The beginning of the summer means barbecues, cookouts and trips to the beach. And for many Long Island residents, it also means deciding whether to take a trip to the local appliance store to buy a new air conditioner or try to squeeze another summer out of the old one.

It can be a tough choice. My wife and I were struggling with it just a few weeks ago. Keeping the old air conditioner saves money in the short term, though it adds a couple of extra dollars to monthly energy bills. Buying a new one means parting with dollars that could be used for a weekend vacation, summer clothes, or a child's day camp. While the new air conditioner will save money down the road, it's hard to see the advantage when it means passing up on a weekend at the beach or spending the money on a new lawnmower.

You probably don't know it, but New York has come up with a way for residents on Long Island and across the state to have their cake and eat it too. Administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the 'Keep Cool' Air Conditioner Replacement Program offers a $75 bounty payment for people who buy new, energy efficient air conditioners and turn in their old, inefficient models.

The program is a great idea. The average family saves $750 on their electricity bills, per air conditioner. It saves state power grids lots of energy and with electricity supplies struggling to keep pace with rising demand, every megawatt counts.

But because the program is underfunded and inadequately publicized, it doesn't do nearly as much good as it could. That's why I'm offering a new plan to expand and improve the program and enable it to make a real difference in the lives of thousands of New Yorkers. Here's how:

First, we need to make the program more attractive to consumers, and the best way to do that is by increasing the bounty from $75 to $150. That's a substantial amount of money for families struggling to pay sky high LIPA bills especially when you tack on the $75 a year the energy efficient unit shaves off a household energy bill. Not only would the larger bounty ensure that consumers buying new air conditioners choose energy efficient ones, it would encourage people who weren't planning on purchasing a new unit to take a trip to the appliance store.

Second, we've got to let more people know about the program. While NYSERDA is doing its best to tell New Yorkers about 'Keep Cool' a lot more could be done. Last summer, just 700 New Yorkers participated, which, in a state as big as New York, isn't much. This summer, NYSERDA is aiming to attract 25,000 New Yorkers, but that's still not much when you consider that almost half a million air conditioners are sold every year statewide. The 'Keep Cool' program needs a viable marketing and outreach campaign. It needs to be aggressively promoted on television, on the radio, in print ads and on the Internet. It should also be publicized at popular summer venues like beaches and ballparks.

Third, we need to make the program more user-friendly. Right now, 'Keep Cool' requires those seeking the $75 bounty to lug their air conditioner to the one or two participating retailers in their county, fill out and mail a bunch of forms, and then wait 4-6 weeks for payment. This is an awful amount of hassle for $75. To make 'Keep Cool' a better deal for consumers, we should consider offering instant rebates, expanding the number of drop-off points, establishing some kind of pick-up program for old units, and implementing a tax holiday for energy efficient air conditioners like the ones that have worked for stimulating clothing and apparel purchases.

Fourth, once we promote the program and make it more attractive to consumers, we need to ensure it has the funding it needs to offer the bounty payment to every New Yorker who wants it, and that's where the state comes in. Strong state support of this program would take it a long way and that means a steady stream of funding.

A bounty program for old air conditioners won't improve our refining capacity, eliminate the need to build new power plants, or release us from the tyranny of OPEC. But it will bring noticeable relief to the consumer paying $2 per gallon at the pump and hundreds of extra dollars on heating oil. And will save much-needed megawatts of electricity, reducing demand on local power grids already pushed to the brink. In fact, with the participation at 250,000, we could save 50 megawatts of electricity, 50 megawatts that could mean the difference between reliable power and a flickering light on a hot summer afternoon.