Winterizing Your Light Sources: Window and Skylight Tips

    FORT MILL, SC, August 03, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Sunshine and summer go together. Yet when winter arrives with shorter days and cooler temperatures, the amount of sun that enters your home can be more important than at any other time of year.

Inadequate sunlight can influence seasonal mood changes, vitamin D deficiency and even your utility bills. It's important to prepare for winter by taking care of the portals that allow natural light into your home: windows and skylights.

Caulking and weather stripping are the two most common ways to prep windows, and the jobs are easily within the abilities of most do-it-yourselfers. Washing windows should also be part of your winter-preparedness measures; clean windows will allow the maximum amount of room-warming sunlight to enter your home.

Winterizing skylights is also important. Skylight manufacturer Velux America (www.veluxusa.com) offers these tips for preparing your skylights for cooler months as well as for year-round care and maintenance:

* Have your skylights inspected by a qualified professional. Visit the Velux installer locator for a professional close to you. While issues such as damaged claddings or flashings would be obvious, other problems might only be diagnosed through a professional inspection.

* Remove any debris that has accumulated around the exterior of the skylights. Take appropriate care when climbing on the roof and consider hiring a professional if you're not confident of your safety skills.

* Thoroughly clean the glass part of your skylights, inside and out. You'll likely need a ladder to reach them, so be sure to take steps to prevent a fall. Use a mild, non-abrasive glass cleaner and a soft brush or other non-abrasive applicator to clean the glass, and immediately remove the cleaner with a squeegee or lint-free cloth. Never use metal scrapers, knives or blades of any kind to clean large areas of glass.

* Clean interior frames - often pre-painted wood or plastic - with a damp cloth or mild, soapy water for tougher dirt. Remove insect screens in venting skylights, spray with a garden hose and allow them to dry completely before replacing them.

* If your skylight's pre-finished wood frame needs refinishing, thoroughly remove the factory finish. Make sure the surface is clean, then apply a coat of water-based acrylic varnish or paint, following the manufacturer's instructions for application. Be sure to keep all varnish and paint off the skylight gaskets and glass. Velux does not recommend painting over plastic frames and sashes.

* Care for the mechanics of your skylights. Open venting skylights (turn off the power if they're electric) and wipe off the chain using a clean, dry towel and no cleaner or solvent of any kind. For manual skylights, inspect the loop or crank handle to ensure it's secure. Don't add lubrication to your skylight's moving parts; the internal workings of manual and electric operators are considered maintenance-free, and are pre-lubed, so they should require no additional lubrication.

* Consider upgrading your existing skylights to Energy Star-qualified no leak solar powered fresh air skylights - it could be much less expensive than you might imagine. New solar powered fresh air models, as well as solar powered blinds and installations costs for both products, are eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit.
Skylights that open to the heavens, and that close automatically in case of rain, can help you enjoy not only natural light but also fresh air by providing passive ventilation.

If you happen to be replacing your roof, there is no better time to upgrade skylights since most roofers will charge up to double to come back and replace units versus doing the job while replacing the roof. By upgrading, you can also gain the benefits of a No-Leak warranty plus greater energy efficiency with advanced glass coatings. Finally, if you happen to be replacing a plastic bubble skylight with an Energy Star-qualified glass model, you can save up to $194 per year on your cooling costs according to a Velux study.

* Add blinds. A must-have aesthetic accessory available in over 100 colors and patterns, blinds also provide extra insulation and allow you to control the amount of sunlight that enters through your skylights. They are also particularly effective at retaining heat during cool weather. Studies show that adding a blind to make a complete skylight system can increase energy efficiency by 37 percent. According to Velux, that gain in efficiency jumps to as much as 45 percent with a blackout blind used on a fixed skylight. In addition to saving on month-to-month utility costs, there is the 30 percent federal tax credit available on solar blinds mentioned earlier. Get the details at www.veluxusa.com/consumer/products/blinds.

Winterizing your windows and skylights can help ensure they provide you with the maximum amount of healthful, natural light, and warmth, during the dark, cold months of winter.

Media Contact:
Keith Hobbs - Business Services Associates, Inc. - 9413 Greenfield Drive -
Raleigh, NC 27615-2306 - Phone - 919.844.0064 - E-mail - khobbs@nc.rr.com

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Three Ways to Give Energy Savings the Green Light in Your Home

    FORT MILL, SC, August 03, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- "Red means stop, green means go" - we learn that axiom as children. When it comes to home energy costs, however, going green can help homeowners put a stop to runaway utility bills. And maximizing your home's use of natural light - call it "green lighting" - is a great way to boost your home's energy efficiency.

