In late 2008, after years of recovery and dreaming my wife and I put our down payment on a new institution built home in a small constructor development. The lot situated in rural Pennsylvania was 1.5 acres on a breezy hillside. The basal geology was shale and limestone. The house plan called for an east-west orientation, allowing for principal of southern exposure for the mansard roofs.
The constructor offered plenty of accepted options and configurations on rooms and amenities but not much leeway on the mechanicals. The builder's best selection was an energy Star insulation box with two propane fired 80+ furnaces and two 14 Seer Acs. There is no natural gas available in the area and the constructor doesn't offer oil as an option.
I knew that construction my dream home gave me the occasion to plan and execute a holistic plan from sustainable energy standpoint that could join a number of technologies such as geothermal heating and cooling, and grid linked photovoltaic solar or wind electric. In order to maximize my home's energy efficiency I wanted to use a number of complimentary systems that would first increase my home's energy efficiency and secondly allow me to implement a sustainable energy law that would maximize my return on venture due to a highly sufficient home.
Even with tax incentives, good financing and favorable economic conditions this scheme would be a principal venture so I would need to do it in stages. This undertaking would take a large number of planning. In order to accomplish the task properly you need to understand the basics of home energy. The first step in this process is to know what was involved in my energy expenses in order to make informed decisions about the available venture options.
In order to perfect this first step I needed to suspect what I will refer to as my "total utility bill" from accepted sources. The total utility bill may come from a single victualer or several distinct companies depending on your local providers and sources such as Electrical, Propane; Natural Gas.
In my case, the total utility bill for my new home is made up of several base components that are used year round; electricity for lighting, general appliances, (e.g. microwaves, Tvs, radios, etc) and propane for the cook top. I also included the costs for propane or electricity for Domestic hot water (Dhw) for bathing and laundry. Because I have well water I also needed to add the cost for my well pumps and septic. This sub-total can be considered as the non seasonal baseline cost. The seasonal costs of either heating or cooling the home comprise the remainder of the home energy costs.
All of the accepted providers have several distinct categories of (explicitly or implicitly) included in their bill. The first is a "ready to serve charge" which is minimum fee, expensed even if you don't use any energy. Next there is a delivery charge for transporting the energy to your home and finally the charge for the actual fuel itself. To further complicate the matter, regulated utilities are guaranteed a behalf and are able to pass on all marvelous costs to the consumer. So in these cases the consumer is expensed all of the linked overhead and non-direct costs such as management, marketing and administration expenses. In expanding the utility may apply a balancing charge for delivery and volume based rates for both delivery and fuel costs. The actual volume of fuel you use is a major component of the rate structure. After you reach a determined threshold the rate per unit volume rises so the cost of fuel rises and at the same time your delivery costs also rise. Over the season as their stock goes down, furnish costs regularly rise and they need to pay more to keep their tanks full. Rate structures may wish you to pay a higher unit cost as you use more.
Now that I outlined out the dynamics my accepted choices for home energy usage I needed to understand the basics of heating and cooling. Why heating and cooling? It's the biggest energy hog in our daily lives and it relies on external suppliers. Also the house I was construction is not my father's 1965, twelve hundred quadrate foot Cape Cod. This would be a contemporary 4200 sq ft vinyl, stone and brick simulated farmhouse. So insight heating and cooling would be very prominent to choosing
Excluding factors such as climate and house size, the size heating/cooling cost is decided by three factors which person who is construction a new house has operate over 1) the selection of fuel, 2) the size and operating efficiency of your heating appliance and 3) the electricity needed to run any blowers, pumps or auxiliary heat.
When it comes to calculating your heating requirements or heat loss, and finally the size of your heating appliance, each house is distinct and each household is different.
Since heat continually moves from warm to cold. You first need to size the unit based on heat loss or for cooling gain. The actual speed of this movement is measured in Btuh or British Thermal Units per hour.
Let's say you would like your house at colse to 70 degrees inside in the winter but, because it is 20 degrees outside, heat goes to cold through the walls, windows and ceilings by conduction. Simultaneously infiltration, which is when cold winter air leaks into the house and warm air leaks out, is occurring. The institution is to develop your law for winter heating and summer cooling based on the midpoint greatest for your area while retention the inside comfortable. The midpoint for my area is 70 degrees inside and 10 degrees covering for heating and 72 degrees and 95 degrees for cooling.
The Air Conditioner Contractors connection (Acca) developed a calculation referred to as a manual J that can suspect heat loss/gain for residential structures based on construction materials, practices and measured thermal resistance (R value). There is constant updating and version eight is the most current. A sample version can be downloaded from Acca's site http://www.acca.org/speedsheet. several software companies have more sophisticated electronic versions based on the manual J that improve and refine the choices and results.
The volume of fuel needed to heat your home depends on several factors; 1) Climate, primarily the temperature, but wind, sun and precipitation also affect it. 2) House size and construction, quadrate footage, insulation, number & type of windows, plot orientation. 3) number of occupants and ages.4) Life style: Do you entertain? Do you work long hours? Are you a homebody? What is your perception of comfort?
Weather calculations are definite for each location, but are relative to a colse to city. They use data from the National weather aid and are averaged over a ten year period. They use the difference between the covering and desired inside temperatures. They account for the heat gains improbable from the sun, so lot location, trees and overhangs are important.
Your house size and recipe of construction is very prominent in determining your heat loss or gain and finally your Hvac bill. The number of rooms, types of doors, windows, wall thickness, insulation, siding materials and duct work are all prominent elements of the calculation. Amenities like cathedral ceilings, fireplaces; attached-garages all play prominent parts in calculating the load. Smart selection of materials, location and style can help reduce the impact on the final result. In a retrofit, the losses from lack of insulation are probably the biggest contributor to high utility bills.
A house without population is an easy calculation; but when you start placing them in your home you need to account for the heat they emit, their occasion of doors, and their use of hot water for bathing, cooking and laundry.Their perception of comfort and attitude toward conservation are all factors that need to be considered in the design.
So this calculated heat load (1000's of Btus) produces a manual J or summary of all the contributing factors with the object to properly size the mechanicals for each home and to allow the owner to make your mind up the most cost sufficient law they need.
Prior to the engineered arrival provided by manual J calculations, heating law were a seat of the pants proposition. population bought a unit based on the contractor's feel using their "rule of Thumb", the nameplate capacity and the weather conditions expected, (cold, absolutely cold and freezing); for Ac's the same 600-800 sq ft per/ton. Then they doubled it just to be safe. The succeed was that population wound up with; overheated, drafty houses in winter and either cold clammy or warm and humid homes in summer.
Now that we have calculated the heat loss (heating) /gain (cooling) for our asset we can think about selecting a law that will furnish the comfort, reliability and economy we need and want now and in the time to come 20 years.
Armed with this knowledge and the manual J calculation, I evaluated my options for my residential Hvac solutions. Stay tuned for part 2 of the appraisal process and my decision.
making productive vigor Choices For the Home - Part 1, Planning and understanding Your vigor Usage
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