Homeowners Quality Installation Program (QI) Quality Installation Program (QI) Get up to $750* in rebates More efficiency means more savings. With our Quality Installation Program, you can lower your electric bill, improve the air quality in your home, and make sure your A/C is in top working order. Did you know that 70% of air-conditioned homes have A/C units that exceed the home's cooling needs? A unit too large for your home costs more to run and uses more electricity. Plus, incorrect sizing or installation puts undue stress on components and shortens equipment life. Simply replacing your old system may not save as much energy as you expected. That's why SCE offers our Quality Installation Program. When it's time for a new A/C system, this program makes sure your new air conditioner is sized properly for your home, and ensures its installation follows guidelines set by ENERGY STAR®—saving you the most energy and money. Plus you get a rebate of up to $750*.

SCE's Quality Installation Program eliminates common problems that can reduce the efficiency of your new A/C system: Find an Installation Contractor Browse a list of Quality Contractors ready to help you get your rebate Learn how today's A/C units are more efficient, saving more energy... Browse a collection of resources for more information about energy efficient A/C systems. Got an ugly air conditioner, shed, or other eyesore squatting malevolently in full view? Hide it with plants! Here are some ideas to get your creative juices going: Tall annuals such as sunflower, zinnia, or cleome, or fast growing summer bulbs like canna or elephant ears (Colocasia) can provide an effective screen in just a few months. Check the final height and width of the area you want to disguise and select cultivars that meet your needs. You will have to replant every spring, but they are fast and easy, and you can plant something different every year—perfect if you like variety. 

(Transform the ordinary into the extraordinary with Rodale's The Perennial Matchmaker, your foolproof one-plant-at-a-time approach to picking perfect plant partners and growing your most stunning garden ever!) You may unsubscribe at any time. A simple trellis covered with annual vines such as sweet pea, morning glory, moonflower (an especially good choice if you tend only to be around in the evening), or thunbergia is a fast and space-efficient screening option. Related: 7 Flowers That Can Survive Without Your Help Tall perennial flowers and ornamental grasses are a simple, attractive solution, especially if year-round screening isn’t required (ornamental grasses can be allowed to stand all winter before cutting them down, giving you coverage most of the year). Tall ferns can be a lovely solution in a shady area; edible asparagus will give you tasty early spring harvest followed by four-foot-tall lacy blue-green foliage that turns yellow in the fall. Tall columnar cacti such as Mexican Fence Post cactus make attractive, low maintenance screens in the dry Southwest.

Sansevieria (a.k.a. Mother-in-Law's Tongue) is tough and trouble free in warm climates with moderate rainfall. With perennials, you won't have to replant each year, but keep in mind that many will take a few years to develop into large plants so you may want to plant some annuals between them for the first year or two or put up a temporary screen behind them.can you put a window ac unit in the wall A sturdy permanent trellis covered with perennial vines is an attractive and space-efficient screen solution. who makes the best home ac unitsSelect vines that grow slowly and will be easy to keep to the size of your trellis. how to wire a new ac unitThey'll take a few years to cover the trellis, but they won’t have to be cut back every few weeks in future summers.

Consider clematis (less vigorous cultivars), Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens), or American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens). Related: 5 Perennials That Can Withstand Even The Toughest Winters You can create a fast and space-efficient screen with a row of tall pots (or a long planter or two) filled with colorful annual flowers or herbs. Be sure the pots are frost-proof or movable if you live in a place with cold winters. Living wall panels installed with the planting pockets facing out and filled with tiny ferns, small flowers, herbs, or even lettuce are attractive and space-efficient. A sturdy trellis with an apple, peach, or cherry tree trained into an espalier turn your screen into a fruit factory. Or, plant a couple of thornless blackberry plants—just cut the top off each new cane as it reaches the top of the trellis in mid-summer and tie side branches to the trellis. If you have the space, a few shrubs or a hedge make a classic screen. For easiest maintenance, select plants with a mature size that match your needs: larger shrubs can be pruned to keep them shorter and narrower than their natural size, but choosing a type and cultivar that fits your space will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Unless you can afford to start with large, mature plants, you'll have to wait at least a few years for them to provide much screening, so consider installing an attractive semi-permanent screen between the shrubs and the unit and removing it once the plants get larger. Here are a few shrubs to consider: It’s hard to beat the classic good looks of boxwood, but they grow slowly. Small boxwoods in a row of tall pots are a quicker solution. Full-sized yew, cypress, and arborvitae All of these are inexpensive and readily available, but planting them is asking for trouble and lots of work. For a manageable evergreen screen, seek out dwarf upright (rather than spreading) cultivars. You will pay a bit more per plant, but it's more than worth it in the long run. Related: For A Biodiverse Fence, Plant Hedgerows Compact cultivars of flowering shrubs such as Abelia, Weigelia, Hydrangea, Forsythia, Vitex, and many others make delightful screens. It has a well-deserved reputation for being invasive, but a few bamboo types, such as the Fargesia bamboos, stay in tight clumps.

These can create a tall, attractive evergreen screen in just a few years. Blueberries and bush cherries Juliet, Romeo, and Cupid dwarf sour cherries offer attractive spring flowers and delicious fruit in the summer—they're a great choice if you have a site with full sun. Hide Your AC—Don't Smother It Be sure you plant far enough away from your air conditioner, unsightly building, or other eyesore so that there will be at least 2 feet (or the equipment manufacturer’s specification) of open space between it and the plants. Do not let plants lean or climb on the equipment itself. This means you need to plant almost everything farther away than the 2-foot buffer distance. If you're planting a shrub that will eventually be 5 feet wide, you will want to plant it half its width (2½ feet) plus the 2-foot buffer—or 4½ feet away from the outside edge of the equipment. Trellises can be mounted 2 feet away from the unit if the plants can’t reach through them, but should be further away if the plants will climb up both sides.