Electrical Contractors Need Green Skills for Future

Guest post by Houston Neal

We are nearing a renaissance of electrical contracting. Software Advice, a website that reviews electrical estimating software, thinks the electrician will soon transition into an "energy contractor" to meet demand of the growing green construction market. This growth is being fueled by increased adoption of green and renewable energy technologies among homeowners and corporations.


Who will be there to retrofit these buildings? Electrical contractors will play a major role in these upgrades. However, they'll need to "green" their skill set in order to take advantage of opportunities.

To get started, electricians must gain the skills and knowledge to take on green projects. Both the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) offer education programs for green electrical work. Second, they should get versed on electric- and energy-related LEED credits. LEED projects are growing just as fast as the rest of the green construction market, so this is one of the areas where electricians will be able to "cash in."

To read more, visit: The Coming Renaissance of Electrical Contracting.

Keeping Up with the Joneses (in Energy Efficiency)

Guest post by Lori Shivey

Who would have thought that adults would still act like they are in high school? A startup company, called OPower, has found this out. People are still influenced by what others do and are doing. It seems that all it takes is No. 10 envelopes and smiley faces.


OPower, an industry leader in Energy Efficiency and Smart Grid software, mails utility users a personalized report about their energy consumption. In this report, OPower compares the utility user to his or her neighbors. In doing this, people can be persuaded to lower their energy consumption, which in turn helps fight global warming as well as reduce emissions. People who are using less energy get a smiley face, which motivates them to want more. People who are using more energy than their neighbors get to know that they are being more wasteful.

Dan Yates is the man responsible for this startup. After selling his first startup, at $20 million, he was able to travel the world and this led him to become an environmentalist. After his travels, Yates and Alex Laskey started OPower with the help of Dr. Robert Cialdini, who is a renowned social psychologist.

So far the company has done well. Customers who receive these personalized reports have cut their energy consumption by 1.2 percent to 2.8 percent on average. The company’s reports are currently being used by 1 and 2 million people through 24 different utility companies.

OPower hope sto combine its data analysis with smart grid technology, which will help get the information out to more people. People will then be able to see whether they are conserving energy or not, much like they compare other daily spending habits.

Listen to a podcast (or read the transcript) of a recent interview with founder and CEO, Dan Yates.

Free Software Helps Save Paper and Trees

GreenPrint World software promises to eliminate those wasteful one-line pages from being printed. 'GreenPrint World is a free version of GreenPrint software for home users worldwide. GreenPrint solves a problem nearly every computer user has experienced: The wasteful pages that seem only to appear after a document has been printed (for example, pages with just a URL, banner ad, legal jargon, or a run-over Excel column). GreenPrint does this by analyzing the document and then highlighting and removing unnecessary pages. GreenPrint also incorporates an easy to use PDF writer, a print preview called GreenView, and a reporting feature, which keeps track of the number of pages, trees, and money saved."

"In an effort to end wasteful printing worldwide, GreenPrint World is available at no cost to home users around the globe. With widespread use we will save over 100 million trees and reduce greenhouse gasses by over 300 million tons. The World Edition is perfect for anyone who wants to eliminate the frustration and waste of unwanted pages and have a positive environmental impact right at home."

There are also two paid versions available, Home Premium and Enterprise. You can compare the features of all three versions at their website.

Home users can download the free GreenPrint World at http://www.download.com/GreenPrint-World/3000-2088_4-10799305.html?tag=pdp_prod