When buying a new furnace, energy efficiency is a top priority. Your HVAC system has the highest energy usage in your home by a wide margin, which not only costs a lot of money but increases your carbon footprint and has a detrimental effect on climate change. If you want to save energy and save the planet, here are the best types of green furnaces on the market.
Modulating Green Furnaces
Most furnaces operate at a single temperature. No matter how warm or cold the room is, hot air is blown into it until it reaches the set temperature on the thermostat. A multistage furnace is more efficient. In cold temperatures, it pumps hot air into your home, but on mildly cool days, it switches to warm air, saving energy.
Want the ultimate in green furnaces? Look for a modulating furnace. It raises or lowers the furnace’s air temperature incrementally, depending on the temperature of the house. It keeps the house more comfortable while only heating the air as much as is needed. Combined with a variable-speed air handler to regulate how hard the air blows, these furnaces can achieve AFUEs of above 95 percent.
Heat Pumps
If you really want to save energy, you’ll eschew furnaces entirely in favor of a heat pump. Older gas furnaces have a pilot light that burns constantly, consuming energy even when the furnace isn’t in use. A heat pump is electrical, only using energy when you need it.
A heat pump is essentially an AC in reverse. It extracts the heat from the air outside and uses it to warm the air in your home. When the outdoor temperature drops below freezing, it loses efficiency, as there’s less heat to extract. However, in milder climates such as Arizona’s, that’s not a problem, making heat pumps a perfect green solution for your home. The most efficient heat pumps also use variable-speed air handlers and have SEER ratings higher than 20.
If you’re looking at green furnaces for your home, contact us at Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company. We help Yuma homes find the most energy-efficient HVAC solutions to fit their needs.
