FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the advantages of net metering?

The benefits of net metering in solar energy:

Electricity bill savings

The greatest benefit of net metering for solar energy homeowners is that it can result in thousands of dollars saved over the lifetime of the solar panel system.

Shorter payback period

Thanks to the reduction of utility bills, homeowners can retrieve their investment costs much faster.

Reduction of the load on the utility

Power generated by the private households helps the utilities to reduce the stress on the electrical grid. Also, the produced energy is can also be used by the utility company clients in the neighbourhood which further decreases the demand for the energy production from the power plant perspective.

Virtual energy storage

For solar energy homeowners, the net metering becomes a way to store the produced energy surplus in the grid which becomes a kind of energy storage without a need to have a physical storage like a expensive high capacity battery at home.

Check out our other article on how net metering works.

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What can you do with smart appliances?

Smart appliances help make tedious everyday routines easier and more effective for users. It is important to understand what makes a household's piece of equipment smart. First of all, users can take control of smart appliances remotely. Users can schedule or check the status of their smart appliances through a smartphone app. For example, a smart washer or dryer allows the user to monitor the time left to finish washing without the need to walk over and check periodically.

A Home Area Network is a local network in a house, which is responsible for the communication of smart home devices/appliances. For example Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or ZigBee. A home area network can allow better performance of smart appliances in a house. Such a network combines the different smart devices and allows a customer to operate them remotely and observe their status using a smartphone.

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What device turns your tv into a smart tv?

The newest top of the line TVs are smart TVs. Smart TVs are TVs that work out-of-the-box and offer smart functionalities, such as applications allowing you to access online services like YouTube, Spotify or Netflix, without requiring any extra action. This is because Smart TVs have an integrated processing unit (which can be thought of as a small-scale computer) that provides the OS, smart applications, integrations, and communication, and handles TV reception, decoding and display.

If you have an older TV, which does not have such a unit, you do not necessarily have to replace it with a newer model. If it still works, you can buy a tiny extension module, which you plug into the TV with an HDMI cable, just like a DVD player. This device has its own remote control, its own OS, applications and potentially, depending on its manufacturer, its own app store. This way, you can turn a 'standard' TV into a smart one.

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What does AC stand for in electricity?

What is Current?

Current is defined as an organized movement of electrons through the electrical conductor or space. Each electron carries a certain charge. The movement is caused by a potential difference. It seems complicated but, it’s not. Let’s suppose that we have a waterfall where water falls from a higher level (higher potential) to a lower level (lower potential). The movement of water is caused by a height difference (potential difference) and it continues until the water from the lower level equals the water from the higher level. The same goes for electron movement, it last until the balance is attained. However, unlike water, in this case, the potential difference is not the height difference, but the voltage. Current flows from a higher electrical potential to a lower one. The unit of current is the ampere [A].

The mentioned voltage is responsible for the force of current flow. The voltage is expressed in volts [V].  The combination of voltage and current gives us energy.  We can not forget about resistance which disrupts the flow of current. The unit of current is the Ohm [Ω].

What does AC stand for in electricity?

AC stands for alternating current. We have DC and AC electricity. Direct current (DC) refers to systems in which the movement of electrons goes in one direction and is unchangeable over time, which results in constant current and voltage. In alternating current, both voltage and current change their direction and magnitude with time. These changes are characterised by a sinusoid, which is shown in the figure above. The sinusoid is described by the amplitude - the largest value of a quantity varying periodically and wave cycle - time between occurrences of the same phase of the oscillation.

AC current is created in power plants by generators and then it is supplied to our houses and flats. As we can see in the diagram, as the magnitude is changing with time, it takes positive and negatives values periodically. That's why we need to introduce the concept of effective values. It is a statical measure of a periodically varying signal.

The most important parameters of alternating current are voltage and frequency. Voltage has been described above, but what is frequency? It is a number of wave cycles that occur per second. Both voltage and frequency values are described by effective parameters.

The parameters of the current in sockets:

  • Voltage 120 [V]
  • Frequency 60 [Hz]

But why do we use AC current?

AC compared to DC can be easily converted to and from high voltages by using transformers. This provides AC with an advantage well above DC in the field of power distribution and contributes to lower energy losses.

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What does DC stand for in electricity?

What is Current?

