Energy - Bob Jenson

Why You Need Proper Attic Ventilation Now!

Written by Kevin on September 16, 2013. Posted in Energy, Ventilation. No Comments on Why You Need Proper Attic Ventilation Now!

Why is Attic Ventilation so Important?

Attics tend to be one of the more unexplored parts of the home. Sometimes creepy, often dusty, attics don’t usually get much attention. However, attics play an important role in the comfort and energy use of your entire home. One of the most important elements of attics is ventilation. It often goes hand in hand with insulation, climate control, and other elements of your home and can make all the difference in how your home feels and operates. Let’s take a closer look at ventilation and your attic.

Deep Breathing

Ventilation involves the flow of air within your home. Your home’s ventilation pulls in fresh air from outside and pushes out the stuffy air inside your home. Lo and behold, most of your home’s ventilation system revolves around your attic. Without enough outdoor air, pollutants, allergens, and even excess gases from stoves and fireplaces can accumulate, leading to potential health problems, safety issues, and an overall uncomfortable place to live. Too much moisture in your home can cause structural damage and lead to mold growth. Humidity poses some of the same problems while forcing your cooling system to work doubly to keep things at a nice temperature.

Why the Attic?

So why would you even need to vent your attic? Why not just focus on the areas you actually use and live in? Well, the attic plays a crucial role in your home’s temperature and well-being. It’s the first room affected by heat. As the sun radiates directly onto the roof, the heat generated passes into the attic. Trapped heat inevitably raises the temperature in your entire home, so you have to get your air conditioner working harder and longer. In other words, properly venting your attic can keep your bills down and make for a more eco-friendly home in the process.

Bad ventilation poses problems in the winter as well. When the cold has nowhere to go in your attic, it causes condensation, creating moisture that can lead to wood rot, mold, and deterioration in your roof and attic structures. Excess moisture also decreases the effectiveness of insulation.

The Many Vents

Your home has a few means of bringing fresh air into each room.

Infiltration is when air enters the house through cracks, joints, and small openings in the walls, floors, and ceiling. You generally don’t want this kind of ventilation as it’s not something you can control nor is it especially environmentally friendly. Cracks in the attic are also a bit too inviting for potential pests.
Natural ventilation is what happens when you open a door or window. Before the onset of technology, this was the most common ventilation method, and it’s still relatively effective today. It’s a simple, straightforward way to refill your home with fresh air, but it also relies on wind and temperature differences between the indoors and outdoors.
Spot ventilation attempts to move air through localized fans that get rid of moisture and pollutants on the spot. Think of bathroom fans or the range hoods over stoves. Spot ventilation is pretty effective for small, contained areas, but for a robust solution you should consider…
Whole-house ventilation uses a complex network of fans and ducts to get rid of stale air and supply filtered, conditioned air back into the home.

Venting the Attic

Venting the attic generally uses a combination of all of the above. First, you need to seal up cracks and openings that have formed in and around your attic. This will prevent air leaks, which defeat the purpose of having a good ventilation system.

From there, most attic ventilation systems use a series of soffit and ridge vents to keep air moving through the attic. Soffit vents, located along the underside of the roof, pull air up and into the attic space. Ridge vents are strips of ventilation placed along the top of the roof, allowing stale air to rise out of the attic. It’s a constant cycle that requires unimpeded air movement.

That’s where whole-house fans or attic fans come into the picture. While many soffit and ridge vent systems can work fine on their own, fans can ensure that air moves consistently, drawing air out of the attic and spitting it out of the home. You’ll also want to find a way to control the moisture in your attic.

Depending on your home, you can look into a boat load of other options. Contact ventilation specialists like Bob Jenson Air Conditioning and Heating for an audit and to find out what options would work best for your home.

Home Energy: Utility Bill Breakdown

Written by Kevin on September 9, 2013. Posted in Air Conditioning, Energy. No Comments on Home Energy: Utility Bill Breakdown

Why Is My Energy Bill So High?

