Q-Because our home never seems to get comfortable-either in the summer or the winter-we recently had a local contractor do an energy audit. He told us the air conditioner and heater were in good shape, but the ducts were leaking in several places. Could the ducts be the source of our problem, or was he just trying to sell us on a big repair job?
A-Your contractor very well may have found the reason your home doesn’t get comfortable (and why you’re probably wasting a lot of money on heating and air conditioning that isn’t doing you any good). Proper sealing of ducts can greatly reduce home energy use.
Studies have found that losses through the duct system can account for as much as 25 percent of the home’s heating and cooling loads.
One study of 25 homes found that sealing the ducts resulted in a 52 percent drop in air infiltration into and out of the house, which corresponded to an 18 percent savings in energy during the cooling season.
Duct systems do not work efficiently if there is not an uninterrupted partition between the air in the duct and the air around it. However, because there are seams and connections in ducts, the system is not usually installed as one continuous piece, resulting in many places where leaks can occur.
It is not uncommon for leaks from the attic to be so severe that the home’s air conditioner just cannot cool the house during the daytime.
Have your contractor seal the ducts and you’ll see a definite improvement in the performance of both your heating and your air-conditioning equipment.
Q-We’re using the winter months to plan for some changes to our home in the spring. I want to landscape around the house. What do we need to consider from an energy standpoint?
A-It has been estimated that the right kind of landscaping can block the wind and shade the home enough to lower heating and cooling costs by as much as 30 percent. Because of this, you need to consider some basic landscaping guidelines before you finalize your lawn plans.
Before starting your landscape design, take into account three key factors: the way your house is oriented on its lot, the amount of shade you will have and the intensity and direction of the wind around your home.
To keep energy bills low in the summer, plant shrubbery and trees to shade the east and west walls, and to provide some cover for your outdoor air-conditioning unit. You also can put up fences or plant shrubbery to direct the winds into your home to improve natural ventilation.
To keep the home more comfortable in winter, plant wind breaks across the areas of your yard where the wind otherwise might blow directly onto your home and make it colder indoors. You also may consider a dense planting of shrubs right outside of your home to create a “dead air” space, which will help provide some insulation from the wind.
Keep in mind that some of the things you do to improve summertime comfort will cut down on the benefits of winter heating by the sun. If you live in an area where the cold winters pose the most serious problems to home comfort, be sure to plant deciduous trees, which will lose their leaves in the winter, letting the sun provide needed warmth when you want it.
