Inland Empire Contractor | Solar Panels, Battery Storage, Roofing, HVAC
If you feel a bit chilly inside your home this winter, even though your thermostat is turned up, it is a sign that your furnace is malfunctioning, and you may need Heating and Air Conditioning service in Murrieta. If the gas furnace in your house is old, like over 20 or more years, and it is still chugging along, you may not think it needs to be replaced. Now the average lifespan of heating and cooling is about 10 to 15 years, and parts for the older models are difficult to find or not available at all. But today’s Heating and Air Conditioning is so much safer and efficient that it is worth looking into the furnaces available on the market in modern times, they have higher standards. Semper Solaris has got you covered. We are the specialists for the repair and replacement of Heating and Air Conditioning installations in Murrieta. Our furnaces are build to the highest standards and come from the top manufacturers. We offer comprehensive inspections and diagnose the problem to see if repairs will do the trick or if you are looking at replacing either your furnace or the whole Heating and Air Conditioning system. How Does A Furnace Work? Natural gas runs in from the main gas line to the house. Gas pipes run throughout the home for use in furnaces, water heaters, stoves, and gas dryers. Furnaces burn fuel in a combustion chamber to produce heat. When the thermostat signals for the furnace to start heating, a pilot light ignites the fire while a blower fan forces the air through an air exchanger, ductwork, and into the rooms of the home. Older furnaces were stand-alone, used for heat in the home before modern Heating and Air Conditioning came on the scene. And although gas furnaces still use combustion to create heat, times have changed, and new technology makes furnaces safer and more efficient. If your furnace is older and outdated, you may not know when it is malfunctioning in dangerous ways. Signs Of Faulty Furnace It is important to pay attention to when your furnace is not heating your home properly. It means there is a problem that could be serious and could lead to dangerous gases leaking into the air. Frequent repairs Higher than usual utility bills Pilot won’t light Smell of Gas No heat Unfamiliar noises Uneven temperatures Carbon monoxide poisoning is deadly, and a defective furnace can produce this odorless gas that strikes without warning. Watch for signs that indicate Carbon Monoxide in the air. Headache Dizziness Nausea or vomiting Shortness of breath Confusion blurred vision Chest pain Drowsiness Fainting Loss of consciousness Removing Your Old Furnace in Murrieta The technology for older furnaces was quite different from today’s furnaces. The furnace is open to outside air that mixes with the gas. The excess, poisonous gas funnels into pipes and through the roof to the outside. The older homes had duct systems that were wrapped with asbestos, a dangerous substance that can cause respiratory disease when inhaled. If your air ducts have asbestos wrapping, it will have to be removed before they are replaced, and your new furnace is installed. The process of removing the asbestos will require a team outside your Heating and Air Conditioning company that specializes in asbestos removal, or asbestos abatement. Your Heating and Air Conditioning company will likely have a company they hire to do this job. But it must be done before any work can start on your Heating and Air Conditioning system. Installing A New Furnace Depending on the age of your equipment and how it operates, there may need to be some minor construction. Furnace units are smaller now, and the older systems were open to the outside. Today’s systems are closed, so there is no need for the furnace to be open to the outdoor air. Whether you plan to replace your furnace only or add central air conditioning, the upgrade will not only save you money; it will make your home much more livable. You will feel the difference in air quality and comfort. And it will be less costly to run due to the improvements made over the past decade. Semper Solaris is the best Heating and Air Conditioning company in Murrieta to help you find the proper heating solutions for your house. With our many options, we will select the right furnace for your home. If you decide to replace the whole system, we have the best products and installation services.
As much as dogs love to feel the sun on their backs, it was only a matter of time until someone started using it to fill their stomachs. Mars Petcare has flipped the switch on a new solar garden linked to the company's San Bernardino, California manufacturing facility that produces Pedigree Brand dry dog food. Mars partnered with Ahana Renewables, a subsidiary of ATN International, Inc., to develop and fund the project under a 25-year power purchase agreement. The new solar garden features 3,420 individual solar panels that will annually deliver 1.9 million kilowatt-hours, which can power more than 50 percent of the 78,000 square foot site's daily energy needs. The four-acre solar garden is projected to yield a 549-tonne reduction of greenhouse gases. The San Bernardino site opened in 1983 and was acquired by Mars Petcare in 2006. The company currently employs 75 full-time associates at the site. Mars’ Sustainability Plan This is the third solar garden constructed by Mars in the US – joining Mars Wrigley Confectionery solar gardens in Hackettstown, New Jersey, and Henderson, Nevada. Mars also co-owns a 25,000-acre wind farm near Lamesa, Texas, featuring 118 turbines, that annually generates nearly 800,000-megawatt hours of power. As part of the Sustainable in a Generation Plan, Mars plans to reduce its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its entire value chain by 27 percent by 2025 and 67 percent by 2050. We're happy to see these solar panels installed in the Inland Empire! "At Mars Petcare we're working towards our mission: a better world for pets, because we wholeheartedly believe they improve our lives," said Kevin Rabinovitch, global VP of sustainability at Mars, in a press release. "This new solar garden is a great example of the steps we need to take in order to achieve the ambitious goals set out in our new Sustainable in a Generation Plan to reduce the total environmental impact of Mars to ensure we foster a healthy planet for future generations – of people and pets." In conjunction with the unveiling of this new solar garden, Mars Petcare will also be making a US$20,000 charitable contribution to GRID Alternatives Inland Empire. The donation will go towards furthering the organization's mission of providing access to clean, renewable solar energy to low-income families throughout the Inland Empire area. With solar becoming a more viable option for residential and commercial applications, some companies have taken it upon themselves to become greener. With Mars Petcare taking such steps it bodes well that others will continue to take steps in the right direction by adding solar panel farms and making the manufacturing process more sustainable.
