Saving money is something we are all trying to do these days, and a local staple in our community found out it is rewarding in more ways than one.

For more than 30 years kids across the county have made the Boys and Girls Club a home away from home.

"This building does between 250 and 350 kids a day," said Paul Mosca, "So we have a lot of kids coming in and out of here all day."

Which means it takes a lot of energy to keep this 10,000 square foot facility cool. "We wanted to be as green as we could be and as responsible as we could be, we knew we had a lot of issues here and we decided to go to Gulf Power for some help.'

"One of the services we offer is Energy audits for residential, commercial and industrial," said Patrick Ryan, of Gulf Power. "In partnering with them, we needed to make recommendations that would fit the budget they had to work with, but they maximized their dollar and their capitalizing on savings."

Mosca took Ryan’s' advice and made some changes.

"The energy efficient stuff really started with our front door, it leaked a lot of air, we replaced the front door, got a more energy efficient door, replaced all the windows in the building which were terribly lacking, the caulking and so forth, we had a lot of issues in our gymnasium, and we also replaced the lighting with energy efficient lighting that was pleasing because it not only saves us more energy, but it gave us more light."

A year later and a cheaper power bill, Mosca says he's reaping the rewards of going green. "They are doing very well and saving 20 percent in energy consumption,” said Ryan. "Boys and Girls Club is capitalizing on about $400-500 in savings a month.”

"Definitely surprised, very happy with what we saved, I knew I would save significantly because we had some real issues, especially after they came in and did the audit it was evident there were a lot more things wrong then I even imagined and the savings has been phenomenal."

A nice chunk of change well spent that Ryan says will continue paying itself back over the years.

A few more helpful energy saving tips from Gulf Power for homeowners, and business owners are as followed:

-Replace HVAC with high efficient heat pump. Consider geothermal technology
-Change HVAC filters monthly
-Retrofit lighting with high efficient, high output T8 fixtures
-Install motion sensors on light switches
-Replace bulbs in EXIT lights with compact fluorescent bulbs or LED fixtures
-Install blinds or shading on exterior windows
-Install insulation and caulking
-Replace older equipment (refrigerators, motors, electronics) with new energy efficient models
-Turn off computers when they are not in use