A home energy audit is something that can be performed by a professional technician or the homeowner. An energy audit is an assessment aimed at discovering where your energy use can be improved, controlling waste, increasing efficiency, saving on energy costs and helping the environment. It may take a little time, but it can result in long-term savings.

Areas to examine

• Lighting: Incandescent lighting gives off heat as a by-product. Air conditioning and incandescent lights are essentially at cross purposes. Fluorescent lighting is cooler and takes less energy to light.
• Insulation: Insulation is a major energy saver. Ducts, water heaters, water pipes, electrical switch plates and receptacles, the attic, walls and underneath the floor should all be insulated.
• Air leaks: Use a stick of smoldering incense to check for air leaks. Hold it close to windows, exterior doors, attic doors and around fireplaces to check for drafts. Use caulk or weather stripping to seal around doors and windows.
• Wall penetrations: A thorough energy audit will include leaks where wiring or pipes come through walls. Use caulk or foam insulation to seal these areas where drafts occur.
• Home comfort equipment: Check filters once a month, particularly during excessive hot or cold weather. When they’re dirty, change them. Keep your equipment maintained by a professional at least once a year. Aging equipment, especially if it is more than 15 years old, can impact energy costs dramatically. Consider upgrading to further enhance your energy savings.

If you’re interested in a professional energy audit, contact a contractor in the AC Pro network. Serving Southern California and Nevada, we’re always happy to help.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Energy efficiency image via Shutterstock

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

Purchasing any big-ticket item naturally involves a bit of stress and worry — not least because of the fear of the unknown. How can we be sure we’re not throwing away a large sum of money on a product that will fail in a few months or consume more than its fair share of energy?

Enter the Energy Star program, created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 to designate those heating and cooling systems, appliances and electronics that meet strict energy-efficiency standards. And the key here is that the products have undergone rigorous testing, so you know they’re quality performers.

The familiar Energy Star logo serves to give consumers notice of the agency’s official stamp of approval. Look for this label whenever you plan to buy a major (or minor) home appliance.

You can save considerable money on your energy bills by choosing appliances bearing the Energy Star label. Consider:

• Energy Star-approved washing machines use up to 43,000 gallons less water over their lifetimes than other washers, according to the program. Top-loading washers have also been shown to be gentler on your clothes, which saves you money, too.
• New, Energy Star-approved dishwashers use about 1,300 gallons of water less over their lifetime than a dishwasher installed before 1994.
• Energy Star-approved refrigerators use about 20 percent less energy than standard models. They owe their efficiency to better compressors and  insulation and better quality temperature components.
• Energy Star-approved window air conditioners use about 10 percent less energy than other air conditioners, according to the program.

Choosing Energy Star points you in the right direction, but you still face an array of choices. For assistance in selecting the right model for your home and needs, turn to the experts in the AC Pro network. AC Pro contractors serve communities throughout Nevada and Southern California.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about the Energy Star label and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

Surprised at the size of your energy bill? Wondering where all that power goes? Your household might have some energy-sucking appliances or systems you haven’t considered.

To help identify which parts of your household might be costing you the most money, here’s an anatomy of an energy bill, showing how energy costs break down for a typical U.S. household — and some ways to rein in those costs:

• Air conditioning and heating systems account for 45 percent of the average energy bill. You might have leaking ductwork, no or poor insulation or an older, inefficient system. Some homes might have an air conditioner or heater that is not the correct capacity. A system with too little capacity works harder, shortening the life of the compressor or motor. An oversize air conditioning or heating system uses too much energy every time you turn it on.
• Hot water heaters represent about 11 percent of home use, while washing machines and dryers represent approximately 10 percent of your energy costs. You can tackle this problem in several ways, such as insulating the water pipes and hot water tank, using low-flow showerheads, washing clothes in cold water and putting only full loads in the washer and dryer.
• Lighting accounts for about 7 percent of household energy use. Switch from incandescent bulbs to fluorescent bulbs.
• Your refrigerator uses about 6 percent of your home’s energy, and more if you have a separate chest freezer or a second fridge. The most efficient refrigerators have the freezer on top and do not have an ice maker.
• Fifteen percent of your bill goes toward “miscellaneous” appliances. That includes your cell phone and other reusable batteries, as well as “instant-on” appliances or those with constant electronic displays.
• Household electronics consume approximately 4 percent and dishwashers about 2 percent of the average energy bill. Put computers in sleep mode when you are not using them. Wash full loads in the dishwasher, or upgrade to a newer, more efficient model.

