Your home’s cooling systems are critical in Flower Mound, TX. That’s especially true at the peak of summer when we experience high temperatures over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, keeping your home cool is often a bit of a catch-22. To do it, you’re using an energy-intensive system filled with refrigerants that can harm the environment. In other words, your efforts to keep cool may lead to ever-higher summer temperatures. The good news is that there are eco-friendly options you can use to keep your home cool. Some help cut harmful emissions by reducing electricity use. Others involve safer refrigerants that don’t pose as much danger to the environment. Check out these options to keep you cool and the environment healthy.
Improved Insulation and an ERV System
One of the most eco-friendly ways to keep your home cool is to keep heat out in the first place. You can do that by improving your home’s insulation and the integrity of its air envelope. The best place to start with insulation upgrades is in your home’s attic. It’s almost always the easiest part of your home’s insulation to reach and augment. Upgrades to the insulation in your home’s exterior walls are also possible using blown-in insulation. Installing weatherstripping and sealing gaps in your exterior walls with caulking is also a good idea. Remember, every bit of heat you keep outside means less need for air conditioning.
However, improving your home’s insulation and air envelope could endanger your home’s indoor air quality (IAQ). It happens because you’re limiting ventilation in your home. You can install an energy recovery ventilation (ERV) system to aid IAQ without wasting energy. It’s a type of air exchanger that brings in fresh air while cooling it using exhaust air. With a functioning ERV, you don’t waste energy venting conditioned air to the outdoors. In fact, when running, the typical ERV uses about the same energy as a 40-watt lightbulb, so it can preserve your air quality and the benefits of your insulation without costing a fortune.
Install and Use Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans are one of the most eco-friendly cooling options you can use. They’re far more energy efficient than air conditioners because they don’t include compressors. Some estimates indicate that operating the average ceiling fan uses around a penny’s worth of electricity per hour. And you get a significant cooling boost for that tiny energy expenditure.
According to the Department of Energy, running ceiling fans enables you to raise your thermostat by up to 4 degrees. When doing so, you won’t experience any reduction in comfort. The reason is that the fans work with your body’s built-in cooling mechanism to change the perceived temperature. The fans ensure a steady stream of air passing over your skin. That helps speed the evaporation of sweat, carrying heat away from your body.
Install a Whole-House Fan
If individual ceiling fans aren’t enough to keep your home comfortable, there’s another option; you could install a whole-house fan. They rely on the thermal mass cooling principle to help reduce your need for AC. They’re most effective when used in the evening, overnight, and early morning hours. At those times, built-up heat in your home likely makes the indoor air hotter than the outdoor air.
A whole-house fan is a high-airflow fan installed in your attic connected to a centrally located air intake. The intake is typically in a ceiling close to the middle of your home on its highest floor. To use the fan, you open windows in shaded areas or on your home’s ground floor. Then, the fan pulls cooler air in through the windows while forcing warmer air out of your home. Some models can complete 20 or more full air exchanges with outside air each hour. The result is a thoroughly cooled home and a reduced need for your AC during hotter parts of the day.
Install a Whole-House Dehumidifier
One of the challenges presented by the summer climate in Flower Mound is high humidity. Humid air makes you feel warmer than the actual air temperature suggests. That’s because it interferes with your body’s evaporative cooling function. Inside your home, your AC must also deal with that excess humidity, running longer to cool the air. It may even force you to lower your thermostat to counteract the humidity discomfort.
You can install a whole-house dehumidifier to help your AC combat excess humidity in your home. They get installed in line with your HVAC’s return air ductwork. There, they extract moisture from your home’s air while your HVAC runs. Some models have built-in fans that let them operate independently of your HVAC. Maintaining proper humidity levels in your home can reduce your demand for air conditioning. It can also reduce your AC’s dehumidification burden, sparing it significant wear and tear.
Upgrade to a More Efficient HVAC
Finally, you can upgrade to a more efficient HVAC for maximum eco-friendliness. Today, a minimally efficient AC will have a SEER rating of 15. Even if you’re upgrading from an AC with a SEER of 13, that’s still an efficiency boost of over 15%! Plus, there are even more efficient central AC models with SEER ratings as high as 25. If you switch to a ductless mini-split AC, you can find models with SEER ratings of up to 42.
Another benefit of upgrading to a newer HVAC is that a new system likely uses an eco-friendlier refrigerant. Many air conditioners produced until 2010 relied on a refrigerant known as R-22. You may know it by its common trade name Freon. Unfortunately, R-22 was a potent greenhouse gas and could destroy Earth’s critical protective ozone layer when released. That led to R-22’s ban and replacement with a less harmful refrigerant called R-410a. It posed no risk to the ozone layer but was still more potent than R-22 as a greenhouse gas.
Today, you can find ACs that use next-generation refrigerants like R-32 and R-454b. Both are less than half as potent as greenhouse gasses than earlier refrigerants. They’re part of a class of new refrigerants known as A2Ls. That designation reflects their low global warming potential and minimal flammability. Plus, they’re more efficient at absorbing heat energy, making for more efficient ACs.
Local Eco-Friendly Cooling Experts
As you now know, there are multiple approaches you can take toward more eco-friendly home cooling. And Honest Home Services LLC can help you with several of them for your Flower Mound home. We sell and install high-efficiency HVAC systems, ventilation systems, and dehumidifiers. Our comfort experts can help you determine which solutions would work best in your home. We also offer financing options on approved credit to help you pay for AC upgrades.
Our team of HVAC technicians has over two decades of combined experience and always provides quality workmanship. We’re also a Nextdoor Neighborhood Fave and are Better Business Bureau accredited with an A+ rating. If you’re interested in eco-friendly cooling technologies for your Flower Mound home, call Honest Home Services LLC today!
