Green Living
MrsJetSet
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
XP Help me pick my HVAC
in Green Living
My new construction builder is certified Environments for Living Diamond Level so they give many green options standard in our new home.
The Standard HVAC is 92.1% AFUE 1 stage, standard blower (LENNOX G43UH)
our upgrade option costs $2980 with the following stats:
94.6% AFUE 2 stage, variable speed blower (LENNOX G61MPV). We also get upgraded thermostats (big deal heh) and a 5" Media Air Cleaner.
The contractor told us that the upgrade efficiency will pay for itself in 2 years but I can't seem to find proof of that. The only thing I found online suggested that it may never pay for itself.
What would you do? We intend to make this a "forever home".
Re: XP Help me pick my HVAC
I don't think it's worth the jump in price for such a marginal change in efficiency. This payback calculator could help you decide:
Furnace Calc
It's pretty easy to put in programmable thermostats if they don't provide them.
Well to answer your question I need to know more. Do you have air conditioning? If so what are the efficiencies of both options? What are your natural gas and electric prices? Do you have any heating and cooling loads from your builder (I would sure hope so but you never know)?
http://www.lennox.com/resources/taxcredit/furnace-credit.asp
So find out how much the cost of the unit itself is and see how much 30% of that is for the rebate amount. Your builder probably included this in their 2 year payback.
Are you getting your home Environments for Living certified? I hope you don't think that getting that will make a big impact. Almost everything they had listed as a requirement is something any good builder should do.
Honestly, neither of your choices are very energy efficient. I would think outside the box unless you have to go with your builder and they only offer those two options. Have you looked into geothermal systems? We just converted out existing home to one and LOVE IT! For new construction you can roll that large first cost into your mortgage so it doesn't add much to your monthly payment. Compared to a high efficiency split system (like the ones you're looking at) our geothermal system paid for the difference in just 4 years. In 8 years it will pay for itself completely! And because it's a renewable energy the entire cost including instillation counts for the 30% tax credit.
HTH. Let me know if you have any questions I'm an HVAC engineer.