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We have spoken to many of you that have seen a substantial increase in your electric bills this winter.  Believe me, I’m seeing it too.  My electric bill increased 87% from November (2008) to December (2008) and another 25% on top of that in January this year.  In comparison to last winter (2007-2008), this year my energy costs are up 55%.

Many of you may be thinking, “That’s nothing compared to my bills!” Let me explain.  I do little more than sleep and shower at my home, usually getting home just about my bedtime only to leave again by 5:30am the next morning.  Other than my heat pump system, water heater and alarm clock, there are no other appliances in my house that are actually used on a daily basis.  My point – there are no real energy hogs that would inflate my electrical usage.

My heat pump is controlled by a programmable thermostat which I haven’t changed the settings on in more than 10 years.  I keep the set point at 64 degrees during the day and raise the temp to 67 overnight.  I replaced my water heater 2 years ago so it’s definitely more efficient than the old one.  Excluding a condemned home, you can’t get much more “energy conscious” than my house.

So why the drastic change in my electric bills?  My first call was to PEPCO only to hear that they were getting flooded with the same type of calls, but no real explanation.  My next step was to go on their website where I located their residential rate schedule.  Here is where I noticed that there have been three rate increases since last winter – October 2007, June 2008 and November 2008. (And the largest increase is due to take effect June 1, 2009) On top of that, last winter was mild in comparison to the temperatures we’ve seen this year.  October and January were well below last year’s average temperatures and so were November and December – just not as extreme.

Depending on the type system you have in your home, 40% or more of your electrical usage can be attributed to heating and cooling your home.  So making certain that the system is operating at maximum efficiency is definitely a good idea.  All those things we do during the maintenance inspections are meant to get the most out of your system and minimize the operating costs.

And if you haven’t already, now is a good time to take the steps to minimize the air infiltration that we’ve discussed in past issues.  Every home “breathes” meaning the conditioned air in your home is being replaced with outside air several times each day.  Your home is constantly losing conditioned air through the top floor and pulling outside air into your home on the lower levels.

The idea is to minimize the air loss and reduce the cost of trying to heat or cool that outside air.  Seal exterior penetrations such as where piping, wiring, drains, etc. enter/exit the home.  Ensure your home is properly insulated.  Make sure unconditioned areas like the attic, crawl spaces and the garage are properly isolated from the conditioned areas.  Any ductwork in the unconditioned spaces needs to be sealed and insulated.  Seal the penetrations in the ceilings and walls, especially those going to the attic. Remember, the heat in your home will rise and find its way through loose fixtures like the attic hatch, recessed lights, ceiling fans, etc.  Those chases that run from the basement to the attic are the equivalent of leaving a window open.  Weather-strip the exterior doors and windows.  With the increased utility costs, every step taken to maximize efficiency will help to negate the additional energy costs during both heating and cooling season.

You either have an air conditioner or heat pump system cooling to your home.  Both systems operate in almost identical ways when it comes to the cooling season.  These units (called condensing units) are located on the exterior of your home.  Depending on your system type, you will have a furnace or air handler (in the case of a heat pump system) located either in your basement, attic, closet, etc.  inside your home.  An evaporator coil sits on top of your furnace or inside the air handler cabinet and copper tubing containing refrigerant connects the condensing unit and the evaporator coil.

This copper tubing runs throughout both indoor and outdoor coils.  The refrigerant within the tubing absorbs the heat from your home’s air at the indoor coil resulting in the cool air you feel when the system is running.  The furnace or air handler contains a blower which pulls air through the return ducts, across your air filter, through the evaporator coil (where it is cooled) and distributes it throughout your home via the supply ducts.

The concept of your entire home as having an impact on your heating/cooling system’s efficiency and comfort is an important one.  The purpose of this blog is to help you understand how every aspect of your home impacts the energy usage of your comfort system and the resulting comfort level in your home.  This issue will focus on your exterior landscape surrounding your home and its impact.

