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Did you know?

Most homes suffer from performance problems ranging from inflated energy consumption to poor thermal comfort to indoor air quality issues.

Scheduling a Home Energy Audit can help to reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by over 1,000 pounds annually, which in turn saves power and money.

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Home Performance Energy Services

Building science is the study of how all systems of a home function together to optimize building performance and prevent building failure. Everything in the home is connected and the relationship between all the systems in the house is the key to its overall performance.

 

Insulation

Properly insulated homes can use 30-50% less energy than homes without insulation. A comprehensive energy audit will scientifically determine how much air leakage exists in your home and the current insulation levels and quality of installation. Lining your "thermal envelope" by adding materials that do not readily allow heat to leak through your ceilings, walls and ductwork saves energy by keeping heat out during the summer and keeping heat in during the winter. Once the effectiveness of insulation is measured, adding insulation to the uninsulated areas can cut your conduction heat loss in those areas in half. Most older homes were built with little or no insulation.

Air Sealing

Air leakage, or infiltration, occurs when outside air enters a house uncontrollably through cracks, gaps, and openings. Most homes have the equivalent of a large open window in combined air leaks in their attic alone! Sealing these openings is done with caulk, expanding foam or foam board to create a good air barrier.
Many air leaks and drafts are easy to find because they are easy to feel — like those around windows and doors. But holes hidden in attics, basements, and crawlspaces are more difficult and a bigger problem.
These leaks can make your home uncomfortable, waste energy, and cost you money. AZ Renewable Energy Measures uses a nationally recognized blower door test to determine whether your home is leaky or tight and can pinpoint where the problems are.

Benefits of Insulation and Air Sealing

Efficiency: By insulating & air-sealing, you will make your home more comfortable and reduce your utility bills for years to come. According to your local electric utility company, about 75% of the homes here in Arizona have leaky HVAC ducts and vents, wasting on average 20% of the energy used to cool or heat your home. That's like throwing $0.20 away for every dollar spent on cooling your home.
Most existing duct systems were sealed with old duct tape - the worst thing to use to seal ductwork since it will dry up and fall off over time, allowing junctions and splices to open, spilling conditioned air into your attic.

Enhance Air Quality: Leaky HVAC air ducts are usually located in the attic in Arizona. This can cause major indoor air quality issues. The leaky duct system can draw in the unhealthy air and dust and distribute it throughout the house.

Improve Comfort: Fixing the leaks can provide more air flow to the rooms where you want it. A common complaint is that some rooms are to hot or cold and don't receive enough air flow.
Improperly balanced duct systems are a common problem. In addition to comfort issues, this can result in indoor air quality issues and more wear and tear on the HVAC unit. To help balance the system and deliver correct air flow to individual rooms, jump ducts may be recommended or dampers may need to be installed to redirect cool air to where you want it.

 

Duct Sealing and Replacement

If you have a central air conditioner or forced air furnace, you'll have ductwork that carries the cool and warm air your equipment creates to different rooms in the house. Most homes have leaky ductwork and insufficient air flow, which results in an uncomfortable living environment. A duct system that is properly sealed can make your home more comfortable, energy efficient, and deliver cleaner air.
Many homes are not properly sealed which leads to the air you're paying to create to be dissipated in the attic, and walls. Ductwork must be well-sealed, insulated, and balanced to ensure your home's cooling and heating systems work as efficiently as possible.
A cooling or heating system can only be as good as the ducts that carry the conditioned air through your home.

“In a typical house, about 25 - 35% of the air that moves through the duct system is lost due to leaks or improper installation. Fixing duct leaks can save you $200 or more in annual energy costs and improve the comfort of your home.” – SRP
“In Arizona’s desert climate, about 50% of your annual energy bill is typically spent on running your heating and cooling system. Fixing duct leaks could save you more than $200 in your annual energy costs while improving the comfort of your home.” – APS
“There are more than a million miles of duct work in U.S. homes; and industry experts estimate that more than two-thirds of them are leaky enough to justify sealing or repair” – Dept of Energy

Benefits of Duct Sealing and Replacement

Improve Comfort: Sealing and insulating ducts can help with common comfort problems, such as rooms that are too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.

