Showing posts with label green air conditioning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green air conditioning. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Green Cooling Ideas for Your Home
Staying cool in warm weather can be tricky business. Rising temperatures outside and strong sunlight beating down on your home and into windows make it difficult to keep indoor temperatures comfortable. Air conditioning certainly helps, but with the high cost of initial installation and mounting utility charges, this isn’t always the most practical option. Additionally, there is the issue of chemical refrigerants used by residential air conditioners that can contribute to pollution and global warming.If you’re looking for a greener alternative to traditional air conditioning, the following common sense ideas and low-cost changes can cool your home without harming the environment or depleting your budget.
The best way to keep your home naturally cool in the summer is to prevent heat from building up indoors in the first place. The most obvious source of indoor heat gain is direct sunlight, which gets absorbed by your home’s roof, walls, and windows. Other, lesser known sources include air leakage around poorly sealed and insulated doors and windows, and heat from household appliances like dryers, dishwashers, and computers.
To keep heat from building up inside your home, use heavy curtains or blinds on windows to block direct sunlight, enhance the landscaping around your home with trees and shrubbery that help deflect or bar the sun’s rays, make sure doors and windows are properly sealed, turn off heat-generating appliances like televisions and computers when not in use, and limit the use of other appliances that use heat —- like the washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher—to early in the morning or after dark when outdoor temperatures are likely to be lower.
In hotter climates or in larger homes, simply deflecting the sun’s rays and restricting the use of heat-generating appliances are not enough to cool effectively. Fortunately, there are several environmentally responsible strategies you can employ to supplement traditional air conditioning.
Any time you can reduce the strain on your home’s air conditioning system, you’re saving money and lowering your energy usage (and impact on the environment). So things like shading windows and sealing doors are a good first step in greening up your home’s cooling. Fans and evaporative coolers go even further.
Ceiling fans won’t cool a room, but they make you feel cooler. Using a fan can make a room feel up to four degrees cooler than with air conditioning alone. Installing a fan means you can turn up your air conditioner several degrees, reducing your energy usage and helping you save money.
Evaporative coolers cool the air using water vapor and are only appropriate if you live in a dry climate. However, they consume about a fourth of the energy of conventional air conditioners, which makes them environmentally friendly and energy conscious.
There are now more rebates and financial incentives than ever for homeowners who choose energy efficient options for home cooling. Many utility companies and local governments participate in a variety of programs. If you’re thinking about greening your home’s air conditioner, contact your utility company or local environmental conservation agency for information about available programs in your area.
Related Information from Horizon Services...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Green Home Construction on the Rise
New Energy-Efficient Designs Now Represent 17% of All New Home ConstructionEven as home sales continue to struggle through this recession, green home building is one real estate sector that’s thriving.
According to recent data, more than 1 million homes have been certified by the government’s Energy Star program since it began in 1995 and more than 75,000 more were added in 2009 alone. In 2008, homes with the Energy Star rating accounted for almost 17% of all new single-family dwellings built, which marked a more than 5% increase from 2007.
The Energy Star label may be familiar to many consumers—the seal appears on all kinds of appliances and household electronics—but Energy Star home construction is a relatively new concept.
In order to receive the Energy Star seal of approval a home must be at least 20% more energy-efficient than similar new houses. Generally, Energy Star homes have more efficient lighting, insulation, windows, heating and cooling systems, and appliances.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star certification program is not the only one to report growth in eco-friendly home construction. There are also several private and not-for-profit organizations that certify green homes, including the United States Green Building Council and the National Association of Home Builders.
These private groups also report significant increases in green-certified new home construction despite an overall 30% slide in new homes built or completed by October 2008.
Nate Kredich of the US Green Building Council, a group whose rating standards are even stricter than those of the Energy Star program, says that the council’s number of certified homes has risen from just over 1,100 in 2008 to more than 3,000 in 2009. Though the increase is small, Kredich notes that growth has been steady and suggests that more and more homeowners are considering greener alternatives to traditional residential construction.
Kevin Morrow, from the National Association of Home Builders, echoes Kredich’s assertions. The NAHB certified just 99 green homes in 2008; in 2009, that number jumped to nearly 600. As Morrow suggests, the increased interest in green home construction is driven by consumers looking to save money on their energy and utility bills, and to reduce their impact on the environment.
And it’s not just new construction that’s going green. A recent USA Today poll showed that more than 68% of homeowners surveyed made home improvements designed to make their houses more energy efficient. Of those, nearly 72% said it was to save money on utilities, while almost 30% said the changed were prompted by concerns about the environment.
Regardless of their motivation, homeowners are clearly impacting the way new houses are built. Typical best-sellers are those products that pay for themselves quickly—like solar panels, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, or major appliances like dishwashers and light fixtures. Price is a key factor, as many consumers are willing to pay a little extra up front to ensure considerable savings in the long run.
As energy prices continue to rise and concerns about the environment reach the mainstream, most building experts expect green construction and renovation initiatives to increase in popularity. At Horizon Services, we believe it; our heating and air conditioning technicians are seeing more and more Energy Star certified homes in our Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland service area. Soon, we predict, these eco-friendly options may be the norm rather than just a passing trend.
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