return on investment. In today’s marketplace it is important to be proactive and take advantage of every means to cut the cost of doing business. Stop paying for energy that you never use.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Power factor-What is it anyway?

Power factor is a measurement of the electricity being used efficiently in your home or business. The operative word here is efficiently. To measure the power factor for the electricity you are paying for is not difficult but you will need special tools to do so. It is safe to assume that the average home has a power factor of 60-75%. Business can be much lower than that because of the greater need to draw more power for inductive loads.
Ideally, everyone should be operating at 95% efficiency. That means anything less than that represents the percentage of power you are paying for but not using. A simple example would be: If your power factor is .60 and realistically you should be at .95 then you are paying for but not using from 30-35% of the power flowing into your system. This is important, especially for small business owners because most power companies have the ability to penalize customers who have a low power factor by charging a penalty fee. You may not even realize this is happening because believe it or not, the power companies don’t always label this fee in a way that you would recognize it.
Everyone needs to be concerned about this because, a low power factor causes a strain on your electrical distribution system and the wiring in your home or business. This strain heats the wiring and causes a loss in wattage. This means that all of your motors and circuits have to work harder to run efficiently and you end up paying for power you do not use.
Now that energy capacitors are readily available for residential homes and small business there is no reason anyone should be operating inefficiently or paying for more than they actually use. Do your homework and make sure you do not pay too much. I have seen residential capacitors being sold for as much as $1500 and small business or three phase panels for as much as $4,000. The return on investment can be a lot longer than necessary. It is possible to have a hard wired capacitor installed in your home or business for under $500.00 – DON’T PAY TOO MUCH! Check the testing and the certifications and trust your distributor. Some are better than others and the technology is getting better all the time but the reality is the mission is the same. Increase your power factor and all of your appliances, electronics and equipment will run more efficiently and you will save substantial dollars each and every month.
While we are on the subject of “paying too much”, another great product on the market today is foil insulation. Different companies label the product as Radiant Barrier, Utility Shield, Energy Saver RB, Energy Blanket, Foil Blanket …whatever the name most have the same range of weights and types and all products are comparable and do the same job. This product works in all climates, especially in the southeast by keeping the sun’s rays out of the attic and cutting down on the cost of cooling one’s home or business. This product is usually marked at dinner shows where you are invited to get a free dinner in exchange for listening to a presentation about the product. Then comes the pitch-but you will not know what the price is unless you allow the sales person into your home so they can measure your attic. The price will end up being between $1.50 and $3.00 a sq. ft. installed. Just buying the product and installing it yourself is not usually an option when buying from one of the companies that market in this way. This product does work and those who have installed it do save energy and money. You can have this product drop shipped to your home for under .50 sq. ft. and install it yourself or hire someone in your area to do it for you for about reasonable price. Do the math and you will save a lot more money and you return on investment will be much quicker. Get more information from A-1 Energy Doctor and then make an informed decision.
Remember, the higher the power factor, the less amperage you will need to run your home or business. You will use less kilowatt hours and increase the efficiency of your inductive loads and most importantly you will reduce your energy bills. For additional information or inquiries, contact Linda Morneau info@a1energydoctor.com or go to her site http://www.a1energydoctor.com

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Energy Capacitors work to save money and conserve energy