Enhance Indoor Air Quality: Dust, insulation particles and outdoor impurities can enter your duct system, aggravating asthma and allergy problems. Sealing ducts can help improve indoor air quality by reducing the risk of pollutants entering ducts and circulating through your home.

Promote Safety: During normal operation, gas appliances such as water heaters, clothes dryers, and furnaces release combustion gases (like carbon monoxide) through their venting systems. Leaky ductwork in your cooling and heating system may cause back-drafting, where these gases are drawn back into the living space, rather than expelled to the outdoors. Sealing leaks can reduce this risk.

Save Money: Leaky ducts can reduce heating and cooling system efficiency by as much as 20 percent. Sealing and insulating ducts increases efficiency, lowers your energy bills, and can often pay for itself in energy savings.

 

Radiant Barrier

Radiant barriers are materials that are installed into buildings to reduce the amount of heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. A radiant barrier insulation system is a layer of foil facing an air space, installed in the envelope of a building/home to reflect heat energy away from your home instead of trying to absorb it. A radiant barrier reflects radiant heat energy instead of trying to absorb it.

It is possible for your attic to reach temperatures of 125 to 150 degrees when the outside air is 90 to 100 degrees. That radiant heat will then heat your ceiling and warm up your living space, increasing your discomfort and making your air conditioning work harder.

Radiant Barrier Benefits

Improve Comfort: If you have any heating or cooling equipment or duct work in the attic, radiant barriers can be a cost effective investment by lowering the attic temperature and keeping your air conditioning equipment and duct work cooler.

Cost Effective: This varies with conditions: how well is your house shaded; how much insulation is in your attic; and if your air handler and duct work are in your attic. Studies from the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) have shown that radiant barriers can save 8-12% of cooling costs. The amount of savings depends on how much of the heat load in your house comes from the attic. If the walls of your house are well-insulated and your windows are energy efficient, attic heat can account for a large part of the cooling load of your home, and radiant barriers can make a larger difference in your air conditioning bill.

 

Solar Screens

Solar Screens are the most effective window treatments that you can apply to your home for lowering energy bills by stopping the heat transfer through your windows and doors while still maintaining your view.

Solar Screen Benefits

Indoor Comfort: Up to 90% of the radiant heat gain can be reflected away from entering the home. Window film, interior products or awnings cannot compete with the efficiency rating of solar screens.

 

Solar Hot Water System

Let the sun heat your water! The solar thermal appliance is attractive, safe, and reliable with minimal maintenance required over its long operational life.
With increasing energy costs, solar hot water heating is one of the best ways you can save money on your utility bill

Solar PV

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems can help you reduce or eliminate your need for electricity from the utility. A PV system includes a series of panels (or shingles or new films) mounted on the roof of your home, garage or outbuilding. These panels convert sunlight directly into electricity with no moving parts, no fuel, and no pollution.

Solar Hot Water and PV Benefits

Once you pay off your system, the electricity you produce is yours, free of charge.
If electricity prices rise, as most people expect they will, your system cost stays the same, increasing your return on investment and saving you even more.
A solar system adds value to your home — studies show that for every dollar you reduce your energy bill, your home's value increases up to $20.
In addition to U.S. federal government tax credits of up to $2,000 for this system, there are other state incentives that  in some cases may cover more than 65% of the cost of the system.

 

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Energy Services

At AZ Renewable Energy Measures, our mission is to help homeowners reduce their energy bill and improve the comfort and indoor air quality of their homes. After our comprehensive energy Audit we will recommend a wide range of home energy efficiency solutions. If you are in Arizona, contact us today to schedule an appointment and be one step closer to saving money and power.

Contact

bonnie@howsmyenergy.com

(480) 390-8060

4805 W. Buffalo St
Chandler, AZ 85226