What ought to be our industry goals in respect to reducing our customer’s heating & cooling utility costs, plus their best Return-On-Investment (ROI).

The mfg’ers listed efficiency performance level of their equipment is only one factor affecting the total efficiency performance equation.

1. Until the customer is sufficiently informed, they will not know what to ask for, or where to start… we ought always to begin with the energy efficiency of the building

2. Always First, there is the application of simple Basic Building-Envelope Science

3. After the Home Energy Efficiency Audit comes the cost-effective ROI renovations

4. Then the room-by-room manual J heat-gain heat-loss calc

5. The efficient sizing of the equipment

6. The manual D evaluation of the duct system & airflow plus the needed retrofitting

7. Then all the many proper sequential installation steps must be performed…

Buying ultra-high-efficiency equipment is a needless expense, if we don’t start with reducing the heat-gain/heat-loss equation, that directly affects both heating & cooling the year-around.

If H-VAC consumers are to receive optimal ROI & energy cost savings, two-way communications with those consumers & users will be vitally important.

In other-words which investments & steps will return to the customer the most bang for their buck?

If the building envelope, the duct system & airflow are substandard the efficiency rating of the equipment will be negated.

This educational information needs to be dissemination through every mass medium means possible., including the Internet, & radio & TV programs.

The more consumers know the more it becomes a win/win for everyone involved…

The government should have left the 10 & 12-SEER units alone, because the savings on equipment could have been used to improve the home envelope & duct system & airflow inefficiencies providing year-around savings.

Thus, home weatherization is critical to reductions in energy usage, in the North Country it saves big-time on heating costs, in the Southern States it saves largely on cooling costs.