Electric utility rates for industrial and commercial facilities are usually composed of at least two components.
 One is the “energy rate” or the kilowatt-hour charge, which is related to the fuel that is expended in producing and delivering that energy.
 A second is the “demand rate”, the kilowatt, or kVA demand charge. This usually related to the capital investment that must be made to build the generation, transmission, and distribution facilities necessary to provide the electrical energy to the consumer.
Since the capability of your utility’s power generating and distribution system is limited by the current it might carry, the utility’s ability to supply power is affected by the power factor of the load.
Since the reactive component of current is not registered on the kilowatt-hour meter, some utilities charge for low power factor by applying penalties or surcharges or by applying demand charges on kVA, or apparent power instead of kW, or active power demand.
These charges differ from utility to utility and are often expensive.
Save Energy & Money: Improve Your Power Factor by installing a capacitor
Energy capacitors are now not only available for big business and industry but are now widely available for small businesses and residential homes.
Some are only designed to increase the power factor of your electricity but others are available that multi-task by not only increasing your power factor but they will protect your appliances and expensive electronics from spikes and surges in the lines while eliminating any noise as well.
If your utility company charges a premium or a penalty if your power factor falls below a certain level you will save money.
If your voltage levels are consistently higher because your power factor has increased, all of the motors that run your appliances and heating and cooling devices will perform better and last longer.
Utility bills must be analyzed carefully to understand the potential savings of improving power factor.
Are You Being Charged a Power Factor Penalty?
This penalty applies more to business than to home owners but is still worth checking past bills just to be sure. You can have your bills analysed free. Know where your extra costs are coming from.
Preferably all bills for the previous year should be collected in order to observe seasonal variations and/or long term trends in consumption. Specifically look for the energy charge and the demand charge, if any. The energy charge is determined by multiplying the number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy consumed in a month times the energy rate in $/kWh.
Reduce Distribution Losses: Add Capacitors
Distribution losses in a facility can be reduced by the addition of capacitors and the resulting increase in power factor. These losses are estimated by summing estimates of the transformer losses and cable losses. This reduction is due to the decrease in current flowing through the distribution system and is sometimes referred to as “I²R” losses.
Release of system capacity
The expression, “release of capacity” means that as power factor of the system is improved, the total current flow will be reduced. This permits additional loads to be added and served by the existing system. In the event that equipment, such as transformers, cables, and generators, may be thermally overloaded, improving power factor may be the most economical way to reduce current and eliminate the overload condition.
A-1 Energy Doctor will analyze your situation and suggest energy saving power solutions that will save you money. Contact us to learn how we can reduce your small business and residential energy costs. Linda began promoting the Energy products after doing seminars and informational programs for a local home improvement company. She has put together a line of high quality, satisfaction guaranteed products that are affordable and energy efficient. Join the “Go Green” Team and add an energy efficient product to your existing line or start your own Go Green business. Call 877-896-2780 or check out products and click “Opportunity” to see how easy it is to begin. Contractors, Architects, realtors and anyone who is ready to expand their horizons and succeed in business while maintaining complete control of your time.

How much does insulation cost?

I guess this is probably one of the most asked questions in terms of home insulation. This article tells you what the cost of insulation is and how to do a rough estimate on insulation cost
First of all, the cost of insulation largely depends on R-value of the material and the size of a specific area of your house that you want to insulate. With that being said, you can determine the cost by first figuring out the R-value requirement in your area. R-value requirement depends on where you live and climate of the area as well as the specific place in your house that you want to insulate. For example, if you live in Florida and you want the wall to be insulated, then the required R-value is R-13 according to the diagram at the bottom of this article. If you live in North Dakota, the R-value is different and it is R-18. If you are going to insulate the attic for instance, then the R-value is going to be different. Anyway, the important thing to know is higher R-values means higher insulation cost. Therefore, an R-18 requirement certainly costs more than R-13 for the same insulation material.
After determining the R-value, the next thing is to find out the insulation material that you want to use. Different insulation materials cost differently even though they achieve the same R-value. Popular insulation materials are fiberglass and cellulose. Their respective R-value is 3 and 3.3 per inch of material. Therefore, to achieve an R-value of 18, you would need about 6 inches thick of fiberglass or 5.5 inches thick of cellulose.
When you know the R-value and the insulation material, you will need to estimate the size of the space that you want to insulate. For example, the area of your upper floor space or the foot print of a one story home will represent your attic space in most cases. It is best to have insulation of any kind professionally installed.
Moreover, a rough estimate for a complete insulation job on a typical family home can run $2,000 -$10,000 or more, but averages $2,500 -$5,500, depending on materials, the regional climate and the local economy.
Installing a Thermal Blanket like Super R Plus or TempShield has proven to be effective and is usually less expensive than blown or sprayed. Before adding the bulkier batting, it would benefit you to consider the alternatives.
A-1 Energy Doctor provides quality products at affordable prices.
Conserving energy is important and cost effective.
Now is the time to take advantage of the 30% tax credit and other business incentives.
Start conserving energy and saving money today!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

