Home Series Booklets

Home Heating and Cooling

The Bottom Line | How Much Work Can You Do? | Help with Cost

Download the the entire booklet here.
Book 2: Home Heating and Cooling (1.7MB PDF)

Save with a whole-house approach

Every year, a typical family in the United States spends almost half of its home energy budget on heating and cooling. In Iowa, that percentage is even higher, due to temperature extremes reached during the winter and summer months. Unfortunately, many of those dollars often are wasted because conditioned air escapes through leaky ceilings, walls and foundations—or flows through inadequately insulated attics, exterior walls and basements. In addition, many heating systems and air conditioners aren’t properly maintained or are more than 10 years old and inefficient, compared to models being sold today.

As a result, it makes sense to analyze your home as a collection of systems that must work together in order to achieve peak energy savings. For example, you won’t get anywhere near the savings you’re expecting from a new furnace if your air-handling ducts are uninsulated and leak at every joint. The most energy-efficient central air-conditioning setup won’t perform to your expectations if your attic insulation is inadequate and can’t reduce solar heat gain to help keep your home cool. And planting the wrong types of trees or shrubs close to your home adversely can affect potential energy savings all year long.

Here’s the bottom line
By properly maintaining your existing heating and cooling equipment (or replacing aging units with high-efficiency models), addressing weatherization and insulation issues at your house and getting into the habit of using energy efficiently all the time, you can save 10 to 30 percent (or more) on your utility bills every year. You’ll also help reduce pollution at utility plants that use fossil fuels to generate electricity. (According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home creates more carbon dioxide than two average-sized cars.)

How much of the work can you do?
If you’re a competent do-it-yourselfer, you can handle many of the maintenance chores and energy-saving projects described in this book. However, if you’re uncomfortable with the idea of working around electricity or would rather hire someone to handle a job, don’t hesitate to call a professional; the dollars saved through energy savings in future years will be worth the expense. (Of course, only a trained technician should handle jobs that require working with refrigerants or control units.) For details on hiring a heating and cooling contractor.

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Your utility or bank might be able to help with project costs
Small energy-efficiency projects such as sealing air leaks or weather-stripping windows are relatively inexpensive. However, when it’s time to purchase a new heating and cooling system, it makes sense to talk with your utility company and bank before buying. Some utility companies, for example, offer rebates on high-efficiency air-source heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps, gas furnaces, boilers and central air-conditioning systems.

Ask a banker about a low-interest loan to cover the cost of your energy-saving projects, or consider a home-improvement loan. If you’re planning to refinance your home mortgage, look for an energy-efficiency mortgage that allows a lender to use a higher-than-normal debt-to-income ratio to qualify you for the loan.

Finally, check for government-sponsored assistance and grant programs designed for low-income and elderly homeowners. Get in touch with a Community Action Agency in your area, or see page 24 for information on contacting the Iowa Department of Human Rights/Division of Community Action Agencies.

Sources of air leaks in a typical home
Air infiltrates into your home through every hole, nook and cranny. About one-third of this air infiltrates through the openings in your ceilings, walls and floors.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, you can save 10 percent or more on your energy bills just by plugging air leaks in these places in your home.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Download the the entire booklet here.
Book 2: Home Heating and Cooling (1.7MB PDF)

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