|
Guaranteed Return on Investment!
By David Elble
Would you be interested if you could invest money
with a guaranteed return of 10, 20, or even 30
percent?
That may seem too good to believe, but it’s true.
Energy costs are rising at alarming rates. Utility
companies project an increase this heating season of 20
to 30 percent on natural gas. Likewise, electric rates
are also on the way up. There are a number of ways to
defend yourself against the rising cost of staying warm
and comfortable. Heat is measured in btu’s (British
Thermal Units). One approach to saving money is to
minimize the winter btu loss and summer btu gain of your
home. The other way to save money is to generate the
needed heating and cooling for your home more
economically. The wise consumer will do both!
Evaluate your home’s insulation. The
first place to start is in your attic. Many homes built
before 1975 have little or no attic insulation. Some
newer homes may also need to have the insulation
upgraded. In the Louisville area, at design conditions
(10 degrees outside and 70 degrees inside) ceilings with
no insulation loose approximately 36 btu’s per square
foot of ceiling surface. Adding six inches of insulation
(R-19) will reduce the heat loss to 3.2 btu’s per square
foot. Many homes today are built with a ceiling thermal
resistance value of R-30, which only looses 2 btu’s per
square foot. Installing attic insulation with a value of
R-30 in an existing 2000 square foot ranch home with no
insulation will reduce the heat loss on the ceiling by a
tremendous 68,000 btu’s per hour on a 10 degree day.
Attic insulation is relatively inexpensive, and the
savings in operating costs will usually return your
investment in a very short time. Adding wall insulation
can also reduce operating costs. However, it is more
expensive to install and usually takes longer to recover
your investment. Be sure to inspect weather stripping
around exterior doors and windows. If you can see light
around the door or window, it’s costing you money. If
you have old single pane windows they will loose
approximately 60 btu’s per square foot at design
conditions. Double pane windows loose about half as
much.
If you substantially reduce the heat loss and gain of
your home, you may also be able to reduce the needed
capacity of heating and cooling equipment without
sacrificing any comfort.
Having a professional quality energy saving
thermostat installed can save you big dollars
if there are times when your home is unoccupied for more
than a few hours on a regular basis, or if you set your
heating temperature to a lower setting while you sleep.
Today’s professional quality thermostats are easily
programmable to custom fit your lifestyle. Depending on
the length and degree of temperature setback, you could
save as much as 33% on your heating and cooling costs
without sacrificing any comfort.
New high efficiency equipment can
save you significant heating/cooling dollars and
dramatically increase your comfort level. Technology has
come a long way in recent years and home comfort systems
are no exception. There have been dramatic advances in
home comfort technology. You may be loosing as much as
40% of your heat up the chimney on older furnaces.
Today’s furnaces minimize flue losses and extract as
much as 93% of the heat from the fuel. Likewise, today’s
air conditioning systems are much more efficient,
provide greater comfort, and are significantly less
expensive to operate.
Humidifiers – “It’s not the heat, it’s the
humidity!” Have you ever heard that said on the
most uncomfortable summer days? Higher humidity levels
do in fact make the temperature feel warmer. A
humidifier in your home will allow you be comfortable at
lower winter thermostat temperatures, therefore saving
you money! A humidifier can also provide a more
healthful environment. If someone in your home suffers
from asthma, allergies, sinus problems, or even dry
skin, dry winter air may aggravate their condition. Dry
air absorbs moisture from your home and furnishings,
causing materials to shrink and crack.
A high quality, professionally installed humidifier
is a wise investment!
Don’t continue losing money unnecessarily!
Invest today for tremendous returns!
|
