girl with water bottle
Summer is here and we all could use more ways to keep the summer heat out of our houses. Many of these tips will even keep more money in your wallet – at least until your next fill up at the gas station!
One of the greatest areas of savings is replacing an old, inefficient air conditioning unit. Did you know that if you purchase and install a complete (both indoor and outdoor) high-efficiency A/C system with a minimum 14 SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating) using an FPL Participating Independent Contractor, you’ll receive an FPL rebate off the purchase price from your contractor based on the efficiency rating and size of your new system? You can even calculate the amount of the rebate and estimated savings on the FPL website. Don’t be surprised if your rebate is $1000 or more!
Two-thirds of all homes have leaky air conditioning ducts that go undetected. These leaks can cause your energy bill to go up and affect the comfort and air quality inside your home. The good news is, repairing leaky ducts is often fairly easy and inexpensive, especially with FPL’s help. If you pay FPL only $30 ($15 for each additional air handler), they will come and inspect your ducts. If leaks are found, you can get incentives of up to $154 per central A/C system for single-family detached homes to help cover the cost of repairs.
And last but not least, check your house’s attic insulation. FPL will even pay you an incentive to offset the cost of increasing your home’s insulation. “R-value” measures the insulation’s ability to keep cool air in the house in the summer and warm air in the house in the winter. The higher the R-value, the better the insulation. Homes built after 1982 are required to have R-19 ceiling insulation, which is the level that FPL recommends. However, if your home was built before 1982, you may benefit from adding insulation. If you previously had no insulation in your 1,800-square-foot home and then upgraded to R-19, your FPL incentive would be $300. And at $0.12/kWh, your annual energy savings would be approximately $112 per year. Taking into account your out-of-pocket expenses the insulation would pay for itself in about three years!
Florida Power & Light offers a number of Savings Programs & Rebates for all parts of your house, so check them all out at: http://www.fpl.com/residential
Tips to cut your air conditioning use:
1. Use an AC timer.
2. Raise the temperature. Each degree below 78 will increase your energy use by 3-4%.
3. Don’t cool unused rooms. Close the registers in rooms that aren’t in daily use.
4. Clean or replace your AC filter every month. A dirty filter makes your AC work harder, which uses more electricity.
5. Insulate the attic and install an attic fan.
6. Plant shade trees. Well-positioned shade trees can reduce indoor temperatures by up to 20 degrees and energy use by up to 40%.
Mara Muller has lived in Naples since 1996. Contact her at www.MaraSellsNaples.com or 597-3332.