For more tips and advice for reducing energy use in your home, contact a certified contractor in the AC Pro network. Serving Southern California and Nevada, we’re always happy to help.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Energy efficiency image via Shutterstock

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

Chances are, you’ve heard of Energy Star and seen its blue label with a white star on many home heating, cooling and other energy-efficient products. The program was created by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. Their mission is to help consumers preserve the environment and save money by educating the public about energy-saving products and activities.

To help homeowners here in Nevada and California (and all across the United States) to learn what they can do to save energy and lower their monthly utility bills, Energy Star has created an informative tool called the Home Energy Yardstick. It guides residents through simple steps leading to a personalized assessment of their energy use and provides a list of steps to lower energy consumption while still maintaining a comfortable home. The advice provided is tailored to the homeowner’s part of the country and includes an estimate of the percentage that can be saved if steps are followed.

To use the Energy Star yardstick tool, here’s all you need:

• Monthly energy bills for the past year or yearly statement
• The type of energy used in your home, such as electricity, natural gas, propane, oil, wood, etc.
• The size of the house in square feet
• The number of residents living in the home

If you’d like an in-depth professional assessment of your home for even more detailed results contact an AC Pro contractor. Our home comfort experts will analyze your home and usage patterns with specialized equipment. You’ll get prioritized recommendations for home energy upgrades, starting with those that will provide the most energy savings. What’s more, your contractor can help you get that work done.

To find a certified local contractor to help with your home energy assessment, repairs or other home heating and cooling needs, talk to the advisors at AC Pro. We’ll help you choose a local contractor with extensive experience or help you get quotes to compare from several professionals in your area. Visit our website to learn more about our service or just give us a call at our toll-free number.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

The amount of heating and cooling required to keep your home comfortable is called your heating and cooling load. Lower your heating and cooling load and you can realize substantial energy savings, both now and when you upgrade your air conditioning and heating system.

The process involves increasing the efficiency of vital home systems and raising overall performance.

Some projects that increase efficiency will be simple for Southern California and Nevada homeowners to take on themselves. Other projects require some training and skill, so you should look for an AC Pro. Here are some examples of projects that can improve home performance:

• Sealing air leaks in your home. This includes leaks around windows and doors, vents and anywhere plumbing or electric fixtures penetrate your exterior walls.
• Sealing air leaks in your attic. The attic is often a source of major energy loss, as conditioned air is pulled up through the house.
• Installing high-efficiency windows.
• Adding insulation to your attic. Do this after you seal attic leaks. Insulation is powerful when it comes to reducing heat transfer, but doesn’t stop air leaks.
• Adding insulation to your walls. If you’re losing energy directly through your walls, blown-in insulation can help.
• Sealing your air ducts. Over time, air ducts can develop rips and become disconnected at the joints, which can leak expensive conditioned air before it ever reaches your living space.

By helping your home hold on to warm and cool air longer, projects like these reduce your heating and cooling load, which in turn reduces the amount your air conditioning and heating equipment has to work. You’ll see the savings and increased comfort quickly.

They can pay off even more if you decide to upgrade to high-efficiency equipment. A smaller heating and cooling load typically requires a smaller system, which could mean a lower purchase price. Your contractor should size your new equipment, taking into account your energy saving projects.

The savings you’ll achieve by lowering your heating and cooling load will pay off for years. Contact an AC Pro in the Southern California or Nevada area who can help.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about lowering your heating and cooling load and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

Are you having trouble consistently cooling your household? Are humidity fluctuations compromising the comfort of your family? Do your cooling costs seem to be on the rise? If you answered “Yes” to one or more of these questions, it may be time to have your air-conditioning system looked at by a professional air conditioning contractor.

