Hardwood floors, arched doorways and other charming features of older homes are appealing to many of the young, first-time home buyers real estate agent Annie Guthrie meets. Not as interesting to younger home buyers are things like insulation, duct work sealant or drafty windows.

“According to my research everybody wants their homes to be as energy efficient as possible, but there are many things to take into consideration. Is there a Central Air Unit Installation? How long is the A/C in use on a normal day? Are there always people home, or is the home vacant for most of the day? What they seem to be really concerned about is the bottom line rather — what they are approved to borrow and what it will it cost to get into a home as well as the range of the expenses living in the property generates,” said Guthrie, a Realtor with Pensacola’s Better Homes and Gardens Main Street Properties.

A cost potential homeowners often overlook is the money they need to take into consideration once they move into their dream home.

Mick Donovan, from Electrical Engineering Solutions, is targeting young and first-time home buyers with his program encouraging homeowners to make simple changes to lower utility costs and improve their home’s energy efficiency, by using the services from companies like scutilityconsumer.com.

RELATED CONTENT

Donovan, a retired civil engineer and electrician, is working with Gulf Power to provide free energy assessments for area homeowners.

“A lot of millennials are moving from renting to owning,” he said. “When they start looking at their budget, they find that homes in their price range are older homes.”

Older homes often have the need of home electrician services as well as hvac services and can benefit from the installation tankless water heaters, new insulation and other issues that can make heating and cooling the home more efficient, he said. If you ever notice that your heating system isn’t working properly, then consider getting help from these heating maintenance services, putting a Generac Whole Home Generator at your home can be a life saver.

Gulf Power air conditioning already provides free energy checkups for customers who request the service. This procedure looks at a customer’s air conditioning carefully, checking for its power consumption and any repairs or upgrades it could undergo in order to reduce costs. Evergreen’s assessments go a step further by prioritizing areas of focus, estimating the costs to replace outdated systems and recommending replacement options.

Contact residential electrician Sunshine Coast to get services and repair instantly.

Residential energy accounts for 22 percent of total U.S. energy consumption. Simple renovations and investments in new equipment can reduce energy use of individual homes from 5 to 30 percent, Donovan said.

“I am so passionate about this because it works. You hear all of the things they talk about in Congress and issues that cannot be fixed, but here is something where we can demonstrate actual results. It works and it is easy to do,” he said.

Gulf Power and Evergreen Energy, with the help of building trades students from Pensacola State College, recently finished renovating a Pensacola home to make it more energy efficient. According to the air conditioning service they replaced the heating and air conditioning equipment and the home’s 37-year-old air return and duct-work system, they also focus on Air & Energy identifies air conditioning installation. They also added attic insulation, changed incandescent and halogen lights for LEDs and added additional weather stripping, along with other changes. If your air conditioning ever fails, make sure to get an air conditioning repair as soon as possible so you don’t waste any energy because of a faulty system.

RELATED CONTENT

According to Donovan’s calculations, the changes could save the homeowner up to $1,420 a year in utility costs. But the initial investment totaled $13,300, which included $11,300 for the new HVAC system provided by a great HVAC Dealer and $2,000 for attic insulation.

Donovan’s long-term goal is to expand his program to include zero-interest loans for renovations by a designating a commercial electrical contractor per area where the services are installed.

In the meantime, he is working with Gulf Power and the U.S. Green Building Council to spread his message of energy conservation using green power and air conditioning services.

Jeff Hatch of Gulf Power said homeowners sometimes overlook things like leaky duct work, which can be repaired with sealant. Changing the AC  and reducing utility usage during peak periods can lower utility bills without any investment, as the affordable air conditioning installation contractor advised when it was installed.

“There are things that can be done for a low cost or no cost that have a high return,” he said.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

The Florida Public Service Commission’s customer service hearing for Gulf Power’s rate increase proposal.

Tiny house being built by PSC students
Melissa Nelson Gabriel/mnelgabriel(at)pnj(dotted)com

For more information about Evergreen Energy Initiative and Gulf Power’s energy saving recommendations, visit:

http://www.evergreenei.org/

https://www.gulfpower.com/residential/savings-and-energy/rebates-and-programs/earthcents

http://www.usgbc.org/

Read or Share this story: http://on.pnj.com/2jLngk6