Say goodbye to your old light bulbs. The 2007 Energy Law has mandated that manufacturers must start making incandescent light bulbs at least 27 percent more efficient by 2014. In 2012, manufacturers started phasing out 100-watt incandescent bulbs, followed by 75-watt bulbs in 2013 and 40 and 60-watt bulbs in 2014. In this week's Angie's List report, Nancy Naeve explains what the lighting changes mean to you.

"There are changes on the way for light bulbs. For example, incandescent bulbs are being phased out. If you are not sure what this is going to mean for you, check with your electrician because you might find you have lighting fixtures that will need to be changed,"Angie's List Founder Angie Hicks said. The most common alternatives to incandescent light bulbs are CFL's and LED's. CFL's only need one-fifth to one-third the electricity of incandescent to produce the same amount of light and last about ten times as long.

"They start up initially, but takes them awhile to warm up. So, to reach those optimum light output it's going to take a couple of minutes," Lighting Designer Don Dragoo said.

LED's are up to 85 percent more efficient than incandescent and 10 percent more efficient than CFL's.

"A lot of the LED's require a special type of dimmer. People who are replacing incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs have to be cognizant of the requirements of replacing that dimmer with a specialty dimmer that works in conjunction with the LED's," Dragoo said.

While energy-efficient light bulbs last longer, they do cost more than incandescent.

"When you look at total life of that bulb versus what you paid for that bulb versus what the amount of energy that bulb is using, these are much cheaper. So the tradeoff there is if you want to keep your old incandescent light bulbs you're going to pay more and change them out more. They are going to create more heat in your home as well," GoodCents Managing Director Bob Nuss said.

Lighting is one of the top energy users in the home so when shopping for light bulbs check how much energy the bulb uses because that will have an impact on your electric bill.

"Look at the mission of the light bulb. What are you using it for? If you're just trying to get general light out of it, then I go with the bulb that uses the least amount of energy," Nuss said.

If you're looking to switch over your light bulbs, but can't make them work in existing lamps or fixtures, Angie's List recommends consulting with a licensed electrician or lighting professional.

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Angie's List Report: Light Bulb Changes

Sedona, AZ (PRWEB) January 31, 2014

The Solar Dogs typically find themselves entertaining customers and guests of Ambassador Energy and students of Ambassador Energy College in their sleepy town of Murrieta, CA. This week, however, they enthusiastically joined their parents on a trip to cultivate new solar relationships in Arizona specifically, General Contracting, roofing and electrical firms, who are looking to add solar PV to their portfolios.

We had business to do in Phoenix and Sedona, so we added a little fun to the trip by bringing Lobo and Woofy. They are at the AE office and training center with us every day, so they can help us, because they know solaror at least, thats what we tell people, Steve Fulgham, CEO of Ambassador Energy said with a grin. "Lobo thinks there should be more solar in Arizona."

Lobo became Lobo the Solar Dog several years ago when the Ambassador Energy marketing department used her as their model on their first billboard. They had the sign company construct giant cutouts for her iconic ears on the sign, which welcomed passersby on the historic Route 395 in Southern California.

Lobo and Woofy are a huge part of our company, said Julia Oliver, Director of Operations for Ambassador Energy. If they stopped coming to the office each day, I think many on our staff would quit. Our company culture really benefits from having these precious babies around. Im glad that the Solar Dogs are spreading solar cheer in Arizona. We can spare them this week for that and look forward to helping our Arizona agencies install more solar.

About Ambassador Energy Ambassador Energy [AE] has a three-pronged business model, which includes Ambassador Energy College Solar Training, the Ambassador Energy Agency Program and the installation arms, Ambassador Energy and Ambassador Solar. On staff are NABCEP Certified PV Installers, NABCEP Certified PV Technical Sales professionals [Fulgham/Kelso] and multiple NABCEP EL graduates. AE holds California licenses General Contractor B, C10 Electrician and C46 Renewable Energy. Ambassador Energy is IREC/ISPQ accredited. AE Agencies are nationwide. Ambassador Energy installs residential and commercial PV systems throughout California and the US.

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California Solar Dogs Travel to Arizona to Share the Good News About Solar PV

One thing no one ever plans for is loss. But it is beyond wishing it away, there is need to plan against losses.

This is true about avoiding electric sparks or a fire incident arising from it. Despite not planning for one, records abound on a yearly basis of property and lives lost to fire from electric sparks.