We tend to take our utility power for granted until it goes out and then we realize how much electricity is involved in our daily lives. What we can’t stand is getting those hugh bills and realizing we are overpaying the utility company with are hard earned dollars. We breakdown the utility bill and reveal where you might be able to save your cash to spend on what you want!

Updating your biggest appliances

Obviously your heating and cooling system can dominate your yearly power expenses. Updating these power hungry machines can save you hundreds of dollars and start to pay off the investment. If your not ready for that kind of cost, you might look into insulating your attic to lower the time your system has to run during the year. We give free estimates on both, so call us or contact us today and we’ll help you reduce those utility bills while increasing your comfort.

How Energy Efficient Is Your Home?

Written by Kevin on August 19, 2013. Posted in Energy, HERS Rating. No Comments on How Energy Efficient Is Your Home?

Energy Efficiency – How Does Your Home Stack Up?

When we consider energy efficiency we usually think of our individual appliances like our air conditioner or refrigerator. Realistically, when we combine all the things that use energy in our house we are now thinking about our homes total efficiency. More people are focusing on their homes efficiency as a whole, especially when considering adding a renewable energy source like solar. Here’s a fun infographic to show how different homes rate:

Lowering Energy Usage

There is a lot you can do to make your home more efficient even before considering solar. Your old air conditioning and heating system can use up to 40-50% of the energy in your home. It’s usually the biggest offender of wasted energy. At Bob Jenson A/C, we help people consider efficient replacements for systems that are reaching 10, 15+ years of usage. Installing a new, high efficient comfort system can pay itself back in a few years and raise the value of your home, just to name a few. Give us a call today and we’ll come out for free to give you some options to help you start saving energy right away!

What is HERS Rating and Is It a Good Thing?

Written by Kevin on August 12, 2013. Posted in Energy, HERS Rating. No Comments on What is HERS Rating and Is It a Good Thing?

What is HERS Rating?

Energy efficiency has come to the forefront in the past few years, but even with all the recycling, composting, and LED bulbs, it’s hard to really figure out how effective your efforts are. That’s where the Home Energy Rating System—HERS, for short—index comes into the picture. What is the HERS index? Is it a good thing?

Back to Basics

The Home Energy Rating System is a linear scale that measures a home’s energy use compared to an imaginary home called the HERS Reference Home. The reference home is essentially the same size and shape as the home being rated, except that it meets the basic standards for energy use, so a score of 100 on the HERS index means that your home uses the same amount of energy as the HERS Reference Home.

The index takes into account everything in your home that consumes energy—heating, cooling, lights, electricity, water heating, and appliances. Some specific variables that affect the rating include:

Roofs and ceilings
Windows and doors
Vents and ductwork
Exterior walls
Attic and crawlspace
HVAC
Your thermostat

It throws all of that into a complex equation (which can be found in the HERS handbook) to give you a HERS number.

The Numbers Guy

So all that number stuff sounds complicated, but it’s not really. The HERS Index number is a lot like your golf score. You want to aim low. The lower the number, the greater your annual savings and the lower your carbon footprint.

Ideally you want to be at or below 100. It’s a percentage game, so a home with a HERS score of, say, 70 is 30 percent more energy efficient than the standard reference home. The HERS Index tops out at about 150, at which point you’re using 50 percent more energy than the standard new home, your carbon footprint is at its max, and your home actually costs more to function normally. Anything above 150 and you’ll need to improve your home.

A home with a score of zero is considered a Net Zero Energy Home, which means that the home is producing as much energy via renewable resources—solar panels, windmills, water wells—as it consumes. The carbon footprint is nonexistent.

Then there’s a matter of comfort. Oh, yes—comfort is as important as your utility bill and your carbon footprint. The closer your home approaches net zero, the greater your health and general comfort. A Net Zero Energy Home greatly reduces any fluctuations in temperature, which means staying indoors will always feel nice. Compare that to a home with a HERS score of 150, where summers feel blazing hot and winters are freezing.

