New furnace technology reduces homeowners’ carbon footprint
(NC)-Canadian homeowners are doing more to lessen their impact on the environment. With new technologies and innovations becoming available, the opportunities are endless – even extending to home furnaces.
“It’s important to evaluate how much or how little your home heating system is contributing to your environmental impact,” says Mark Deneau, marketing representative of ECR International, an Ontario-based manufacturer of high-efficiency heating and air conditioning products. “New heating technology is allowing us all to make positive choices for the environment.”
Innovations such as two-stage design, higher-efficiency operation and variable speed blower motors give a homeowner the opportunity to reduce their furnace’s fuel and energy consumption, and lessen its carbon emissions.
. For much of the year a conventional single-stage furnace runs at a high stage only – no matter what the heating needs – and consumes the greatest amount of fuel. The new two-stage design allows a furnace to run on two levels: the high-stage level on bitterly cold days (only 20 per cent of the year), and the low-stage level for the rest of the time, consuming less fuel and reducing carbon emissions.
. A furnace’s efficiency is measured by its Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) rating. The higher a furnace’s AFUE, the less fuel it uses, resulting in lower bills and fewer environmentally-harmful emissions. Many furnaces that are 25 years old or more have an efficiency rating of only 55 to 65 per cent. By replacing a 55 per cent AFUE furnace with a 95 per cent AFUE model like ECR’s Olsen UltraComfort G95V (www.olsenhvac.com), homeowners could realize significant savings over the life of the furnace.
. A furnace that uses a variable speed blower motor has lower electrical costs than conventional models. A variable speed motor consumes, on average, only 240 watts of electricity on low-stage heat whereas a conventional motor can consume 600 watts.
“All Canadians have to heat their homes, but they can do it in a way that reduces their fuel consumption, carbon emissions and energy use while allowing them to enjoy lower heating bills.”
Credit: www.newscanada.com