This week, Power Talkback brings you expert recommendations on how to avoid suffering such losses. Please note that the principles apply at homes and offices.

The first point to note is never to ignore a spark, no matter how harmless it appears. This is because every spark could result in a fire.

It is important to take good care of worn out plugs, cables and meters of wires, sockets among others.

Therefore, always look out for warning signs, as there is usually a clue that something could go wrong before a fire starts.

And when you notice the signs, insist that a qualified electrician assesses the situation.

Some warning signs could include:

A spark or smoke around a socket

Smell of melting plastic on cables and casing

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How to avoid electrocution, fire outbreak

President Barack Obama arrives with PG&E apprentice electrician Erick Varela, a U.S. Army combat...

As part of a renewed push to create opportunities for the long-term unemployed, President Obama on Friday touted the success story of a once-homeless Iraq War veteran who turned his life around through an electrician apprenticeship.

When Erick Varela, a heavy-equipment operator who served as a combat infantryman in the 82nd Airborne in Iraq, left the Army in 2008, he returned home to Manteca, Calif., where the housing crisis had hit hard and he was unable to find work. He applied to fast-food restaurants and retail, but had no luck getting hired. At one point, he and his wife, Katey, lived out of their car when they could no longer afford to pay their rent.

Still determined to find work, Varela discovered an apprenticeship opportunity at California utility PG&E's PowerPathway program, and he applied and was accepted. After he attended and graduated from the four-month program, he found work at Tesla's Tracy, Calif., office as an apprentice electrician with PG&E.

I would like to thank PG&E for giving me this opportunity. The work PG&E provided me restored purpose to my life and gave me a sense of direction once again, Varela said before introducing Obama at a White House event.

PG&E is expanding its PowerPathway program and is one of more than 300 companies that has agreed to develop so-called best practices to ensure the long-term unemployed aren't unfairly screened out of potential jobs.

The president spent Friday morning huddling with CEOs from some of the nation's largest companies to move forward on a State of the Union pitch to mitigate discrimination against the long-term unemployed.

Obama said those companies, as well as the federal government, would make changes to their hiring practices to ensure people who have been out of work for long periods aren't skipped over for jobs.

The president also touted a $150 million Labor Department grant competition to develop ways for those out of work more than six months to find jobs and a new effort, led by Vice President Joe Biden, to review and improve existing government job training programs.

At the event, Obama thanked business leaders, philanthropists and members of his administration who had worked to help hardworking Americans like Varela not just get a paycheck but also the dignity and the structure that a job provides people.

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Obama works with CEOs to help long-term unemployed

TERRAS: Frustration as lights go out at Bashley

5:20am Wednesday 29th January 2014 in Club News By Adam Summers

THE Terras were left frustrated last night when a general power cut brought a premature end to their league clash at Bashley.

The lights went out in the 43rd minute after Weymouth had built up a 2-1 lead, courtesy of goals from Scott Walker and George Rigg.

The blackout left referee Mark Russell no other choice but to abandon the fixture, which might have been stopped at half-time anyway, due to surface water gathering on the pitch following a sustained period of heavy rain.

The Terras are beginning to get used to floodlight failures at the Recreation Ground.

They also had a Red Insure Cup tie at Bashley postponed for that very reason back in October.

On that occasion the game was called off just 15 minutes before kick-off.

Weymouth player-boss Jason Matthews, a qualified electrician, told Echosport: Theres nothing anyone could have done.

It was a shame because it was turning into a really good end-to-end game.

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TERRAS: Frustration as lights go out at Bashley

Dick Ahlers first found Manitoulin in 1931 when his parents, from Pittsburgh, holidayed at the cabin-in-the-woods of his fathers law partner in Rockville on Lake Manitou. I have been drawn to the Island ever since; more so as my own family has lived in St. Louis, Pittsburgh again, Detroit, Houston, Cleveland, Detroit again and Cleveland again. It became a home base for our family. We have just sold our Island cottage after 47 years of enjoyment, Dick explains. With our aging, property maintenance had become even harder and more time-consuming. To sell was a hard decision, but we still expect to spend a lot of time on the Island.

Richard W. Ahlers Jr. was born to Richard W. Ahlers Sr. and Margaret (nee Hartley) on January 25, 1927 in Pittsburgh. My mother was a school teacher and she retired after marrying my dad. Maternal grandparents were Beecher Hartley and Lara (Murray). Beecher was in the coal business in Pittsburgh. My maternal grandmother died in 1931 when I was four. My paternal grandfather William Ahlers owned a lumber business in Pittsburgh. He died in 1901. Grandmother Ahlers visited the Island once in 1936.