The Reference Home

The main problem with the HERS process is the HERS Reference Home. It’s meant to be stand-in for your home if it was completely new. The R-values for insulation, U-values for heat loss, HVAC system efficiency, and other variables that go into the reference home are defined by the HERS standards that are tied to the 2004 International Energy Conservation Code Supplement with some variations based on the 2006 IECC.

So it’s been a good 7 to 9 years since the standards for the HERS Reference Home have been updated. Things have advanced, so the reference home may be a bit outdated.

Furthermore, although some values rightfully change based on climate zone, others stay arbitrarily the same. For example, the reference home always has a window area comprising 18 percent of the conditioned floor area, but the R-values associated with wall insulation change based on location. The experts certainly have their reasons for changing or not changing values, but it’s all very difficult for the average person to pinpoint.

The important thing to remember is that it is just a reference. Changing your reference point so frequently would potentially render a lot of your findings invalid, though it stands to reason that the experts might want to reevaluate their standards several decades from now.

HERS and Ours

Overall, the HERS Index is a valuable tool that could truly help homeowners create a more comfortable, eco-friendly living space. More and more homes are getting HERS ratings each year, and the first affordable Net Zero Energy Home was recently unveiled in Utah.

5 Benefits To Having A Digital Thermostat in Your Home

Written by Kevin on August 5, 2013. Posted in Energy, Thermostats. No Comments on 5 Benefits To Having A Digital Thermostat in Your Home

Why Consider a Digital, Programmable Thermostat?

Still have your old mercury stat on the wall that’s from the 70’s? Many times when something just works we leave it alone, but it could be costing you money you could spend elsewhere. Here’s a fun infographic to share the benefits of going digital:

What to look for in a good digital stat?

Programmable:
Don’t waste your money going digital and get a stat you can’t program. You may think you don’t want to hassle with it, but your trusted a/c contractor can help you set it up and show you how to make adjustments when needed. You’ll be happy you did when you walk in the door from a hot summer day and your house is a cool, refreshing oasis!

Energy Saving Mode:
Since the point of going digital is saving money, make sure the thermostat you choose has some sort of energy saving feature, like an ECO mode or an Auto Away feature. Some stats can even sense if your home or not!

Simple Easy-To-Use interface:
What ever you choose make sure the Interface or menus make sense to you, they should be simple and easy to use. Remember, a digital thermostat is suppose to make your life easier, not complicate it!

Professional Installation:
When in doubt have your trusted contractor install and setup the stat for you. This ensures you don’t cross live wires and blow a fuse and that you don’t miss anything. Remember this is what they do every day, take advantage of their experience!

Features You Want:
Make a list of what you want your new stat to do. Want to control your home’s temp from your smart phone? How about check your energy usage and settings right on your computer? Your equipment may have multiple stages of performance, will the new stat take advantage of those? Will the screen size and numbers be large and clear enough to see? Let your trusted a/c contractor know what your looking for and they can show you your options for controlling your home comfort while saving energy!

We have years of experience in helping customers find the right thermostat, just for them. Call or contact Bob Jenson A/C for free advice!

Home Energy Yardstick: How Does Your Home Measure Up?

Written by Kevin on July 29, 2013. Posted in Energy, San Diego. No Comments on Home Energy Yardstick: How Does Your Home Measure Up?

Home Energy Yardstick: Compare your Energy with your Neighbors’

Want to be the most efficient household on the block?

The EPA’s Home Energy Yardstick is a great online tool to help you assess your home’s energy usage and how it compares to similar homes in your neighborhood. You just need to provide:

Zip code
Square footage
Number of full-time occupants
Which fuels are used in your home (electricity, gas, oil, etc.)
Your utility bills for the past 12 months (this is easier to find than you think!)

Click the link above to get started. When you’ve determined where you stand, use our guide below to reach energy-saving goals.