You may have never thought about it, but you can use trees and shrubs to improve the efficiency of your comfort system.   How can you do this?  Maximize the warming effects of the sun in winter, maximize your use of shade in the summer and deflect winter winds away from your home.

Solar heat is absorbed through your home’s windows and roof.  Shading your home with trees from summer sun can reduce air temperatures as much as 9 degrees helping to reduce your cooling costs.  Shrubs and groundcover plants reduce heat radiation from the ground cooling the air before it reaches the walls and windows of your home.  Vines are also a good source of shade on walls.

Providing shade for your air conditioner/heat pump can actually increase your system’s efficiency by as much as 10%!  That is money in your pocket when the summer electrical rates take effect during the cooling season.  Be careful not to plant bushes and shrubs so close to the unit that airflow is restricted – Leave a buffer of about one foot of clearance around the unit to allow for proper airflow.  Remember, that is one foot of clearance as the plant continues to grow so plan ahead and leave enough space for the plant’s growth.

Proper landscaping can provide excellent wind protection as well which helps to reduce your heating costs in the winter.  Winds can drastically lower the outdoor temperature forcing your heating system to work longer and harder.  Shrubs, bushes and vines create a dead air space that actually insulates your home during both summer and winter protecting your home from the more extreme elements.

The types and location of trees, shrubs and bushes will all depend on your home’s structure and surroundings.  Generally, north- and south-facing windows will provide good sunlight during the winter allowing for solar heating with minimal heat gain during the summer.  East- and west-facing windows should be shaded to minimize the heat gain from the summer sun.  A reputable landscaper like Goshen Enterprises can help you determine how exactly you should landscape around your home.  You can contact them at 301-869-8544 or go to their web site at www.goshenenterprises.com.  You can also visit  http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer and click on YOUR HOME then LANSCAPING for more information.

A zoning system is meant to improve many of the comfort issues you experience while also improving energy efficiency.  The design of some homes may cause challenges with comfortably heating/cooling certain rooms or even entire floors.  Examples may be rooms above garages, areas on concrete slabs or above crawl spaces, rooms with vaulted ceilings, sunrooms, etc.  These scenarios inherently create unique challenges in maintaining even, comfortable temperatures throughout your home.

A basic comfort system will overcompensate for temperature variances in your home by pushing conditioned air throughout your entire home, even those areas that don’t need it.  The result – uneven temperatures and increased energy bills. That’s where the zoning system comes in.

A zoning system consists of a control, automatic motorized dampers and temperature sensors working in conjunction with your comfort system.  The dampers are placed inside the supply ducts to control the airflow to specific areas of your home.  The temperature sensors are located in the separate zones of your home.  It’s similar to having a separate thermostat in each area communicating with your comfort system allowing each zone to be heated and cooled independently.

When any of the zones are calling for heat/cooling (based on your desired set point at your thermostat), the thermostat brings on your comfort system.  The zone control determines which zones are in need of conditioning based on the temperature sensors in each zone.  The dampers are automatically closed in the supply lines to those zones which do not need conditioning and opened in those that do need heating/cooling.

The zoning system allows for you to only heat/cool those areas which need it! This allows you to enjoy more comfortable, even temperatures throughout your home.  Because your system is only delivering conditioned air to the necessary areas, energy consumption is decreased.  Your system operates much more efficiently saving you money on your energy bills.

Unfortunately, zoning systems can’t be installed in every home.  The duct design in your home must be fabricated in a manner which allows for the appropriate zones.  The supply lines must be accessible in order to install the zone dampers, as well. A Comfort Consultant can easily inspect your system to determine whether the zoning system would be right for your home.

In our quest for furthering our expertise of whole house comfort systems, we have gained insight on the effectiveness of humidifiers. First, let me summarize why you might need a humidifier and how they improve your comfort. You may experience static shock in your home, wake up in the morning feeling dry, or have cracking on wood furniture, drywall, etc. These are all signs that there is a lack of moisture in a home. Some homes are dryer than others – The optimal humidity level in a home is approximately 35%, some homes have been measured below 15%!

