Ten Wood-burning Fireplace Safety Tips
A nice wood burning fireplace will help decrease your winter heating bills and keep the house warm. But beware, heating fires account for 36% of residential home fires every year. Make sure to have your fireplace and chimney inspected and cleaned by a professional at least once a year. And throughout the winter, practice these 10 fireplace safety tips from Realgy Energy Services.
Five Fireplace Safety Dos:
- Use only seasoned hardwoods such as maple, oak, ash, and birch, which will burn hot and long. Green and soft woods produce more creosote.
- Check for creosote build ups. Creosote is a flammable byproduct that can build up in the chimney if wood is not burning completely.
- When building a fire, place the logs at the back of the fireplace on a metal grate.
- Install Smoke Detectors on every floor and keep a charged fire extinguisher on hand.
- The area around the hearth should be clear of decorations and debris.
Five Fireplace Safety Don’ts
- Do not use flammable liquids to start the fire; instead use kindling, or small dry twigs.
- Do not build the fire too big. A smaller fire will generate less smoke and creosote buildup. An overly large or hot fire could end up cracking the chimney.
- Never burn cardboard boxes, trash or debris in your fireplace.
- Never leave a fire unattended. Always extinguish the fire before leaving the house or going to bed.
- Never empty ash directly into a trash can. Always allow ash to cool completely before disposal.
Sources:
U.S. Fire Administration, “Fireplace and home fire safety”
DIY network, “10 tips for maintaining a wood-burning fireplace”
Realgy Energy Services has installed Two New Solar PV systems in Illinois
At the beginning of December 2013, Realgy announced the start of construction on two of its newest solar power projects in the state of Illinois. Once completed, the two new systems in total will produce over 90,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy annually and offset almost 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide during the initial 25 years of operation.
The first Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system has been installed on the roof of the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, home to the historic Lake County Fair and other year-round events. The second Solar PV system was installed at Seven Oaks Farm, a historic dairy and horse farm in Saint Charles.
Both PV Systems have been installed by Renewable Energy Alternatives of Arlington Heights. “We are excited to be a part of this venture,” said Kacie Peters, Director of Sales and Marketing at Renewable Energy Alternatives. “The array is in a very public space and will be seen by thousands annually. We hope that this array will inspire others to know solar is possible—and practical in Illinois.”
“Realgy made this investment as a part of our sustainable energy commitment with the support of Illinois Department of Commerce Renewable Energy Program and the Illinois Solar Energy Association.” Michael Vrtis, President of Realgy. All of the energy produced by the panels will be used by the companies, and will reduce their reliance on fossil-generated energy produced primarily from coal in Illinois.
Good Bye Incandescent Bulbs
On January 1, 2014, as part of a 2007 energy efficiency law, the U.S. stopped producing and importing standard 40- and 60- watt incandescent bulbs. The law signed by former President George W. Bush requires new light bulbs to meet tighter standards.
For those not ready for the switch, most stores will continue to sell the 40- and 60- watt bulbs until supplies run out. However, switching out those old incandescent bulbs will reduce the energy needed to light up your room. Ninety percent of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is given off as heat. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, upgrading 15 incandescent light bulbs to CFL or LED bulbs could save about $50 per year.
Sources:
Energy.Gov, “Lighting Choices to Save You Money”
CBS News, “The old-fashioned light bulb is disappearing”
New Year, New Website
Realgy Energy Services wants to wish all of our customers a very Happy 2014. The New Year usually brings change and this year Realgy is pleased to announce that we have a new home on the web. The address will stay the same www.realgyenergyservices.com but the website has been updated.
Please feel free to check out the new Realgy Website and let us know what you think.
While you are there, please update your contact information to ensure you will receive the latest news and updates on all of our benefits and services.
Seven Oaks Farm breaks ground on the installation of its first solar power project
PRESS RELEASE December 02, 2013 | By: Realgy, LLC
Seven Oaks Farm, Saint Charles, Ill., will soon be partially powered by a 160 solar panel PV system.
Realgy, LLC has announced the start of installation on a 37.5 kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) system for Seven Oaks Farm. The solar PV system will be the second of its kind installed by Realgy in Saint Charles, the first being Midwest Groundcovers in 2011. Seven Oaks Farm is a historic dairy and horse farm owned by Deborah and Helmut Jahn since 1998.
The solar PV system is being installed by Renewable Energy Alternatives of Northbrook, Illinois. This is the first solar project that Renewable Energy Alternatives has completed for Seven Oaks Farm “We are excited to be a part of this venture,” said Kacie Peters, Director of Sales and Marketing at Renewable Energy Alternatives. “The array is in a very public space and will be seen by thousands annually. We hope that this array will inspire others to know solar is possible—and practical in Illinois.”
Realgy, LLC is an alternative energy service supplier in Illinois, and will be supplying Seven Oaks Farm their electricity and selected them for this installation. Seven Oaks Farm will receive all of the solar energy produced by the panels, which will reduce their reliance on fossil generated energy produced primarily from coal in Illinois.
Once complete the Seven Oaks Farm solar PV system will produce over 49, 000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy annually and more than one million kWh over the next 25 years. That is enough energy to power about 2 average U.S. homes every year. The environmental benefits associated with the system will offset about 900 thousand pounds of carbon dioxide over the initial 25 years of operation.
“We are excited to announce the start of the Seven Oaks solar project,” said Michael Vrtis, President of Realgy. “Realgy made this investment as a part of our sustainable energy commitment and due to the support of Illinois Department of commerce Renewable Energy Program and the ISEA.”
Contacts:
Seven Oaks Farm
36W788 Red Gate Road
Saint Charles, Illinois 60175
630-762-9563
Renewable Energy Alternatives
Kacie Peters
3670 Commercial Avenue
Northbrook, Illinois
847-291-7693
www.renewableenergyalt.com
Realgy, LLC
Nicole Werner
675 Oakwood Avenue
West Hartford, CT
860-233-2270
www.realgyenergyservices.com
In Response to “The global oil industry: Supermajordammerung”
Written by Michael Vrtis President of Realgy Energy Services in response to the Economist article The global oil industry: Supermajordammerung
The energy industry includes some of the largest companies and business entities in the world. Energy is by far the largest traded entity in the world (probably next to money!).
Realgy Energy Services represents a small piece in that picture but we witness the changes in the industry. In reading the following article the comparison between what goes on at the largest part of the energy industry is also apparent below.
Consider the following:
The major oil companies purposely outsourced technical expertise to service companies.
Countries with oil and gas resources had new found leverage against the majors; the ability to hire technical services were met with ready available financial resources (internal or external). The result; the majors were pushed out of some of the most developable oil fields in the world.
So the majors have to look elsewhere to keep their business operating. Which means they explore and develop in ever more remote locations (deep water gulf).
Analogous is States wanting to reduce the cost of energy for their residences/business (think of them as the countries). The utilities are the majors. So when regulators/States sought leverage over the utilities to lower costs; the creation of customer choice programs enabled the technical ability that existed in the marketplace (energy traders and schedulers) to directly serve consumers at a scale that allowed the energy marketers’ businesses to grow and flourish.
In both cases the consumer of energy has benefited from lower cost energy.
Check out The Economist article: The global oil industry: Supermajordammerung