Measuring and Monitoring Household Energy Use

Want to dig a little deeper than your yearly utility bills to see where, how, and when you use the most energy? Assess information from the following sources:

Automated households can use both home computers and mobile devices to monitor and even save energy. While a high-end “smart home” has such features integrated into the house itself, a regular household can install a lower-level automated system that will tell you everything from which parts of the home are using the most energy and when, to specific usage readings from individual electrical outlets and water sources.

You can also help automate your home in other energy-saving ways, with a simple thermostat, bathroom fan timer, motion-sensor lights, and even by putting your window shades on timers.

Home energy evaluations from a professional organization or contractor like Bob Jenson can provide detailed information about each way your home uses energy, tips for saving energy improvements that are specific to your home, and an evaluation of your existing appliances, HVAC, and plumbing.

Improving Household Energy Efficiency

Once you’re monitoring your energy use more closely, you’ll begin to see trends and identify areas that demand reduced energy use. Now it’s time to find specific ways to reduce your consumption of electricity, water, and burned fuels like oil, propane, and natural gas. And while you can always find ways to further limit your consumption of all three resources, you should also concentrate your initial efforts on the areas where your household needs the most help. Start with the energy and appliances related to your highest average monthly utility bill.

Improving HVAC efficiency: Heating and cooling can demand a lot of energy use, so making the entire system as efficient as possible is one effective way to limit your resource consumption.

Replacing an old and outdated system is an investment that leads to an immediate savings on monthly bills that helps cushion the cost.
Central air systems can be improved by sealing or replacing older ducts rather than the entire system, although you might find that switching to a ductless system will be better for you in the long run.
Correct ventilation is crucial to your HVAC system’s ability to intake air efficiently.
Properly insulating and sealing your home will vastly improve the efficiency of your system, in addition to prolonging its life.

Electricity use: Electricity is consumed on a number of levels in the home, and if your home’s heating and cooling system is on electric, this is definitely one to pay extra attention to.

Lighting modifications can save a lot of electricity. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents to cut energy use at the source; add task lighting and LED light fixtures on dimmers to use only the light you need; and install a solar lighting tube that lights your home naturally during the day.
Electric heat can be inefficient and expensive, but adding a heat pump to the system can make it take a fraction of the amount of electricity to pump warm air from one part of your home to another, rather than using electricity to create the heat itself.
“Plug-ins” refers to anything you plug into the wall, from major appliances to cell phone chargers. Our tech-based lives demand a lot of device chargers, and each one continues to draw a small amount of electricity when plugged in but not in use. Simple measures like unplugging chargers and turning off computers and lights can add up to a sizeable energy savings.

Major appliances: Our appliances use electricity, water, and sometimes gas, so maintaining and upgrading appliances to high-efficiency, energy-star units is a change that can save on all resources at once.

Sealing and insulating your home: A well-insulated home has already completed a good part of the journey toward home energy efficiency. Windows, wall insulation, attic insulation, and ventilation should all be evaluated and modified to significantly reduce the amount of energy used to heat, cool, and ventilate your home.

Water consumption: There are a lot of ways we can reduce our water consumption and even save water for a non-rainy day when we need it the most. After replacing old fixtures and appliances inside the home with more efficient models, our outdoor water use is often the next issue to tackle. Replace water-hogging plants with drought-tolerant ones and inefficient sprinklers with drip irrigation or even hand watering, if you have the time. Rain collection barrels store roof runoff for use in the dry months. Back indoors, look for ways to use less dish and bathing water, and even try saving some for reuse in the garden (e.g. catch bath water in a bucket as it warms up rather than letting it run down the drain).

The Importance of Home Maintenance

When we have to replace materials around the home, we’re creating a demand for more supply and production that demands energy use. Maintaining items like appliances and HVAC components not only saves money, but also energy use on several levels both inside our homes and beyond. Bob Jenson A/C offers a solid, affordable maintenance plan for all brands of HVAC equipment to keep things running in top condition and to help avoid high energy usage.

