"Saving money by going green"

COST SAVINGS BY USING A/C CONTROL SYSTEMS

  1. Explicit $ savings on your Electricity Bill
  2. Savings due to less wear on your A/C equipment
  3. Environmental savings by using less electricity
 

EXPLICIT SAVINGS-
Energy saving improvements to our homes are the easiest to quantify in terms of Return On Investment (ROI). I personally look at these items as "When will they pay for themselves?" (Payback analysis).

The more A/C zones, exterior doors and people walking in and out of your home--the more you will save. I personally have a 4BR home with (8) exterior doors--30 feet of them sliders that are habitually open while the guest have the A/C running. I have personally seen guests do that and not only is it very expensive--it also sickens me that the energy is being wasted--and Cayman burns oil to make electricity. I use about 3,500 - 4,000 kilowatt hours (kwh) at Cayman Sands monthly. That is about US$1,200 -$1,300/month in electricity. The manufacturers of these types of systems have much experience with coastal rental homes and condos and their experience is that savings of 20-35% are common. That could save me $250 - $350 each month. The entire system (including installation costs) should be paid for within 8-12 months for almost any application of the complete Temp$aver system in Grand Cayman

A system that is operating while the doors are closed decreases the humidity in the house and a given temperature (because it is drier) feels "cooler" as well. Technically that should result in a higher (guest controlled) set point on the thermostat.

One additional cost savings is that you should have fewer coil "freeze-ups" (due to humidity being introduced during operation) on the air handlers-- fewer maintenance (and maid mop up) calls as a result.
 
 

LESS WEAR & TEAR ON YOUR SYSTEMS
By reducing the amount of time that your compressor & fans are operating, you will also extend their usable lives. One of our biggest problems on Grand Cayman (when guest leave the doors open) is that the humid air from outside condenses on the air handler coils and then freezes up into a block of ice. Obviously that decreases efficiency and airflow--making the system work harder. It also requires someone to come out and melt the ice, potentially have to charge the system and clean up the mess.

The fewer times that your A/C unit kicks on and off translates into direct financial savings, and also extends the lives of the equipment.
 
 

ENVIRONMENTAL SAVINGS
While not a savings you can put in your pocket-- energy efficient improvements to your home also help the island deal with skyrocketing fuel costs and surcharges. CUC bills us all for the reserve capacity they keep in reserve for peak loads-- the surcharges on your bill (read it closely) reflect that excess capacity the government mandates that CUC have.

Oil is obviously a fossil fuel and its burning emits carbon monoxide as well as other greenhouse gases. Anything we can do to affect that (as well as save money) will be appreciated by future generations