How to cut your energy costs

Electric utility rates for industrial and commercial facilities are usually composed of at least two components। • One is the “energy rate” or the kilowatt-hour charge, which is related to the fuel that is expended in producing and delivering that energy. • A second is the “demand rate”, the kilowatt, or kVA demand charge. This usually related to the capital investment that must be made to build the generation, transmission, and distribution facilities necessary to provide the electrical energy to the consumer. Since the capability of your utility’s power generating and distribution system is limited by the current it might carry, the utility’s ability to supply power is affected by the power factor of the load. Since the reactive component of current is not registered on the kilowatt-hour meter, some utilities charge for low power factor by applying penalties or surcharges or by applying demand charges on kVA, or apparent power instead of kW, or active power demand. These charges differ from utility to utility and are often expensive.Save Energy & Money: Improve Your Power Factor by installing a capacitor like The PowerwoRxTM Clean Power SystemEnergy capacitors are now not only available for big business and industry but are now widely available for small businesses and residential homes.Some are only designed to increase the power factor of your electricity but others are available that multi-task by not only increasing your power factor but they will protect your appliances and expensive electronics from spikes and surges in the lines while eliminating any noise as well.If your utility company charges a premium or a penalty if your power factor falls below a certain level you will save money.If your voltage levels are consistently higher because your power factor has increased, all of the motors that run your appliances and heating and cooling devices will perform better and last longer.Utility bills must be analyzed carefully to understand the potential savings of improving power factor. Are You Being Charged a Power Factor Penalty?This penalty applies more to business than to home owners but is still worth checking past bills just to be sure. Preferably all bills for the previous year should be collected in order to observe seasonal variations and/or long term trends in consumption. Specifically look for the energy charge and the demand charge, if any. The energy charge is determined by multiplying the number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy consumed in a month times the energy rate in $/kWh.Reduce Distribution Losses: Add Capacitors Distribution losses in a facility can be reduced by the addition of capacitors and the resulting increase in power factor. These losses are estimated by summing estimates of the transformer losses and cable losses. This reduction is due to the decrease in current flowing through the distribution system and is sometimes referred to as “I²R” losses.Take twelve months of your energy bills and have them audited. You will be surprised how much you pay for power you do not use and how much the demand and power factor penalties add up. Any time you can save money it affects your bottom line.A-1 Energy Doctor is a go green company that helps small business and home owners save money while conserving energy.

http://www.a1energydoctor.com/ Contact us to learn how we can reduce your small business and residential energy costs.