Energy Efficiency Do’s and Don’ts

Written by Kevin on June 3, 2013. Posted in Energy, San Diego. No Comments on Energy Efficiency Do’s and Don’ts

Energy Efficiency Dos and Don’ts During A Heat Wave

Weather has never been totally predictable. But there was a time when spring was spring and summer was summer—and heat waves came once a summer instead of once a month.

Just when you think the spring weather is finally becoming beautiful, that’s when a heat wave will strike. Don’t wait until a sudden 95-degree day to get your AC checked, and be sure to follow these simple techniques to keep your energy costs low as you attempt to stay cool at home.

Here are some energy efficiency dos and don’ts to consider for when the next wicked heat wave sweeps through your neighborhood.

A Couple of Don’ts

First, we’ll start with a few strategies you should never use in a heat wave. These are the things that could double your energy bills—or cause dangerous situations in your home.

Don’t Push the Limits of Your AC

The first mistake people make when it gets hot out is that they run the AC into the red zone. Just because it’s hotter outside doesn’t mean you have to compensate by creating a wintry environment inside. Use moderation; keep your home comfortable.

This is best achieved with a central air conditioning system or a ductless AC built into a specific room or set of rooms in your home. These systems do more than blow cold air in your face; they maintain a comfortable climate without constant changes in temperature. It’s efficient—and cost-effective.

Don’t Get Creative

You’ve seen it in movies and TV shows: the guy who rigs up three dozen fans in front of his fridge in order to blow that cool air into the living room. This kind of electrical creativity is a bad idea; obviously, it won’t work, but it’s also very expensive.

Moreover, you could overload a circuit with all those plugs. A fan in each room is ok, as long as you make the effort to turn them off when they’re not in use. Same goes for other appliances and gadgets: the less you have plugged into your walls, the less heat will circulate around your home. Think about how hot your laptop gets when it’s charging. Yes, even that will make a difference.

Don’t Stress

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, don’t overwork yourself. Stay relaxed and you won’t need to jack your AC unit up to the coldest setting, wasting money and straining your circuit breaker. That means refraining from excessive yard work and walking pets for long distances. Keep them in the shade, and do your best not to walk them in the middle of the day. Ergo, the cooler you remain during the day, the lower you can keep the settings on your AC. And that will save you money.

A Couple of Dos

Now here are some things you should do during a heat wave to cut costs and stay safe.

Hydrate

There are other ways to cool your body than just sitting in front of your AC’s vent. Drinking water and taking cool showers is a great way to keep your body temperature down. Plus, if you aren’t taking hot showers, you’ll save on gas or electricity!

Clean Air Filters

Keep your AC’s filters clean to ensure that you’re experiencing the best possible airflow. Plus, cleaning or replacing these filters will help your system maintain fresher air, which is a big part of feeling comfortable when the heat outside becomes unbearable.

If you’re unsure where these filters are located or how to clean them, call Bob Jenson’s skilled technicians for a quick and affordable maintenance service. No matter how hot it is outside, they’ll get your system cleaned up quickly so you can go back to enjoying the cool air.

Reduce Direct Sunlight

Though the morning or afternoon sun may light up your yard in a beautiful way, it’ll also light up your home—with heat. The Sun can pass UV light thru older windows and heat up surfaces inside your home, raising the temperature. If your gone at work all day consider closing the blinds or drapes to block out light.

Think About Insulation

Your attic is probably the hottest part of your home during a heat wave and it’s the fastest way heat enters your home. Adding a thermal barrier like Blown-in Insulation to a minimum of 12″ or more (R-30) is both very affordable and effective in reducing the heat load in your home and can reduce air conditioning bills up to 20%! Bob Jenson A/C can help you find out what your home needs, call or contact for a free estimate!

A heat wave can strike at any time in San Diego, and these days, it can be costly. Follow this guide and keep your bills low and your family comfortable.