Green building retrofits.

closed due to utility power outage
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How to Opt out of PSPS outages

How to easily opt out of PSPS events and cut your power bills
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Can nanotech reduce the spread of viruses and bacteria?

Every year, millions of people catch the flu resulting in 31.4 million doctor visits costing billions in lost productivity and healthcare expenses. A 2016 study pegged productivity losses at a $5.8 billion hit to American business. With the…
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Free Money for Schools

Did your school miss out on the Prop 39 gravy train? Here's the next best thing. 3fficient has secured access to federally backed, ZERO interest loans for energy saving upgrades engineered and implemented by 3fficient. Each district is eligible…
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Are micro grids the answer to climate change?

Wildfires in California are tragic and incredibly expensive.  Many lives lost.  Property and homes lost.  Livelihoods lost.  Sensitive habitat and wildlife lost. At well over $9 Billion, damages from the 2018 wildfires in Northern California…
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Tax Depreciation

The printed IRS tax manual is literally more than 73,000 pages.  IRS agents and their teams can't even keep up with tax changes let alone the volumes of code.  That's why CPAs are more like general practitioners and need to rely on specialists…
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Grid (un)reliability

US utilities have traditionally been known for high reliability, but all that is changing.  Fast. With power lines causing some of the biggest fires in US history, utilities are learning to cope with the risk by simply switching power…
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How to Make Your Multi Tenant Buildings More Valuable

Most apartment complex owners are very limited in what they can do to stay competitive with newer properties. Lower rents, remodel or tear down and replace?  But, what if there was a better option?  An option that actually reduced the tenant's…
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Managing Energy Costs in Grocery Stores

Energy costs can account for up to 15 percent of a grocery store’s operating budget.  The US average was roughly $4/SF in 2015.  For example, a 40,000 square foot store might spend $160,000 a year just for electricity.  Because grocery stores’ profit margins are so thin
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How to plug those (energy) holes in your building

Taking an infrared thermograph of an air conditioned building in the daytime, can be quite alarming. Infrared thermography is the same technology in night vision goggles used by military special forces. It reveals the infrared…
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Making a better battery – CBS News

Commercial buildings use more electricity than any other building type in the US.  Roughly 65% according to DOE statistics.  But, the problem is WHEN they use energy - daytime and early evenings.  That creates a problem for the power grid…
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Simple Spring Tune-ups

At the start of the new year, many of us set resolutions for things we would like to improve.  For some, trimming our waist is a recurring item on our list.  How do we do that for our buildings?  Experts agree that we start by taking a look…
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Fortune telling… Predict failure before it happens

Do things ever break when it's a good time?  I've never had my car break down when I had no where in particular to go.  The projector never stops working until the client is getting ready to arrive for a presentation.  If only we had a crystal…
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Hackers Infect Cameras, DVRs to Pull off Massive Internet Breach

With the internet becoming integral to just about everything in our lives, building owners are connecting their buildings and machines - the Internet of Things (IoT).  With this, is a mad rush by vendors, big and small to launch wireless products.…
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Is cleaning solar panels worth the cost?

Many solar power owners ask, is cleaning panels worth the cost?  Until now - no. Let's face it, all panels get dirty. They're outdoors.  All you have to do is drive around any neighborhood and look at rooftop panels to see the dirt buildup,…