Current is defined as an organized movement of electrons through the electrical conductor or space. Each electron carries a certain charge. The movement is caused by a potential difference. It seems complicated but, it's not. Let's suppose that we have a waterfall where water falls from a higher level (higher potential) to a lower level (lower potential). The movement of water is caused by a height difference (potential difference) and it continues until the water from the lower level equals the water from the higher level. The same goes for electron movement, it last until the balance is attained. However, unlike water, in this case, the potential difference is not the height difference, but the voltage. Current flows from a higher electrical potential to a lower one. The unit of current is the ampere [A].

The mentioned voltage is responsible for the force of current flow. The voltage is expressed in volts [V].  The combination of voltage and current gives us energy.  We can not forget about resistance which disrupts the flow of current. The unit of current is the Ohm [Ω].

What does DC stand for in electricity?

DC stands for direct current. Direct current (DC) refers to systems in which the movement of electrons is only in one direction and is unchangeable over time. The source of such a current is primarily batteries. Most household appliances are powered by direct current, but in the socket, there is an alternating current (AC). To convert the direct current into alternating current, we need to apply devices like rectifiers or ac/dc converter, with which most household appliances are equipped with. The advantage of direct current is that when supplied with such a current, the instantaneous value of the supplied power is constant.

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Central Air Conditioner

A Central Air Conditioner (AC) is a type of heating and cooling system. The main characteristic of a central AC is that all of its components (heat exchanger, fan, blower, compressor, evaporator coil, and condenser coil) are packed into one cabinet. Typically, a central AC is mounted outside a building on the roof or ground. The return and supply ducts run through the walls and enter the interior of the Central AC. These all-in-one kits sometimes include electric heating coils or natural gas furnaces. The additional components eliminate the need to mount additional heating inside your building.

central ac
central ac

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What is a smart dryer?

A smart dryer is a dryer with the ability to establish an Internet connection through a home Wi-Fi network. Once it is set up, its user has the possibility to access various functions of the appliance remotely. Checking of the loaded program status can be done remotely from anywhere. It is also possible to start the load from a smartphone app and observe its progress until getting a notification about its finish at the end. Also, such dryers use their smart features to inform their users about the need for its vents cleaning which makes it not necessary again to check on it every now and then. Lastly, the smartphone apps used to operate the dryers usually have a smart feature that gives suggestions to the user to turn them on during times when the electricity rates are lower to save money on the bills.

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What is a smart kitchen?

Smart kitchens are kitchens designed to save energy and time with their functional advantage over the traditional ones. Their main purpose is to become efficient and sustainable. They combine a modern design, with user-friendly electronics while being built from environmentally-friendly elements at the same time. The growing interest in cooking makes them even more useful with finding recipes and completing groceries list. Their home area network connectivity (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) and cameras built-in devices like refrigerators and ovens allow the users to keep track of the cooking procedure remotely.

The most important benefits of having a connected kitchen are the efficiency, sustainability and comfort it brings to you. Tedious cooking routines are no longer a thing when kitchen appliances turn smart. Checking the content of the refrigerator, remote setting of the oven or getting recipe inspirations based on the latest list of groceries are just a few of the many features of the systems combining the kitchen appliances.

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What is a smart refrigerator?

A smart refrigerator is a refrigerator, which connects to the Internet through a house's local Wi-Fi. With this function, a user can connect their smartphone to the smart refrigerator. A user is able to see what's inside the refrigerator without having to go to it, get an alert if its door was left open, or even set up notes that will appear on the refrigerator's screen. In addition, some smart fridges make it possible to set up a refrigerator's cold water tank and icemaker features remotely to make sure they are prepared for keeping drinks cold during a dinner or a party. Most of the smart refrigerators are also compatible with services like Google Home and are a functional element of a smart home appliances network.

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What is a smart washer?

A smart washer is not a standard appliance used to wash your clothes. Its ability to establish an Internet connection through a home Wi-Fi network allows its users to access various smart features. Once it is set up, it is possible to check the washing status remotely, get notifications when the load is ready for drying, and monitor the amount of detergent in it. In addition, the washer helps the user to schedule the programs during off-peak electricity hours when the rates are lower to save on bills. Smart dryers are also compatible with services like Google Home which help integrate the smart washers in the smart home network. This makes it even easier to operate the washer and other smart appliances when using a single app.

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