Here are three ways you can put Mother Nature to work, and use natural light to lower your energy costs:

Minimize use of artificial lighting
Anyone who's ever paid an electrical bill knows that the simple act of turning on a light can directly impact your monthly expenses. Homeowners looking for a long-term way to power down their lighting costs may consider Energy Star-qualified skylights (link: http://www.veluxusa.com) a good investment. While the cosmetic appeal of skylights can't be argued, their value goes far beyond good looks.

By admitting healthful natural light into your home, skylights can help reduce the use of artificial light sources - and help you save on electricity costs. Pair no leak solar powered fresh air skylights, that have automatic rain sensors, with efficiency-enhancing accessories like solar powered designer blinds (available in a varied palette of colors and patterns), and you can improve energy efficiency as much as 37 percent, according to skylight manufacturer Velux America (www.veluxusa.com).

And you don't just save on energy over the long haul; there's an immediate incentive. Both the solar powered skylights and blinds, as well as the installation costs, are eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit. See a tax calculator at the Velux web site that tells you how much you can save on a new installation or a replacement. There's also a skylight planner app there that will show you exactly how different skylight and blind combinations will look in your own home.

Got a hard-to-reach or smaller space in your home that needs additional natural light? With tubular skylights like Sun Tunnel products, you can even bring natural light into ground-floor rooms or spots where a traditional skylight may not work, such as a first-floor powder room, hallways, or walk-in closets.

Reduce hot water costs
Long gone are the days when solar powering your home was an idealistic, but impractical dream. Solar technology is more useful, accessible and cost-effective than ever. Solar water heating systems, with low-profile rooftop collectors, have become mainstream, and offer homeowners a great, green way to trim energy costs. What's more, the cost of installing these systems has been steadily declining as the technology advances, and you may find adding one makes you eligible for tax credits or incentives from your local, state or the federal governments. You can calculate the costs and possible paybacks online at www.solar.veluxusa.com.

Make home a healthier place
Every year, ill health costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars, experts say, and your own health woes can have a significant impact on your pocketbook. The health benefits of natural light are well documented, from reducing the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and promoting the body's production of Vitamin D, to improving mood and even learning ability.

Simply opening blinds and curtains to admit more natural light can directly affect the mood inside your home - not to mention the mental state of the people living in it. Take your green lighting efforts to a higher level by adding no leak solar powered fresh air skylights and solar powered blinds, and you can also help improve the air quality inside your home. While skylights admit ample natural light, their natural chimney or stack effect works with your windows to bring in and circulate much more healthful fresh air. They also passively vent fumes and dampness that can lead to mold and mildew.

By incorporating natural light and passive ventilation into their home decor and improvements, homeowners can put the brakes on rising utility costs - and give the green light to energy savings.

Media Contact:
Keith Hobbs - Business Services Associates, Inc. - 9413 Greenfield Drive -
Raleigh, NC 27615-2306 - Phone - 919.844.0064 - E-mail - khobbs@nc.rr.com

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Sands lawsuits shine harsh light on Macau's casino paradise

By Farah Master

MACAU, April 14 | Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:41am EDT

MACAU, April 14 (Reuters) - Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson's reference to triad organised crime gangs in testimony in a lawsuit has hit a raw nerve in Macau, the Chinese boomtown that his Las Vegas Sands Corp helped transform from a gangland haven into a $38 billion gambling capital.

The lawsuit against Sands was brought by Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen, who is seeking $328 million he says he is owed for helping the U.S. firm obtain one of three coveted casino licenses in Macau, now the world's biggest gambling market with annual revenues more than six times Las Vegas's.

Adelson's comments about triads reverberated across Macau this week and prompted a former Sands partner, casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, to post a regulatory filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange objecting to "certain inaccurate statements".

Sands and Galaxy jointly won a Macau casino license in 2002, but they failed to reach an operational agreement and split up. Adelson, 79, when asked in a Las Vegas court why the two firms could not work together, responded that Galaxy "had expressed their judgement they were going to do business with either reputed or triad people and we couldn't do that."

That comment, which drew little attention in Las Vegas, was front-page news in Macau because it suggested China had failed to clean up the violent gangs that dominated the gambling scene a decade ago. Triads involved in Macau's VIP gaming rooms were notorious for their heavy-handed methods of collecting on gambling debt. Macau's VIP segment, where wealthy Chinese wager millions, accounts for around 70 percent of total revenues.

A Galaxy spokesman said the company was seeking legal advice and could not comment further.

Interviews with seven Macau gaming executives, including four former Sands employees, revealed a sense of dismay that the trial, watched locally online and tracked closely in the daily papers, was drawing attention to a seedier side of Macau that China has sought to scrub. The city wants to position itself as a transparent and reputable tourist destination.