Friday, January 16, 2009

How to lose weight with Ten tips for success

SUCCESS TIP NO. 1: DRINK 8-10 GLASSES OF WATER EACH DAY
Okay, for many people this is a big problem. Water doesn’t taste all that great generally because water doesn’t really “taste” like anything. Drinking water 8 to 10 times each day gets easier the more you actually do it. It is simply a matter of conditioning your taste buds, and yourself, so that it becomes easier to do. Once you get started, you will begin to crave water.
To begin with, you should drink a glass of water in the morning first thing, before you eat। This is probably the easiest glass you will drink all day and it will help you remember to drink water all day long। Better yet, why not drink two glasses? If you really cannot bear the taste of water, try using a water purifying pitcher or filter। You can also add a few drops of lemon or lime to your water – but no sugar or sweetener! Ice also helps। Check out flavored waters on the market, too. Just keep an eye out for additives.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 2: EAT BREAKFAST
Do not skip breakfast. If you need to go to bed a little earlier so that you can get up 20 minutes earlier each morning – do it! Breakfast is so important to your good health and to weight control. According to Dr. Barbara Rolls a professor of nutrition at Penn State University, "Your metabolism slows while you sleep, and it doesn't rev back up until you eat again."
Eating breakfast is not only good for overall weight loss, it will help you stay on track with your diet the rest of the day. You are more likely to binge on something sweet and in the “bread” group if you skip breakfast. You can always keep a couple of hard-boiled eggs in the fridge or some high-fiber, low starch fruit around. If you plan to eat fruit at all during the day, breakfast is the perfect time to do it.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 3: EAT AT LEAST 3 MEALS AND 2 SNACKS EACH DAY
This can be one of the hardest adjustments to make. After all, you are busy! You already have a “full-plate”. When do you have time to worry about filling your plate with more frequent meals?
Just like eating breakfast will increase your metabolism, so will eating more often. This will also help you curb your bad-carb intake by making sure that your snacks are planned and occur regularly throughout the day. Really, it will just take a minimal investment of planning time at the grocery store and at home each morning before you head out for the day to make some healthy food choices and prepare a few healthy snacks and meals. For suggestions, just see the handy list of snacks and appetizers listed later.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 4: AVOID WHITE FOODS
This is one easy way to remember what not to eat। If it is made from sugar, flour, potatoes, rice or corn - just say no। Remembering this rule of thumb will make it easier to recognize those rice cakes as an unhealthy high-carb snack. Always look for colorful fruits and veggies to substitute for the white ones। Buy broccoli, lettuce, bell peppers, green beans and peas, brown rice in moderation, leafy greens like kale and spinach, apples, melons, oranges and grapes. These foods are not only colorful they are also high in fiber, nutrients and important antioxidants. Eating colorful fruits and vegetables will give your diet variety as well as give you added health benefits.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 5: EAT YOUR VEGGIES
It is so easy to use a low-carb diet as an excuse for poor nutrition. Resist this temptation. If the only vegetable you have eaten in the last 5 years has been the potato, now is a good time to begin experimenting with other vegetables. This is important for your overall health and to avoid some nasty side effects of not getting enough fiber in your diet. If you try hard enough, you will find vegetables that you enjoy eating. Experiment with grilling veggies and cooking with real butter to add flavor. You can also search for new recipes on the Internet or in cookbooks.
Remember, if you are only eating 40 grams of carb a day or less, two cups of plain salad greens contain only about 5 grams of carbohydrate. You have no excuse not to eat your veggies.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 6: PREPARE YOUR OWN FOOD AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
While more and more restaurants are offering low-carb friendly menu items, many of them are still not ideal low-carb fare। There are many recipes for quick and easy meals that you can prepare yourself at home। Try to do this as often as possible. If you cook your own foods, you know exactly what the contents are and you will be able to better control for hidden sugar and otherwise processed foods। Another benefit is the cost savings over the long run। Even if you must go to the grocery store more often, you will save a significant amount per meal as opposed to eating at restaurants and fast food establishments। It will also be easier to maintain your diet with your own favorite fresh food selections on hand.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 7: INVEST IN A GOOD SET OF FOOD STORAGE CONTAINERS
Having food storage containers of various sizes on hand will make it so much easier for you to plan your meals and snacks। When you buy nuts, fruits and vegetables in bulk you can simply prepare, separate and store them for easy use later। For instance, you can pre-slice your apples and snack on them over several days. Simply cut them, rinse them in pineapple or lemon juice and store. This will make a quick and easy snack for later. Fix your lunch and take it with you to work. Better yet, fix your lunch and 2 snacks for work.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 8: EAT SOME PROTIEN AT EACH MEAL & AS A SNACK
In addition to everything that’s been discussed before, eating protein helps you burn more calories। Jeff Hample, Ph।D., R.D., a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association says that, "Protein is made up mainly of amino acids, which are harder for your body to breakdown, so you burn more calories getting rid of them.” Just think – eating a protein rich snack can help you lose weight. How about a few slices of turkey or ham or some string cheese?
Eating protein will also help you feel full so that you are less likely to crave unhealthy snacks.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 9: DRINK A GLASS OF WATER AFTER EACH SNACK
This will help you get in your 8 to 10 glasses of water each day but it can also have other benefits। Ever feel hungry after eating a handful or standard serving of nuts? Try drinking water afterwards। The water will help you feel full and prevent overindulgence. Drinking water after a snack will also help remove the aftertaste from your mouth and can help curb your desire for more.
SUCCESS TIP NO. 10: EAT SLOWLY & ENJOY YOUR FOOD
You will feel full and more satisfied if you take the time to savor your food and chew it slower. Don’t get in the habit of eating while standing or eating quickly. Sit down and chew.
Eating slower will help you enjoy your food more, pay attention to what it is you are actually eating and get a better sense of when you are actually full.
Great information on weight loss, cardio and exercise can be found at http://www.info4umall.com