Billboards across Southern California are now advertising electricity supply company Southern California Edison’s new rate plans, which include three “time-of-use” rate options that charge consumers different rates based on what time of the day they use the most electricity. So how do these electricity rate plans affect solar powered Inland Empire residents? The switch to time-of-use rates comes after the California Public Utilities Commission directed the state’s major utilities companies to default their customers to time-of-use plans by 2020. The goal behind implementing the time-of-use plans is to lessen the strain on the electrical grid during its peak hours when the use of renewable energy is at its highest. This should help the grid adjust later in the day when it switches to more conventional sources such as natural gas. Kari Gardner, Senior Manager of Consumer Affairs at Edison, explained that “[t]here are a variety of different of residential TUO plans that are available for our customers, so what that means is for time of use rate plans it offers different pricing during different times of day, the week, and the season. So your bill will be determined by both when you use electricity and how much you use.” The times of the day where electricity will cost the most – known as “on-peak hours” – will be either noon to six p.m. or two to 8 p.m., depending on the plan that customers choose. That doesn’t include weekends, which are considered “off-peak” hours. According to Gardner, “For customers who can adjust their schedules, if you will, to where perhaps during the peak periods they’re not using as much electricity, they would maybe want to consider a plan like that.” If you’re an Edison customer, switching over to time-of-use plans is voluntary for now – but Gardner says some customers can already benefit from them. “They could change nothing and already benefit on one of these plans or they could also make minor adjustments that might also move them to where they may benefit monetarily and from a consumption perspective under these plans. While time-of-use plans can benefit some customers, consumer advocates warn it could raise rates for others. A recent paper co-authored by representatives from groups such as Utility Dive and the Public Interest Research Group argued that time of-use-rates “can have adverse impacts on consumers, especially on those who may have less ability to shift their usage to capture the benefits of TOU pricing.” These plans have also been criticized for potentially devaluing solar energy, which could make it harder for the state to meet its goal of having half of its electricity come from renewable sources by 2030. The San Francisco-based Environmental Defense Fund filed a protest saying the time-of-use plans “potentially creates an economic disincentive for utilizing renewable generation capacity.” But Gardner says that SoCal Edison is fully supportive of solar. In 2016, the company delivered more solar energy to its customers than any other utility in the nation. She also pointed out that time of use plans can offer an economic advantage to consumers with solar installations. “Some of the benefits that we do see our solar customers experiencing is they are typically generating during the peak periods.” It’s a benefit because customers who generate excess solar can sell it back at retail value, which is higher during on-peak times.
Riverside County is already one of the nation's clean energy hot spots. In fact, the entire Inland Empire solar power initiative is in full effect, installing solar panels everywhere! If you've driven from Los Angeles to the Coachella Valley, you've seen the iconic wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass and the solar panels that cover thousands of Inland Empire rooftops. Drive further east on Interstate 10, through the open desert, and you'll pass four of the country's biggest solar farms before you hit Arizona. Now, the county is poised to generate even more climate-friendly energy. EDF Renewable Energy has struck a deal to sell electricity from its 150-megawatt Desert Harvest solar project to Marin Clean Energy, a Bay Area power provider. The San Diego-based developer can now start construction on the long-awaited project, which will be built on 1,200 acres of federal land just south of Joshua Tree National Park, next to the existing Desert Sunlight solar farm. The Desert Harvest contract bodes well for the future of clean energy, which experts say will continue to grow even if President Donald Trump aggressively supports fossil fuels, as he pledged to do during the campaign. That growth will be fueled by solar and wind power, which are now the cheapest sources of electricity across much of the country, out-competing coal and natural gas. The Desert Harvest contract is also good news for supporters of community choice aggregation, a new business model through which local governments ditch their utility and buy electricity directly from power plants. Marin Clean Energy, which has been around since 2010, was California's first community choice aggregator, or CCA. It now provides electricity that's significantly greener than the alternative offered by Pacific Gas & Electric, for a comparable price. And it's growing, expanding its customer base from 170,000 to 255,000 this year as more Bay Area cities chose to join. Riverside County is studying whether to form a CCA, as are San Diego and more than a dozen Los Angeles-area cities. A study commissioned by Riverside County earlier this year found that homes and businesses in unincorporated areas alone would save nearly $8 million annually through community choice, with the average home saving between $50 and $55 annually. EDF first proposed Desert Harvest in 2009, winning approval from the federal Bureau of Land Management in 2013. Along the way, the project faced opposition from conservationists who feared it would disrupt habitat critical to the desert tortoise, which is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. But two of the major protesters — Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council — dropped their objections after the developer agreed to concessions, such as buying private land near the project and setting it aside as protected habitat. "We wanted to have a pathway for desert tortoises and other species that might wander down through that drainage," said Jeff Aardahl, a biologist with Defenders of Wildlife. "We wanted a way for them to escape that and then continue on across the valley, and that's where some of the private land acquisitions would occur."
