For anyone that is interested in understanding how to control their utility costs I think it’s important to know the facts when it comes to a high efficiency furnace vs heat pump technology. In fact at the end of this article I’ve included a real life financial comparison of a Southern Ontario homeowner showing the total costs for a high efficiency furnace vs heat pump system and the numbers are very interesting. Over the last couple of years there has been a huge movement towards high efficiency heating equipment. Both the federal and provincial governments have sought to encourage energy…

INTRODUCTION You would think that energy efficiency is relatively simple: perform an energy audit, install the retrofits and then reap the energy savings. Unfortunately, it doesn”t always work that way. We performed an energy assessment of several stores of a major retail chain in the San Francisco Bay Area and identified a handful of low-cost retro-commissioning measures that had very promising potential. We quantified the expected savings and costs and returned after the project was installed. We then measured the savings using various methods and found either minimal or negative savings. The problem we discovered was that on nearly every…

Heating and cooling bills account for over half of the monthly expenditure of American homeowners, when talking simply about fees associated with home ownership. This stems from a variety of causes, from the windows to poor insulation. The result is a home with an overactive HVAC system, drafts and other similar issues. Additionally, homeowners increase their carbon footprint due to the abundant use of energy to heat their home. Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane are expended with your HVAC system, which are attributed to global warming. Insulation can block some of these emissions, while reducing your electrical use can…

A home should be an environment that is comfortable in both the hot, summer months and the frigid, cold temperatures of winter. However, heating and cooling your home so that it is comfortable during these extreme temperature periods can get to be quite expensive. If you aren’t careful, you can rack up a huge energy bill during the winter or summer months without even realizing it. Heating and cooling a home requires so much energy, so sometimes consumers can become devastated at the amount they pay at the end of the month. However, there are ways to save money on…

Demand for energy continues to be a major topic around the world. Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar or hydro power are increasingly being utilized to provide for that demand. Many States have even recently passed laws raising the minimum renewable usage cap that utility companies must implement into their overall supply. But … we still require escalating amounts of energy for agriculture, industry, and to heat our homes and offices. Emerging as a “bridge fuel” to clean energy and renewable resources, the power electronics industry is poised to span that gap with hardware solutions needed to build intelligent…

Appointing the right HVAC contractor in Madison requires considering various aspects. You want to make sure that the heating and cooling circulation at your home is functioning properly. Since winter is only a few months far, this is the right time to look after the heating systems. A professional service is the best solution. You need to confirm aspects like availability of yearly maintenance contact. In addition, you have to see whether the company can suggest a suitable heating system. The company must be able to install eco friendly HVAC systems. Look for a company that can install the latest…

You might want to retrofit your existing building with energy efficient lighting, HVAC or upgrades to the building envelope in order to save money on energy costs, but youve first got to come up with the funding for those improvements. Do you provide the required capital or continue to face increased operating costs? The ROI on new, energy-efficient systems may be longer, but the equipment will perform more reliably while providing better working conditions and lowering energy costs along the way. Most business owners will assume that funding for energy efficient upgrades has to come from dipping into their equity…

The 179D tax deduction came about as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). Congress wanted to incentivize the utilization of energy-efficiency components in a building to one of the following parties: 1.The owner of the building 2.The tenant 3.The primary designer of an energy-efficient government building. (Architect, engineer, contractor etc.) The deduction available is up to $.60 per sq./ft. for lighting, HVAC and building envelope, creating potential for $1.80 per sq./ft. if all three components qualify. These deductions are applicable to buildings that were either built or retrofitted after 12/31/2005. Since EPAct came into effect, the IRS…

The smartest people in the commercial real estate industry agree–if we really got energy efficiency in buildings right using smart building technologies, corporations could save so much money that there would be little need for solar panels or windmills. While most experts are still strong supporters of these alternative energy sources, they agree that extreme energy efficiency measures could have very dramatic positive results. On the other hand, there are an increasing number of people who are growing disenchanted with the energy efficiency movement. It is not that they are against the idea, it just seems like it is an…

Every residential architect knows that each home design requires a carefully planned kitchen, and every kitchen will need cabinets with lights. Countertop areas underneath display cabinets are very important. They serve both a decorative function as well as a practical purpose. Shadows underneath cabinets are both unattractive, and they can also make working with knives and other kitchen implements unsafe if visibility is obscured too much. It is necessary for the architect to plan ahead to eliminate these dark areas with kitchen undercabinet lights that will fulfill both the functional and aesthetic demands of kitchen design. Architects should consider fixtures…