To determine the efficiency of your air conditioning system, ACPro’s Certified Contractors assess these three factors:

• The seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) of your air conditioner
• The tightness of your household’s air sealing
• The efficiency of your ductwork

Your air conditioning system’s SEER indicates the level of cooling you can expect to receive for the amount of energy consumed over the course of the season. Today’s high-efficiency air-conditioning systems are required to carry a SEER of at least 13, while older models may rate a ten or below. If you’re running a model that is nearing ten years of age, a replacement is recommended. However, even today’s high-efficiency air conditioners can experience performance issues in a household that has air leaks and insufficient duct sealing.

Air can escape or enter your home in a number of ways. While proper ventilation is recommended to ensure a higher quality of indoor air, this should be done in a controlled manner to regulate temperature, humidity, and energy usage. Thus, air leaks should be sealed to maximize your household’s comfort and energy efficiency. Common sites for air leakage include:

• Attic
• Doors and windows
• Ductwork
• Light fixtures
• Plumbing
• Vents and exhaust fans
• Wiring

In addition to the air leaks found around ductwork as they pass through the floors, ceilings, and walls of your home, you also have to worry about the efficiency of the ducts themselves. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that as much as 60 percent of your conditioned air can be lost before reaching supply registers if your ducts aren’t properly sealed and insulated.

Why pay more for less? If you’re having trouble efficiently and affordably cooling your home, let one of ACPro’s Certified Contractors assess the overall efficiency of your household cooling system. For expert consultation, call ACPro today!

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about air-conditioning efficiency and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC PRO services the Southwestern United States including Southern California and Nevada.  Visit our website to see our special offers to get started today!

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

Most homes in Nevada and Southern California rely on cooling and heating systems to help keep them comfortable. Those systems can only do so much, though, if heat is transferring into or out of your home because it’s poorly insulated. In short, insulation of homes is the key to reduce energy spending.

So how much insulation is enough to provide you with savings in energy costs? In other words, what will give you the biggest bang for the buck? Insulation’s effectiveness is measured by its “R-value” — basically, the magic number you need to meet to ensure proper insulation. The R-value your home needs depends on factors including:

• The local climate.
• Whether you’re insulating an existing structure or new construction.
• Your heating and air conditioning system.
• Where in your home you plan to put the insulation.

Insulation for home levels for an existing wood-frame structure in Nevada and California range a bit, depending on the exact location of your home. In most of Southern California, for example, you should add insulation totaling between an R-30 and R-60 to your previously uninsulated attic. If you have 3 to 4 inches of existing insulation in your attic, you should add more insulation totaling R-25 to R-38. While you can find more information through the EnergyStar program, a professional heating and air conditioner contractor also can help you to find your magic number.

To do so, the heating and air conditioner contractor might conduct an energy evaluation, or energy audit. An energy audit can help to identify where your house requires insulation, because it reveals air leaks. It will also help you to determine the efficiency of your heating and air conditioning system and pinpoint desirable insulation levels for your home.

AC Pro can connect you to certified air conditioner contractors who specialize in the evaluation and insulation of homes in the state of Nevada and California. Please contact us anytime.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about insulation and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC PRO services the Southwestern United States including Southern California and Nevada.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

If you’re wondering why your blower door needs testing, don’t worry.  You don’t have a blower door.  Your contractor brings it with him when he does a home energy audit.  According to the federal government a blower door test is one of the first steps to energy savings.

What is it?

In a blower door test, your heating and air conditioning professional places a powerful fan in one of your exterior doors and seals off the edges.  The fan blows so much air out of the house that the air pressure inside drops below the air pressure outside.

Air moves from high pressure to low pressure areas, so the air from outside comes in.  The contractor will track down the air leaks. The gauges on the blower door will measure how big the leaks are.

Why is it important?