China cracked down on triads after it took formal control of the former Portuguese colony in 1999. Back then, mobsters like the infamous Wan "Broken Tooth" Kuok-koi gave Macau a name for violence as much as gambling.

Macau's casino revenue hit $38 billion last year, dwarfing Las Vegas's $6 billion. Unlike Vegas, where fun-seekers can dine, see showbiz legends and go nightclubbing without laying a dollar on the tables, Macau's visitors tend to focus intently on betting in its massive, packed gambling halls.

'EVERYONE IS WATCHING'

Macau, home to 500,000 people, is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Gaming accounts for 70 percent of its government revenues, which explains why the trial has received so much interest.

In China, court proceedings are normally closed, so the open access to the Sands hearing - and its allegations of Macau gang activity and backroom deals - makes for prime viewing.

"Everyone is watching this," said a casino executive in Macau who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. "Adelson's comments have so many underlying meanings that are embarrassing. Talking about triads, whether it is true or not, implies the government didn't do a good job at cleaning up Macau."

Some casino sources expressed surprise that Adelson would draw negative attention to a city that helped turn Sands into a $46 billion company. Sands owns four of Macau's 35 casinos - more than any other U.S. firm - and its Macau operations generated about 60 percent of the company's total 2012 casino revenues of $9 billion.

"Why is he killing the goose that gave him the gold?" a casino executive asked.

Several executives questioned why Sands did not settle the lawsuit to prevent unflattering details from reaching the public domain. Former Sands executive William Widner said he had lost confidence in Adelson because of the Suen trial.

"This trial was injurious to relations in China; it should have never been in a courtroom like this," Widner said in court on Wednesday.

REPUTATION RISK

This is the first of three legal battles that are casting an uncomfortable spotlight on how Macau awarded lucrative gambling licenses in 2002, a source of controversy because little was publically revealed about how the winners were selected.

The lawsuits show behind-the-scenes jockeying and close connections between business and government as 21 bidders were whittled down to three - the Sands-Galaxy partnership, Macau kingpin Stanley Ho, and Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn's Wynn Resorts Ltd.

After Galaxy and Sands split, Macau awarded a sub-concession license to Sands for no charge, which was controversial because Wynn and Ho's SJM were able to sell their sub-concessions to Melco Crown and MGM Resorts for $900 million and $200 million respectively.

A Sands spokesman declined to discuss any specifics regarding the concession license process.

Some Macau residents welcomed the closer scrutiny that came with the lawsuits.

"The Macau people want to hear more about these cases, find out how the license process worked," said Jose Coutinho, a directly elected member of Macau's legislative assembly who is known for promoting democratic reforms. "The government should set up an independent panel to find out what happened when the licenses were awarded."

The Macau government did not respond to email and telephone requests for comment.

But the Macau Business Daily, the city's main English-language daily, said the city's reputation was at risk.

"Things can be said in U.S. courts - and then reported by the media using the rule of court privilege there - that if repeated outside the tribunal or in other jurisdictions might be considered inflammatory or even defamatory," it wrote in an editorial published on Thursday. (Editing by Emily Kaiser and Daniel Magnowski)

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50 LED Solar Rope Light (White)

23 feet of solar powered rope lights . 50 LEDs of solar powered light brings any environment to life. Flexible construction means they can be shaped to fit any area without messy wires. No electricity necessary. Built in light sensor automatically illuminates the LEDs at dusk. Requires one battery, included. Eco-friendly. Plastic, 23' x 1/4". Water and weather resistant.

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GBP/USD 1.5100 Hold is Viewed in Positive Light for Next Week

Daily Bars

Chart Prepared by Jamie Saettele, CMT using Marketscope 2.0

Are you new to FX or curious about your trading IQ?

FOREXAnalysis: Near term, the GBPUSD hold at 1.5100 is a positive development so there is clearly no reason to alter the bullish outlook. Resumption towards the congestion area that preceded the sharp 2/20 drop is favored. The lower part of that zone (1.5415) is also the 38.2% retracement of the decline from the January high (1.5423). IF the rally continues from above 1.5092, then the advance would consist of 2 equal legs at 1.5521, or near the top of the zone (1.5549).

FOREX Trading Strategy: Risk for traders should be moved up to 1.5090 (bias is bullish above 1.4830 though). If 1.5090 fails to hold, then 1.5045 and 1.4994 are estimated supports. Pay attention to the London open if trading GBPUSD.

LEVELS: 1.4994 1.5045 1.5092 1.5259 1.5320 1.5415

DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.
Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from FXCM.

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