FPU Blog

It is the time of year for crisp spiral notebooks and meeting your teacher. Whether you and your kids dread the return to early alarm clocks and after-school pickups, back-to-school season signals opportunity to learn new things. Since minds will soon be in “learning mode” why not make this the season to talk to your kids about energy conservation?

Topics: Energy Conservation, Natural Gas, conservation

If you live in our region, you know. The memory of past hurricanes may seem unfortunately too recent to many, but it’s always wise to brush up on hurricane preparedness basics.

Topics: Natural Gas, propane, electric, natural gas appliances, hurricane, Hurricane Preparedness, electricity, hurricane safety, utilities, florida public utilities, storm

Fortunately, winter is often our shortest season in Florida. However, every year at this time, utilities all over the country begin getting calls concerning energy bills that seem overly high to consumers. In this blog, I will give you four reasons you may experience an elevated bill. 

Topics: Energy Conservation, Natural Gas, Natural Gas Water Heaters, FPU Energy Experts, Energy savings

The new Florida Building Code, V. 6 goes into effect for all homes permitted after December 31, 2017. We ran some simulations to see the impact natural gas could have on helping a builder meet the Florida Energy Code Compliance, as well as the impacts on the HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score.

The HERS score is a national standard builders use to market their energy efficient homes. Here is the impact bringing natural gas to your home or development can do. Here are the top three findings to this research.

Topics: Energy Conservation, Natural Gas, natural gas appliances, florida, New Construction

I’d like to make you an offer. How would you like to have a dynamic energy presentation for your group? I am now accepting bookings for 2018. Some of the groups I have presented to over the years include elementary, middle or high school groups, college classes, trade schools, Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, Boy Scouts, Home Builder Associations, Home Builders, Architects, and REALTORS. I’ve also been a featured speaker at the Southeast Builders Conference, The AIA Architects Convention and a variety of Green Conferences.

Topics: Natural Gas, propane, natural gas appliances, florida, outdoor living, propane appliances, gas spa heater, gas patio heater, outdoor gas appliances, gas fire pit, gas pool heater

 

Many people live in Florida to enjoy the summer-like weather, especially in the spring and fall. Unfortunately, many of us have gotten spoiled by swimming in water that is at least 86° and anything cooler feels cold to us. In this blog, I will give you three ways to extend your summer season for at least a few months using either natural gas or propane equipment. The desire is to fully enjoy the outside activities as the temperature begins to dip moderately.

Topics: Natural Gas, propane, natural gas appliances, florida, outdoor living, propane appliances, gas spa heater, gas patio heater, outdoor gas appliances, gas fire pit, gas pool heater

 

The molecular composition of natural gas is simple: just 4 atoms of hydrogen bonded to 1 atom of carbon. This chemical makeup allows natural gas to be environmentally-friendly and incredibly versatile, serving every possible commercial business genre in the United States.

In a recently published report by the American Gas Association (AGA) , they found out just how important natural gas is when it comes to satisfying the energy needs of the commercial sector.

The AGA report defined the “commercial sector” as all businesses that don’t fall under residential, manufacturing or agricultural classifications. This distinction is very important because the energy needs of the commercial sector differ greatly from the energy needs of the other segments.

Topics: Natural Gas, Commercial Building

 

It really is quite remarkable how closely society is tied to energy.

Every aspect of society is heavily dependent upon energy. Everything Floridians do, including simply getting from Point A to Point B, to the meals we eat and the space conditioning required for the buildings we spend most of our lives in, are all completely reliant on energy. With such a strong correlation between energy and society, it’s not a stretch to conclude that improving how energy consumption in our buildings actually improves our society at large.

In following this logic, those who consume larger amounts energy, such as commercial and industrial enterprises, essentially have a greater potential to positively impact society by improving how they consume energy. Business owners and commercial building operators have many options for increasing efficiency in the way in which their buildings consume energy.  

 

Topics: Natural Gas, Commercial, Rebates, Businesses

Our state's beautiful weather throughout the year can make it difficult to recognize seasonal changes. Fortunately, events like Daylight Savings and Thanksgiving serve to remind us of autumn giving way to winter.  As our bodies adjust to the early evenings and we eventually recover from our tryptophan hangovers, we collectively brace for how fast time will fly during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Florida Public Utilities Company (FPUC) is urging its commercial customers to use this hectic time of the year to start thinking about improving how their commercial buildings consume energy in 2017. 

Topics: Energy Conservation, Natural Gas, Energy Efficiency, Commercial, Rebates

Well, it is that time again. The first early morning cold snap has come to Florida. This caused me to think about customer calls wondering why utility bills have risen. The cost to heat a home is actually higher than the cost to cool a home. Fortunately for us here in Florida, heating is a very small percentage, approximately only 8% of our total energy costs. In northern states the cost of heating is their number one energy expense.

Topics: Energy Conservation, Residential, Natural Gas, natural gas appliances, florida