The test measures how ‘tight’ your house is. A tight house loses very little air to the outside. When your house leaks, you lose hot air in the winter and cold air in the summer.  If your house isn’t tight, you’ve been paying to heat and cool the outside air.  Once you know where the leaks are, you can seal them up and start seeing energy savings on your next home cooling or heating bill.

The test will help detect:

• Where sealing and insulation is ineffective
• Whether your ducts and vents are properly sealed
• The sources of drafts and cold spots
• Where rodents are finding entryways into your house

What next?

After your contractor gets the test results, he’ll discuss the best route to energy savings.   You’ll want to make your house tighter, but you don’t want to make it too tight – you do need some air exchange with the outside to maintain the condition of your home and to protect your family’s health and comfort.

If you’re interested in home energy savings and ready for a blower door test, you can find a certified contractor at ACPro.  We’ll help you find a qualified heating and air conditioning contractor in your area.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about energy savings and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC PRO services the Southwestern United States including Southern California and Nevada.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

Evaluating the efficiency of your heating and cooling systems (and particularly of the insulation that backs those systems up) can result in major energy savings (especially in hot SoCal and Nevada summers). There’s no substitute for a profession evaluation in your home, but a good first step is this simple online tool from Energy Star.

To do this, you only need three things and five minutes: 1) You need information on your last 12 months of energy expenses. 2) You have to enter the energy sources used for heating or cooling your home(other than electricity). 3) You need to enter the total area of your home in square feet.

After entering in your information to receive feedback, you can also use this easy tool for suggested improvements (also provided by Energy Star). By doing this, you can explore some of the best energy savings techniques for homes.

Once you have taken these steps, how can you get started in making improvements? By contacting an approved contractor who can use diagnostic tools, you can improve your home’s air sealing and insulation. This alone will typically result in 10 to 20 percent savings on energy bills. Because the typical American home has the equivalent of a 9 square-foot hole in the wall as a result of leaks and drafts, even the smallest measures (especially those taken after evaluation by a professional) can result in unexpectedly huge savings on energy bills.

With the help of a skilled contractor, you can realize your home’s full potential for energy savings. The AC Pro network includes contractors throughout Nevada and Southern California, so there’s sure to be a company near you. Check our list of expert contractors or call 866-9-ACPRO for help in finding the best partner in energy efficiency.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about energy savings and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC PRO services the Southwestern United States including Southern California and Nevada.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog

Energy Star’s new Home Performance program is–as the name suggests–aimed at getting your home to its most efficient. Contractors throughout California and Nevada are allies in the program, which means you’ve got professionals familiar with Energy Star’s goals at your disposal. Energy Star is promoting energy savings, reduction of greenhouse gases, and a push toward cleaner and less expensive home comfort with cost-effective products and installation.

Right now, over one million homes in the United States are certified Energy Star homes. What does that mean? That means that over a million homeowners collectively saved more than $270 million on home energy costs. It means that current homes are at least 15 percent or more efficient with energy use than homes built to the International Residential Code in 2004. It also means that there is an average savings of 20 to 30 percent in energy bills compared with other homes in the U.S.

Energy Star, their certified manufacturers and qualified contractors are all on board for the program to help homeowners reap energy savings rewards. Federal tax credits still apply on many products and installations of approved upgrades for existing homes as well as new constructions.

You can go to this Energy Star website to find out details about the program. And, you can visit us at AC Pro to find certified professionals in your community who handle and install these appliances and heating and air conditioning equipment.

AC Pro is committed to their partnership with only the best in the heating and air industry. These contractors stand behind their products and installation and are proud to be associated with the Energy Star Program.

Residents in Nevada can go here to find out more about the professionals who are committed to helping their residents see more energy savings. California homeowners can click here for more information.

If you want to join the over one million who have seen unprecedented energy savings, go to our AC Pro website for additional information and links to participating contractors in your area.

Our goal is to help inform our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about energy savings and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

AC PRO services the Southwestern United States including Southern California and Nevada.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.

AC Pro Home Comfort Blog