Energy Efficient Cooling and Air Conditioning Tips
Cooling and air conditioning are one of the most important inventions of the past century. They helped make summer blockbusters and wartime planes and other supplies possible.
However cooling places a significant strain on electricity systems and creates massive amounts of pollution. This special IEA report aims to raise awareness of the negative impact of this demand, and provides solutions.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is one of the most important factors when choosing a new cooling system. Making the switch to a more efficient air cooling system will lower your expenses for energy and reduce environmental impacts. Air conditioning units are rated with several different energy efficiency ratings, such as SEER, EER, and HSPF. These ratings show how much a unit can cool for a given amount of power consumed. The higher the rating, the more efficient the unit. You can find a SEER rating on the yellow Energy Guide label or by searching for “SEER ratings” online.
When looking for a new air conditioner, choose one with a high rating. This rating indicates how well the unit will perform in normal conditions. If you’re replacing an older model with a higher SEER rating, it will drastically reduce your energy consumption and costs.
Air conditioning systems can be affected by other causes too. For instance high levels of indoor humidity and a lack of maintenance and duct leaks can make your system work harder and use more energy. Making sure you are keeping up with routine maintenance and sealing leaks in ducts are easy steps to improve your system’s energy efficiency.
Large commercial cooling systems come with their own energy efficiency concerns, too. They typically use the combination of packaged or split compressors with huge pipe networks to distribute cooling throughout the building. They could also have steam systems which require specialized maintenance in order to keep the pipes from becoming blocked.
Many of these large systems can also be controlled with an Building Automation System, which integrates the cooling and heating systems into a single centralized system. Verde has been able to improve the performance of these systems by providing retrocommissioning suggestions that have rapid paybacks.
Energy efficiency in air conditioning and cooling is a major component of global efforts to mitigate climate change. Ultimately, we need to ensure that manufacturers bring highly efficient cooling devices to market, and that consumers are demanding them. In the meantime, we can take other steps to cut down on our energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions.
Indoor Air Quality
Many people spend much of their lives in structures, and these structures could be a major health risk if the indoor air quality isn’t good enough. There are a variety of ways to improve IAQ and prevent common problems like allergies, asthma, fatigue, etc.
Particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbon dioxide are the three most frequent pollutants in modern homes and offices. These pollutants are released into the air by a variety of activities, including cooking, cleaning, and smoking, and they can cause respiratory problems as well as allergic reactions.
A high level of humidity can also create destruction on the air quality. Moisture can encourage the growth of mold and mildew, which can trigger respiratory issues. Monitoring humidity and keeping the humidity low is essential to avoid these problems. The best way to accomplish this is by regularly dusting and vacuuming, washing furniture and bedding and utilizing a dehumidifier or humidifier as needed based on the readings of a hygrometer.
In addition to the obvious health benefits, improving IAQ can improve the comfort of a home. For instance, a home that is contaminated by air pollutants could be stale and smell unpleasant. It can also trigger irritated or itchy eyes, and a swollen sensation. Installing an air purifier and keeping the HVAC system can help to avoid these issues. Also, make sure that you open windows and doors for ventilation whenever you need to.
The signs of poor air quality are varied and can include headaches difficulty concentrating, and even a general feeling of malaise. These symptoms may improve when you leave the room, but prolonged exposure to poor air quality can worsen existing health conditions or cause serious illness.
The most important factor that influences IAQ is the rate of fresh air replacing stale air, a process that is known as ventilation. This can be influenced by the weather, room occupancy rates, as well as the design of the structure. But, a few simple steps can be taken to enhance IAQ by introduction of plants into the house opening up windows and doors as much as is possible, and ensuring that the HVAC system is functioning properly. If you want to go further, we recommend that you talk to a Comfort Specialist for an assessment of indoor air quality.
Smoke Pollution
While heat pumps and central air conditioners do a fantastic job of removing the majority of biological contaminants, like bacteria, molds and pet dander pollen, they are not designed to remove smoke particles. The tiny particles of wildfire smoke pose a risk and can easily enter your nose, eyes and throat, and cause symptoms such as burning or itchy eyes, congestion, a runny nose and coughing. They can also irritate the lungs and cause worsening of chronic lung and heart conditions. Smoke particles can cause range of health issues, including bronchitis and aggravated asthma.
The smoke that has blanketed New York City this week is the result of forest fires in Canada and has created hazardous air quality conditions across much of the northern US and southern Canada. The dense smoky fog reduces visibility and may cause respiratory stress to anyone who is required to be outside.
Unfortunately there is no way to completely stop smoky air from getting into your business or home through doors and windows particularly older homes with a lot of drafts and cracks. You can take steps to reduce the amount of smoke that enters your home or business.
Close all windows and doors when it’s smoky. This can reduce the amount of smoke from outside air by 30 percent. Place wet towels in the cracks of door frames and around them to reduce the flow of smoke.
If your HVAC system has a recirculation function, make sure you turn it off when the air is smokey. This will allow the system to expel the smoke directly outside rather than returning it to inside. If your building has ducts that connect to areas where contamination is likely to be high, such as loading docks or parking garages it is important to ensure that these ducts are kept away from the rest of.
The EPA suggests that you change your HVAC filters more frequently when you are in a smokey environment to ensure that they are removing pollutants from the air in your home. Choose a filter with a minimum efficiency report value (MERV) of 13 or more, since these filters are designed to remove the smoke and other gaseous air pollutants.
Supercooling
Supercooling is a trend to save energy that has become more popular in recent years. It’s based upon the notion that electricity isn’t priced the same amount at any given time of the day. Most power companies offer “time of use” plans that offer different off-peak and peak rates. Supercooling allows homeowners to pre-cool their homes at off-peak hours, so they don’t have to use their air conditioners during high-cost summer peak hours.
This method requires an automatic thermostat that can be programmed. However even with this, homeowners must be aware of and look up their electric usage patterns and figure out when it’s most cost-effective to run their air conditioner. This strategy could save you as much as 25 percent on your energy bills.
To keep the home cool, the homeowner sets their air conditioner to a lower temperature in the morning, and then keeps it at that temperature for a couple of hours. This cools the walls, floors furniture, fixtures, and furniture of the home as well as the air inside. Then, when peak energy-cost times arrive the homeowner cranks the air conditioning up and then leaves it running until it’s off for several hours.
This method works because cooling isn’t just about making the air inside the home cool. It also aims to prevent heat from entering the house through doors, windows and other leak points. That’s why homeowners should double-check that their home is properly constructed and insulated, and also insulate any leaky or drafty areas. Also, they should cover windows to block out sunlight, particularly in areas that receive direct sunlight during the hottest times of the day. Also, they should make sure that all windows and doors are tightly sealed to stop air from escaping during cooling cycles. Also, they should consider using smart thermostats that can aid them in remembering to start and stop cooling at the ideal times of the day. This will allow homeowners to keep their energy bills low without worrying about forgetting to turn the system off or on.