Richard Ahlers Sr. practiced law at Pittsburgh in partnership with Lee C. Beatty, 20 years his senior. Beattys wife Gertrude Beatty was an English-born Welsh woman who loved Canada. In 1927, the couples annual excursion north brought them to Whitefish Falls, to the Stumpf and Spry Lodge in surroundings they much-admired. Mr. Spry persuaded Lee and Gertrude to visit his cousin Alf Spry at his new resort in Rockville on Green Bay of Lake Manitou, on Manitoulin Island. A year later, Beatty commissioned Alf Spry to build a cottage for him. Their first vacation there was in 1929 and the family returned every year until Lees death in 1943. The Beatty family still visits regularly.

In the bleak year of 1931, and for the next 10 years, the Beattys generously offered late-summer use of their cottage to the Ahlers. That first summer, Dick recalls, we left Owen Sound in the afternoon, sailing on the S.S. Manitoulin. We spent the night at Killarney, which had no road access then. I still remember standing on the top deck of the ship with my dad in a dense morning fog, while my mother dressed. The steam whistle sounded above us, loud enough to lift a small child out of his sandals. The boat proceeded to Manitowaning and on to Little Current where Alf Spry met us in our 1928 Hudson. There were no road signs to Island locations in those days, Dick continues. As my parents unpacked at the Beatty cottage, I wandered away behind the building to an area of escarpment rock and fissures. Much distressed, mother found me placidly ensconced in the plentiful wild strawberries.

The Ahlers enjoyed the Beatty cottage, taking their meals at the Spry resort, half a mile away. In the late 1950s the Spry Resort became Manitou Haven with Jule and Edith Chisholm as proprietors. Jule was the adopted son of Alf and Lily Spry. Lily lived to be 104.

In 1934, Dick was joined by brother Roger and the Beatty youngsters often stayed on the Island with the Ahlers after the Sr. Beattys returned home. On September 3, 1939 I remember being at the Paul Foster cottage next door and listening, with a handful of others, to the Fosters new Oldsmobile car radio as Canada declared war on Germany. Pauls sister May wept. Their brother Ainsworth had been wounded in the Great War, World War One.

Travel from the States to Manitoulin was far more challenging in those years. It was a dirt road after Owen Sound and just a trail from Parry Sound to Pointe au Baril and beyond. The winding dirt road to Goat Island was a beautiful half-day experience. The small eight-car ferry, the Jaqueline, made the final passage to the Island because the bridge served only the train, known as the Blueberry Special. It would stop for blueberry pickers along the way.

One of the two Tobermory ferries was the SS Manitou, an elderly coal-fired boat, carrying 12 to 15 cars. Meals were prepared on the car deck on a coal-fired range and passed up by ladder to be served at six two-person tables in the fore-aft passageway. A one-armed bandit, a five cent slot machine, was chained to a steel pipe supporting the wheelhouse above. One year, with three nickels to invest, I hit the jackpot, Dick allows. The machine spewed a bonanza of three or four dollars of nickels everywhere.

The steel-hulled diesel powered MS Normac had been retired from fire boat service at Detroit. It carried a few more cars than the Manitou and did not pitch and wallow as readily. She ran for several years in the 1960s between Meldrum Bay and Blind River before becoming Captain Johns Seafood Restaurant at the foot of Yonge St. in Toronto. Most recently, the MS Normac served as a floating cocktail lounge and restaurant in Port Dalhousie, but was gutted by fire in 2011.

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Now and Then – Dick Ahlers

Published: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 7:37 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 7:37 a.m.

Local utilities are preparing for power outages across south Louisiana that could result from an icy storm expected to hit today through Thursday morning.

The impact of ice storms is very difficult to predict, but forecasts indicate the approaching weather system could be one of the most challenging the region has seen in years," said Dennis Dawsey, vice president of customer service for Entergy's Louisiana utilities, which serve much of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

"Power outage restoration may extend into 3 to 5 days for some customers, depending on the severity of the damage," he said. "Ice storms can pose a significant threat to an electric system, and extreme cold weather can present additional challenges and require a different and often slower restoration process."

The utility company is assembling more than 2,100 restoration workers in anticipation of ice-related outages, Dawsey said.

SLECA, a utility that serves about 16,000 in Terrebone, Lafourche and surrounding parishes, has all of its crews on standby, General Manager Joe Ticheli said this morning.