Your heating system will actually add to these problems because the process of heating the air removes moisture. A whole house humidifier can be installed on your heating system to add moisture to the conditioned air and deliver it through the duct system to your entire home helping to resolve these issues. A home with a higher level of humidity will actually feel warmer allowing you to be more comfortable at lower temperatures. I’m sure you’re familiar with this concept from the weather we experience in Maryland in the summer – It always feels much hotter than it actually is when humidity levels are higher.

Over the years, we have been to many homes in Rockville, Germantown, Gaithersburg and other Montgomery County cities where our customers have humidifiers but they feel as though their home’s air is still too dry. We have found that there are two major opponents diminishing the effectiveness of humidifiers – The first being your own heating system. In order to increase the comfort level in your home, we need to increase the percentage of moisture in the air. However, humidifiers only work when your heating system is actually running so you’re only adding moisture to your home’s air when the furnace or heat pump is on. Most systems only run a fraction of the time and even less if they’re oversized – which many older units are.

The other obstacle is air infiltration. Your home needs to exchange fresh, outside air constantly to be healthy. However, we have found that most homes allow far too much air into the home. An average healthy home would require about 5-7 complete air exchanges each day. We have measured homes with more than twice that amount! This means that the air inside your home is being humidified (not to mention conditioned) and then escaping to the outside. The humidity that you have added is being lost to the outside and you’re humidifier is unable to keep up with the drier outside air that is replacing the air being lost to the outside.

The result: The air in your home struggles to reach the comfortable target humidity levels that you want.

Solutions: We now require an infiltrometer test be performed on any home before installing a humidifier. This allows us to determine the home’s infiltration rate and the amount of moisture needed to reach comfortable humidity levels. With this information, we can determine whether the humidifier will perform as it should. We can also point out areas where simple improvements can be made to decrease the amount of infiltration to the home.

We have also found that certain equipment can help to improve a humidifier’s performance such as variable speed furnaces/heat pumps. These units operate on lower settings the majority of the time resulting in longer run cycles. This allows more time for your system to add humidity to the conditioned air. These systems also allow you to run the fan on lower speeds. The lower speed would allow you to run your fan continuously with the humidifier – providing additional humidification without requiring the system to operate in heating mode.

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A zoning system is meant to improve many of the comfort issues you experience while also improving energy efficiency. The design of some homes may cause challenges with comfortably heating/cooling certain rooms or even entire floors. Examples may be rooms above garages, areas on concrete slabs or above crawl spaces, rooms with vaulted ceilings, sunrooms, etc. These scenarios inherently create unique challenges in maintaining even, comfortable temperatures throughout your home.

A basic comfort system will overcompensate for temperature variances in your home by pushing conditioned air throughout your entire home, even those areas that don’t need it. The result – uneven temperatures and increased energy bills. That’s where the zoning system comes in.

A zoning system consists of a control, automatic motorized dampers and temperature sensors working in conjunction with your comfort system. The dampers are placed inside the supply ducts to control the airflow to specific areas of your home. The temperature sensors are located in the separate zones of your home. It’s similar to having a separate thermostat in each area communicating with your comfort system allowing each zone to be heated and cooled independently.

When any of the zones are calling for heat/cooling (based on your desired set point at your thermostat), the thermostat brings on your comfort system. The zone control determines which zones are in need of conditioning based on the temperature sensors in each zone. The dampers are automatically closed in the supply lines to those zones which do not need conditioning and opened in those that do need heating/cooling.

The zoning system allows for you to only heat/cool those areas which need it! This allows you to enjoy more comfortable, even temperatures throughout your home. Because your system is only delivering conditioned air to the necessary areas, energy consumption is decreased. Your system operates much more efficiently saving you money on your energy bills.

Unfortunately, zoning systems can’t be installed in every home. The duct design in your home must be fabricated in a manner which allows for the appropriate zones. The supply lines must be accessible in order to install the zone dampers, as well. A Comfort Consultant can easily inspect your system to determine whether the zoning system would be right for your home.