Home Improvement Information

A Few Simple Facts About Gas And Electric Heating Systems


To make your home more energy efficient, you need to understand the energy efficiency of different types of heating and cooling systems. Many times people are confused by inaccurate information they receive from manufacturers and sellers of heating and cooling equipment. But all you need to know in order to make wise decisions when purchasing this equipment are a few simple facts.

First of all, the proper sizing of equipment is of utmost importance for comfort and low utility bills. Once the proper size is known, then you must decide what type of system best suits your needs. Let's look at three ways houses are heated.

Natural gas furnace,
Air-to-air electric heat pump,
Geothermal heat pump (electricity).

Now, let's consider how efficient they are. And when I talk about heating efficiency, I'm talking about how efficiently the system converts either natural gas or electricity to heat for you home.

A typical gas furnace will be rated at about 80 percent efficiency when it is new and if it is installed properly. That percentage will lessen with each year's use. An 80-percent efficiency rating means that 80 percent of the gas used will provide heat and the other 20 percent goes up the flue. For example, look at your neighbor's gas flue on a cold winter morning and see the steam coming out.

While I don't recommend this, a gas furnace that is 90-percent efficient can be used. With this unit, about 10 percent of the fuel goes up the flue. At first glance, you might think 80 to 90 percent sounds pretty good. But consider this. Would you purchase gasoline for your car and pump 10 to 20 percent of it on the ground? In my opinion, our nation would not have to worry about shortages of natural gas if we simply didn't waste it.

Another popular type of heating system, an air-to-air heat pump, uses electricity instead of gas. All Doug Rye homes use electric heating systems. An air-to-air heat pump, properly installed, would operate at an efficiency of around 250 percent. I know what you are thinking. "How can anything be more than 100 percent energy efficient?"

Remember, we are talking about how efficiently a unit uses either electricity or gas to move or create heat. Unlike a gas-fired furnace, a heat pump does not actually create heat, it simply moves heat from one location to another. Air-to-air pumps extract the heat from the air. With a heat pump, you use one unit of electricity and get about 2.5 units of heat.

My favorite system, the geothermal heat pump, is simply the very best there is. Most geothermal heating systems operate at close to 400 percent energy efficiency! Wow!

That's five times the efficiency of the 80 percent gas furnace. As this heat pump is extracting heat from Mother Earth, which is a constant 57 degrees, it is operating on minimal stress and using a very small amount of electricity to move the heat from the earth into the house.

With a geothermal system, you buy one unit of electricity (one unit of heat) and Mother Earth will give you three more units of heat for free. (That three units of heat is solar energy that Mr. Sunshine gave us over millions of years.) In future columns, we'll talk more about how air-to-air and geothermal heat pumps work.

Doug Rye is a nationally recognized energy consultant and licensed architect. Doug also host the "Home Remedies" radio talk show that is broadcast in 15 states.

Phillip Rye is a licensed engineer and has spent the past 15 years studying energy efficiency and energy conservation.

Discover how you can have lower utility bills guaranteed! Visit http://www.lower-utility-bills.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Trust the big names in home improvement?
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
About 15 years ago, I was a VP of a major "remodeling retailer's" home improvement business. I say "remodeling retailer" because they were not really in the ...

and more »


Lowe's: Home Improvement and Heart Surgery
FOXNews (blog)
When Donald Roberts (photo on the left) undergoes open heart surgery next month to repair an aneurysm, the home improvement store employee will not have to ...



980 CJME News Talk Radio

Home Improvement Giant Comes to Sask
NewsTalk650
It has been rumored for months and now it's confirmed- a giant home improvement store is coming to Regina. Lowe's will be opening its doors next year on ...
Lowe's comes to SaskatchewanRegina Leader-Post
Home improvment retailer Lowe's to open its first Saskatchewan store in ReginaCanadianBusiness.com
Business WatchWinnipeg Free Press
Trading Markets (press release) -Charlotte Business Journal -StarPhoenix
all 51 news articles »


Home-Improvement Projects That Pay for Themselves
New York Times
By AP NEW YORK (AP) -- As the housing market keeps sputtering and it becomes clear you may need to stay in the same home for a long time to recover your ...

and more »


Home Improvement Retail Market In Canada - New Market Report Published
OfficialWire (press release)
This profile focuses on the home improvement retail market in Canada and provides current and forecast data on market value in relation to the parent retail ...

and more »


AG sues Marlboro man impersonating builder
Boston Herald
A Marlboro man “desperate for money” built a home-improvement business based on lies, stealing another contractor's identity to line up ...
Marlborough man accused of improperly working on homes in SudburyMetroWest Daily News

all 6 news articles »


Boston Globe

Home improvement
Boston Globe
Win safely in hand, Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace enjoy a video. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff) By Julian Benbow Aside from Jonas Jerebko still darting up the ...

and more »


Drying up an oily wall
Seattle Times
Homefix: Dwight Barnett answers home-improvement questions. This today's topic is on moisture forming on the interior portion of an exterior wall. ...

and more »


24dash

Manchester home improvement partners "save the day" with free kitchen for new ...
24dash
A Manchester youth club has been rescued from its own 'Kitchen Nightmare' by the partners working to bring home improvements to thousands of properties in ...



Globe and Mail

Canadian Retail Sales Record 0.7% Increase in January
TopNews United States
As has been revealed by a report released by Statistics Canada on Friday, customers looking to make the most of the home-improvement tax credit ended up ...
Canada January Retail Sales Rise as Renovation Credit ExpiresBusinessWeek
Last-minute home renovations propel retail sales in JanuaryOttawa Business Journal
Home reno tax credit boosts retailersToronto Sun
Tolerance -Toronto Star -CBC.ca
all 82 news articles »

Google News

home | site map
© 2006