Total Energy News and Insights

Summer is here and that means BBQ's, Beach trips, vacations, and Air Conditioning bills. It seems that New Englander's can never fully escape extreme weather conditions, except for a couple of weeks in the spring and full where the weather is just perfect. The rest of year is either freezing, snowy, or a thousand degrees and you can eat the air.  It might not be that bad but we do put a lot of effort and money into staying comfortable.  Now that it is officially summer we thought it would be perfect to outline some helpful energy tips. While we've had a couple of days in the mid 80's, we have been lucky that we haven't seen any days in the 90's yet.  This has made so I haven't needed to put in my windowed ac units yet. Were there some nights that I could have used them, yes, but they weren't needed. I know that people have already put there's in and this brings me to our first tip.  Size is important when choosing any type of AC. Modern window u...

It's Air Conditioning Season! Who would have ever thought after the horrible February and March that we experienced that the time to think about air conditioning would come.  Looking at the 10 day forecast on May 4th shows only one day below 70 for Worcester and 3 days below 70 for Providence. It finally feels that warmer weather is going to stick around, even April felt as if winter didn't want to let go of it's grip on New England completely. With high temps in the 70's and 80's this week it seems that we have finally hit the turning point away from winter.  With temperatures this high central air conditioning and mini-split air conditioners can be properly installed and calibrated. Now I'm sure that no one is digging out the windowed air conditioners yet, the warmth is welcomed since the cold of this past winter is still fresh in our minds.  Soon enough we'll be complaining about the humidity and heat, searching for relief.  Most of u...

Who worked hard this winter, shoveling, scraping, and brushing the snow? As the end of January came the real winter weather entered, which as we all know and can't wait to forget brought record snow fall after record snow fall.  The months of February and March were one the snowiest and coldest months that we've seen in awhile. The Blizzard of 2015 dumped a whopping 36 inches in Auburn, MA, 34.5 inches in Worcester and 19 inches in Providence. For Auburn and Worcester these were record setting totals and for Providence it was one of the top 4 snow storms the city has ever seen.  We also a lot of single digit and sub zero day and nights during the February and March thanks to some strong winds.  During this snowy and cold snap our heating systems were working harder to keep us warmer and comfortable. Your heating system had to burn a lot of fuel while doing all that work and if you have an older heating system than it worked harder and burned even more fuel. ...

For a long lasting, energy efficient heating system, annual maintenance is a must. Every year you get an inspection for your vehicle to make sure that everything is running as it should so small issues don't become big problems.  Every so many miles you get a oil change, tire rotation, and have the air pressure checked in your tires. This is to ensure that your car stays at a peck level of operation, the same goes for a long lasting, energy efficient heating system. Annual maintenance, annual tune-up, or any of the other names that all mean having your heating system looked at is the easiest way to ensure that your heating system is running properly and will continue to run.  These type of service allows for a trained technician to thoroughly look over all of the components in your heating system, especially the burner. The burner is where the fuel that is used to heat your home is compressed into a fine mist that is then bur...

It's show season, from boats to homes to cars and everything in between. After the frozen snowy winter that the Northeast is just barely get out of. Show season has started up and is here to get us out of our warm homes that we've bunker'd down in for the past month. Today, March 5th is the RIBA Home Show at the RI Convention Center and tomorrow starts the Worcester Home Show at the DCU Center.  Both of these show last through the weekend and are great opportunities to escape from the winter cabin fever many New Englander's are experiencing this winter. Historically home shows are great way to find companies that can help with Spring and Summer spruces up. Whether it's new floors, a new room, an entire new home, or new home comfort equipment. From modern heating boilers and furnaces to energy efficient Central and Ductless air conditioners all will be on hand at the Home Shows. This is a great time to talk trained knowledgeable men and women in the in...

Looks like we have some nice weather to look forward to. source: www.WeatherChannel.com Raise your hand if your tired of the snow...okay everyone's hands are up.  From January 26th to February 21 everyone here in the Northeast got a weekly blast of snow with February 23 being the first Monday without snow in three weeks. With foot plus snow storm after foot plus snow storm and continuous sub freezing temperatures, we've had little time or help from mother nature to dig ourselves out from a record setting winter. Currently the weather channel is predicting that everyone here in New England will see an above average March, April, and May for temperature.  This is very welcomed after a solid three-four weeks of freezing temperatures and several days and nights of sub-zero temps.   With an average spring temperature of 42 degrees for Worcester and 46 for Providence, we should see even warmer temperatures than that if we'll have an above average spring. ...

Winter took awhile to arrive but it's here in full swing. Over the past three weeks here in New England we have seen three major storms and there is more in the forecast for later this week.  Yes the snowy winter that everyone was predicting is finally here. Winter started off slow, similar to last year with relatively no snow in December or January well at least until the end of January.  Then it all came barreling with one storm bringing 34.5 inches to Worcester and 19.1 inches to Providence. A second storm six days later brought another foot plus to both Worcester and Providence. We're now in the middle of a storm that could bring will over a foot and a half to New England. While all this snow maybe pretty and fun for kids without school and adults who got to skip out on work due to travel bans, it raises some issues when it comes to delivery fuel to homes.  With all the snow that has been dropped onto New England the roads have become more narrow, reduci...