Being green

I was going to title this post "Retreat extras 4", but changed my mind because the "green" aspects of the villa are not really extras... they're just what you should do from our perspective.

Everyone knows that Florida gets hot.... that's one of the key reasons we go there, right?  That means a lot of electricity gets used.  We decided that we would go green as much as possible in the villa. Here's some of the things we're doing with respect to energy conservation.

First, we've installed a programmable thermostat that monitors the temperatures with minimums and maximums and will shut off the air conditioning if patio doors get inadvertently left open.... no one should try to cool global warming with air conditioning...  :-). 

We've also installed a hot water tank controller that will make sure that the system is working only when it's needed... that is, when people are staying at the villa. Of course, we hope that the Retreat will always be full, with lots of guests when we are unable to be there.  But, we know that there will be times when the place will be vacant for a bit... so no need to heat water when there's no one there to use it.  Our property manager always visits the villa just prior to the arrival of a guest to make sure that everything is perfect.  They'll make sure the system is operational upon the arrival of a guest... so no worries about there being no hot water when you arrive.

All of the new appliances we've installed are energy star rated.  And, lastly, there will be low energy use compact fluorescent light bulbs in all light fixtures that will take them.

So not only is the Retreat going to be a luxury place to stay, it is modern in all senses of the word, including being energy efficient.