Solar has grown immensely in Inland Empire and steadily in the past 5 years. The introduction of ITC (Investment Tax Credit) has been the single biggest driver in encouraging homeowners to go solar – it has made the costs of solar come dive by whopping 70% since it started in 2006. Besides the federal tax credit system, there’s a myriad of other financing options and net-metering. These options help homeowners with the upfront costs, but net metering also allows some owners of residential solar manage to cancel out their utility bills. US solar capacity has risen by around 2.7 GW (around 4.6 million homes) and in the second quarter by around 1.4GW, marking a milestone for the States because now there are over 20GW of solar power coast to coast. Unfortunately, it’s not likely they will. The current SCE net metering system gives Inland Empire homeowners an opportunity to zero out their bills in the next 20 years. Going solar as soon as possible will allow homeowners to invest more money into their PV system before tax credit funds run out. It will also be possible to have the system installed for the smallest possible budget, since the price of materials and installation itself will jack up when the tax credit system runs out. A third of the costs covered by the government is quite a relief for your wallet. Plus, you’ll be able to cancel out your utility bills or significantly reduce them for the period of next 20 years. And one more reason why it’s better to go solar sooner rather than later – an increased demand is expected to take place quite soon as people start to realize solar is the most affordable just now. A larger demand entails longer waiting periods – so the sooner you jump on the bandwagon, the sooner you’ll have clean solar energy for your home. If you are considering going solar in Riverside, CA, or anywhere in the Inland Empire, don’t hesitate to call Semper Solaris for a quote. We are ready to answer all your questions and provide you with the most accurate information regarding residential solar, so you can make an informed decision. Our veteran-owned and operated company is based on trust, premier products, and first-class workmanship. We deliver what we promise. Contact us today!
Solar energy has become the leading source of renewable energy in the last couple of years. The scientific community acknowledges that the benefits of solar power heavily outweigh the drawbacks. However, the unfamiliar public is quick to point out the flaws of using this energy source and a lot of their arguments are tied to several myths that have been spreading like wildfire, especially across the internet forums. Experts from leading solar companies in Inland Empire have stepped up to discuss and debunk these myths once and for all. Cloudy Weather Renders Solar Panels Useless This one is a huge concern for Inland Empire locals during the May Gray and June Gloom, but the truth is that solar panels work in countries with a climate much more prone to cloudy weather. For example, Germany is one of the leaders in solar generation per capita despite the fact that their skies are often filled with thick clouds. The truth is that any sunlight that finds its way through the clouds to the solar panel is converted into electricity. While it is true that the clouds can lower their efficiency, solar panels will still convert any available sunlight into power. Solar Panels Can Damage Your Roof If the solar panels are handled and installed properly, you don’t have to fear any damage to your roof. On the contrary, solar panels often prolong the life of your roof. If you hire a professional company to install the panels, you don’t have to fear as they are ready for any complications and are familiar with all sorts of techniques to prevent causing damage to the roof and risk potential leaks. Solar Energy is not Sufficient to Power Your Home This is probably the myth that is the furthest from the truth. Using solar energy can save you a huge amount of money you would pay to cover the electricity bill each month. You will see a return on investment as soon as you install and activate the panels. Furthermore, the government offers a number of incentives that save the homeowners around 30% of the purchase and you can benefit from a number of local utilities willing to pay for any excess solar power your home produces. Solar Panels Require Regular Maintenance As the panels have no moving parts the maintenance they require is minimal. The panels are strong and you will only have to clean them once or twice a year so that they are at their maximum efficiency. If any heavy pieces of debris damage your panels you will have to replace them, but otherwise, maintaining the panels is rarely a problem. Thinking of Going Solar in Inland Empire? Now that you’ve realized that going solar has more pros than cons, you might want to consider installing solar panels in your home. There is no better place to turn to than Semper Solaris, your trusted Inland Empire solar company. For all your questions or a quote, reach us 24/7. Start saving today and switch to solar! Receive an instant text quote in seconds and see how much you can save on our highest efficiency solar panels.
