Like many folks, we wince as we open our electric bill each month. Our power comes from Florida Power and Light (FPL) and they were recently granted a 16% increase in rates (click here). With the cost of energy rising so fast, our next project for OK2BeGreen was to look for ways to reduce our energy consumption.
Our next project needed to stay within the goals and ideals of OK2BeGreen. That is, we had to keep to a small budget and we had to be able to do it ourselves. We feel it is important that the net cost of any project be low or hopefully in our favor.
We utilized a free home energy audit from FPL (click here) a year ago, and they said we were in great shape. The free audit fits in our plan, and is certainly the first thing we would recommend to anyone looking to save energy. The audit said we have excellent insulation. Out of necessity over time we had to replace most of the appliances and air conditioning, so we had a great rating there as well. We had a black film covering put on the windows several years back, and this also helped. We still felt there was something more we had to do.
My wife noticed that it still seemed very warm in the house in the morning, and we have a direct sun coming from the East with no shade at all While we have the black film and window treatments, if just wasn’t enough. My wife suggested blinds and so a project was born.