"When you have an ice storm like this, obviously some things you prepare for in advance, you fuel up all of your trucks and make sure your chainsaws are operable," he said. "Well be here all day and night answering telephones in case there are outages."

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for southeastern Louisiana through Wednesday morning. Forecasters said the winter storm could bring up to 3-5 inches of snow accumulation and 1/8 to 3/8 inches of ice or more to areas where a mix of precipitation persists.

"As with any storm, safety is always our first priority, and we want it to be yours too," Dawes said. "We urge customers to monitor the weather and prepare to implement their own winter storm plans.

Customers are encouraged to download Entergy's mobile app to access outage maps and information.

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Winter storm could cut power 3-5 days for some, Entergy says

MUSCATINE, Iowa Larry Strause has been promoted to Contractor Safety Specialist in the Safety Department at Grain Processing Corporation. He joined the company in 1976 in the MALTRIN department, and later held positions as Starch Shift Supervisor and most recently Night Superintendent overseeing General Plant operations.

Ted Miller has been hired as Shift Supervisor for the Sweetener Division. He has worked at GPC through RJK Inc. as a relief supervisor in both the Alcohol and Sweetener Departments. Prior to working at GPC, Ted spent 6 years in the United States Air Force.

Jake Kilburn has joined the company as an Electrical & Instrumentation Specialist. He has worked at the company through Shaw Electric since August 2010, as both a Shift Electrician and an E&I Shift Supervisor.

Grain Processing Corporation (GPC) is a major manufacturer of grain neutral spirits, food and pharmaceutical starches, industrial starches, maltodextrins and corn syrup solids, specialty products, and feed ingredients. The Company, a subsidiary of Kent Corporation, markets its products worldwide.

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GPC announces new hires and promotion

Most parents say their children are their highest priority and that parenting is among the most important things they do. Yet, they often approach parenting in a reactionary and defensive way. Instead, all of us need a proactive offense!

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Most parents say their children are their highest priority and that parenting is among the most important things they do.

Yet they often approach parenting in a reactionary and defensive way.

In fact, during our 30 years of writing and speaking to parents and families all over the world, three of the most prominent parenting models, be they intentional or unintentional, are:

• The all I can do is keep them fed, sheltered and clothed model. Many parents are so burdened and busy that all they can do is try to meet the physical needs of their kids.

• The general contractor model. Like a general contractor who lets the plumber and electrician and carpenter do all the work, parents often farm everything out to the teachers, the coaches and the tutors and dont actually do much parenting themselves.

• The wait for a problem and hope I can solve it model. So many parents just drift along, thinking things are OK with their kids and that if there is a problem, they can buy a parenting book and find out how to handle the situation.

Instead of these passive approaches, parents today need a proactive parenting model, one where they set and strive to meet specific objectives for and with their children. In fact, we all need a model much like a business plan, where we clearly define what we want and then come up with a plan and set aside the time and the priorities to make it happen.

Continued here:
Linda & Richard Eyre: Proactive parenting builds stronger kids and families

Minister for Education and Skills Ruair Quinn: Government sources said the Minister does not want a similar situation to arise as happened in the UK some two decades ago where many dozens of institutions were accorded university status without sufficiently rigorous scrutiny.

Legislative proposals will be brought to Cabinet this morning paving the way for new technological universities to be established in the State.

Minister for Education Ruair Quinn will bring the general scheme of Technological Universities Bill to the weekly meeting of Government Ministers this morning.

The memorandum will give the legal underpinning that will allow new universities in the State for the first time since the University of Limerick and Dublin City University were given that status.

The other two main universities are Dublin University (TCD) and the constituent colleges of the National University of Ireland (UCD, UCC, NUIG, and NUI, Maynooth).

Comprehensive reviewIn a separate development, Mr Quinn will also be bringing the report of an expert group that conducted a comprehensive review of existing apprenticeship schemes in Ireland and which has recommended major changes for the future.

The review looked at traditional apprenticeships such as plumbing, carpentry and electrician-training and has also identified the need for training and new skills in more modern industry such as ICT, pharma, and green energy.

The heads of the technological university legislation will allow some of the institutes of technology in the State progress to university status.

Government sources said Mr Quinn does not want a similar situation to arise as happened in the UK some two decades ago where many dozens of institutions were accorded university status without sufficiently rigorous scrutiny.

The word university is very important, said the source. We want to make sure that we protect the word and the concept.

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Quinn to outline proposals for technological universities