Most Ocala area homes are cooled and heated by a heat pump. Although a heat pump looks like central AC unlike an air conditioner it heats as well as cools. You can only get away using a heat pump in very mild climates like here in Ocala where we get very few winter nights below freezing. The winter here in Ocala is really only about 6 to 8 weeks long.

There is natural gas for heating in some areas. Generally it doesn’t pay to lay gas pipes in areas without high heating costs. You do find gas in some areas of the city of Ocala and in a few retirement communities where there are a lot of homes closer together. People who are looking for gas are usually looking for cooking rather than heating. Some people use propane for cooking but it is expensive.

Heating is not the issue or expense here in Ocala. The expense is air conditioning which is also supplied by the heat pump. You will need AC from late May until late October 24/7. From Late October until around Christmas and from mid March until May you might not need heat or AC.

Someone said to me just recently that energy efficiency isn’t as important in Florida as it is up north. The rational was that even if the outside temps are in the 90’s you will only be trying to cool the inside down to the high 70’s. A difference of less than 20 degrees as opposed to trying to heat a house to 70 when the outside temps are in the 20’s a difference of 50 degrees. His point being that expensive windows and insulation doesn’t have the pay back it does in more extreme climates.