Energy Efficiency: What's in it for me?

Homeowners are increasingly being urged to "go green" and be mindful of how they use energy in their homes to avoid impacting the environment. As oil and gas prices skyrocket, however, the benefit of a cleaner planet also begins to merge with simply saving money and increasing your energy efficiency. Indeed, the two seem to go hand in hand as homeowners search for large and small ways to increase their home's energy efficiency.

Home Energy Efficiency Categories

Home energy use can be broken into large energy use categories such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (or "HVAC") and smaller categories, such as lighting. Together, all these categories need to be addressed in order to make a home totally efficient. But even small steps can provide immediate and considerable efficiency gains.

Some of the largest users of energy in any home are the heating and cooling units. It can be assumed that heating and cooling alone will account for an average of about 50% of a home's energy use. This makes HVAC the most obvious place to look for easy and measurable efficiency gains.

The largest impacts in efficiency can be achieved by some simple, routine maintenance, including changing filters, regularly maintaining the unit and using a programmable thermostat. Smaller, and slightly more complicated steps such as duct cleaning, insulation and a thorough energy efficiency analysis might require the skills of an AirNow technician to properly asses and recommend steps to be taken.

Small Steps, Large Gains

Smaller steps that increase energy efficiency are not as dramatic, but as a whole, will add to those taken with your HVAC efficiency.

In cold climates, a thorough look at your home's insulation and weather conditioning can reveal many places for improvement. These often include repairing and maintaining tight caulking seals around doors and windows, closing chimney flues or installing tempered glass fronts to fireplaces and keeping a careful eye on the thermostat when the house is not occupied.

In warmer climates, the use of energy efficient air conditioners can offer large savings and reduce the cost of cooling. However, even simple changes like using a ceiling fan and limiting heat-intensive activities like laundry and cooking to the cooler morning or evening hours result in large gains in energy efficiency.

Everyday Efficiency Savings

Everyday items like lighting and household tasks like cleaning can benefit from a quick once over to determine their role in increasing your home's energy efficiency. Replacing incandescent bulbs with high-efficiency fluorescents or newer LED lights not only save money but reduce ambient heating and require up to 10% less energy over their lifetime.

Running major appliances like dishwashers and washing machines which require both a lot of electricity and hot water can be a large drain on any effort to increase efficiency. Research if your utility company offers any special discounts for the time of the day they supply electricity. If so, see if you can benefit from running these appliances at those times, such as at night or early morning to avoid the peak time of day.

On The Efficiency Horizon

Technology has provided some truly substantial gains in the efficient use of energy. New HVAC systems can offer dramatic reductions in energy use. Often, these units do cost more at their purchase, but quickly offer savings that pay for the additional cost over time.

Many utilities will offer rebates, discounts and assistance programs to consumers who employ devices such as solar water heaters, high-efficiency HVAC systems and other new offerings. Some will even pay for you to replace your lighting with high efficiency fluorescent or LED units.

Along with this new technology come some new challenges. The increasing sophistication of new HVAC systems does require special maintenance and knowledge of how they work. Technicians at AirNow are specially trained on the intricacies of each type of new HVAC system and their maintenance. And as these new, efficient HVAC systems are installed, we become increasingly dependant on them. In the event that malfunction, or worse, failure, expert technical service is not only required, it is essential and must be quick.

Your Own Efficiency

As you, and technology, strive to make your home more efficient, keep in mind that each step, no matter how small, contributes to the overall efficiency of your home. And you don't have to go it alone. The professionals at AirNow have much experience in how to integrate new technologies to achieve your home's maximum energy efficiency. Moreover, we will always be there to assist in maintaining, servicing and repairing your home energy systems so that you can simply rely on them.

 

 

AirNow, Inc.
190 Atlantic Ave.
Garden City Park, NY 11040
Phone: (516) 355-0032
Fax: (516) 248-4308