Finding ways to be energy efficient can be tough. Owning a home and trying to make it energy efficient with a limited budget can be even tougher. When funds are tight and costs are high, sometimes it seems like the savings for going green don’t outweigh the costs it takes to get there.

That’s where OCHEEP comes in, offering a new way to help Orange County homeowners save money on electric bills and have fun while doing it.

OCHEEP stands for the Orange County Homeowner Energy Efficiency Program. It’s an educational program that offers a rebate incentive to participants. The program teaches homeowners how to save money on their energy bills; how to experience the most energy savings for the money spent; how using less energy in the home saves tax dollars and combats climate change; and which energy efficiency upgrades might work best for their home.

“The program teaches homeowners about technologies that are available to them by removing some of the mystery about how to be energy efficient in your home in a cost effective manner,” says OCHEEP Coordinator Jane Gregory.

In order to qualify for the workshop and the rebate, participants have to live and own a home in Orange County. For the workshop, each meeting must have at least 10 attendees and a rebate can only be pursued for one home after a homeowner attends the workshop.

There are a few things that happen during the workshops. OCHEEP will explain why the program exists, where the funding comes from and how much money they have. The bulk of the workshop, however, focuses on the information.

“It explains how your house works and where you get the biggest bang for your buck,” Gregory says.

At the end of the workshop, the rebate applications are handed out. Participants will learn how to fill them out properly and how they will use them to get the most money.

The goal of the workshops are to encourage homeowners to hire a rater to come and give their house a “scientific evaluation” and assign a HERS Index score to their home, says Gregory.

Homeowners will take the information they gather from having their house rated and decide - based on their budget and how long they plan to be in their house - what upgrade is best for their particular situation. From there, they will hire a contractor to do make the improvements and then seek the rebate from OCHEEP to help pay for some of the costs for the energy upgrades. Up to $300 of the rebate goes toward the cost of the energy rating and then up to $700 is for energy upgrades.

Orange County has roughly $600,000 to spend on energy efficiency rebates under the OCHEEP program because of the $7.5 million that was awarded to Orange County by the Department of Energy, according to Gregory. She explains that Orange County was awarded $7.5 million in a grant back in September 2009, and then took on 11 different programs. OCHEEP is one of them.

“We want to change people’s knowledge and understand of energy efficiency and actually entice them to change their behaviors in a fun way,” Gregory says.

OCHEEP is focused on getting people to think about what kind of social groups they are a part of so they can host their own workshops. One of the latest workshops was held at Rinaldi’s Air Conditioning on East Colonial Drive.

“It’s another opportunity for our customers to become more energy efficient,” says Scott Hudson, general manager of Rinaldi’s Air Conditioning.

Roughly 30 participants were present at the last OCHEEP meeting inside Rinaldi’s.

“It was very interesting,” says Pat Yanni, an East Orlando homeowner. “We live in an older house, so we’ve been looking for ways to save on energy because energy costs are very high.”

While some homeowners have been searching for a solution to their costly energy bills, others were preparing now to save money down the road.

“We just bought a house seven weeks ago, so this is perfect. We’ll make changes now, so we can see the savings in the future because we plan to live in our house at least 10 to 15 years,” says Rebeca James, an East Orlando resident. “I would definitely recommend this. I will basically be telling everyone I know.”

Learn more about OCHEEP with Coffee Club, Orlando’s Number 1 Rated Networking/Mentoring Group, on July 8 at the Airport Marriott - 7499 Augusta National Drive, 8:30 a.m.

Article by Shayla Silva