Remodeling Heating and Air Conditioning Systems: March 2008 Archives
The use of indoor ceiling fans can reduce prices on your energy costs up to 40% in the summer and 10% in the winter, using only as much as energy as a 100 watt light bulb.
During the summer ceiling fans create a "cooling effect" by lowering temperatures as much as 7 degrees. In the winter ceiling fans can recirculate heat and move heated air from the unused "top of the room" ceiling area to the living zone where people need that warmth.
Ceiling Fans can be used not only in the living and working rooms in a home or office but also in kitchens and bathrooms where dampness may be an issue. Circulation of air is important to dry areas so that mold isn't nurtured.
Outdoor ceiling fans can provide gazebo, patio and veranda comfort, and overhead lighting at the same time. These low-energy use fans can provide cooling summer breezes to reduce both the temperature of outdoor living space, but the feeling of heat as cool air aids body moisture evaporation, with its natural cooling effect.
Ceiling fans come in many sizes and designs including: casual, contemporary, eclectic, modern, transitional and simple Southern traditional.
Ceiling fan light kits and accessories also come with ENERGY STAR® ratings -- so be sure to look for this energy saving benefit! The ceiling fan market has matured with a wide variety of upgrades in design and efficiency -- including remote control units instead of pullcords! Ceiling fans can be coordinated with downrods, light kits, ceiling fan remotes, mounting hardware, and a variety of accessories.
Remote control ceiling fans can be helpful for people with limited mobility or for high ceilings such as stairwells. Many remote controls can be used with multiple ceiling fan installations, and they can be used to control the sound level during conversation, the speed and direction of the blades to manage the flow of air in the room or building.
Ceiling fans can be used in place of air conditioning -- and save significant amounts of electricity and greenhouse gas emissions, as a result. Stay cool -- and cool the earth!
Quality of the air and environment inside buildings is based on pollutant concentrations and conditions that can affect the health, comfort and performance of occupants -- including temperature, relative humidity, light, sound and other factors. Good IEQ is an essential component of any building, especially a green building.
Creating a better indoor environment can help building owners, managers, occupants, architects and builders to minimize or eliminate the negative health effects, liability, bad publicity, and costly renovations and repairs often associated with IEQ problems.
Improving IEQ involves designing, constructing, commissioning, operating, and maintaining buildings in ways that reduce pollution sources and remove indoor pollutants while ensuring that fresh air is continually supplied and properly circulated.
EPA’s Indoor Environments program promotes the use of integrated, whole building approaches to protect occupant health while saving energy and money. The program focuses on major building types including offices and institutional buildings, schools, homes, as well as major cross-cutting indoor air quality issues like mold and moisture. EPA offers resources from informational pamphlets to interactive CD-ROMs on how everyone from builders to homeowners can improve their indoor environment.
Call EPA's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Information Clearinghouse at 1-800-438-4318. Or visit EPA's list of free publications at epa.gov/iaq/pubs
Pleated or extended surface filters Medium efficiency filters with a MERV of 5 to 13 are reasonably efficient at removing small to large airborne particles.
Filters with a MERV between 7 and 13 are likely to be nearly as effective as true HEPA filters at controlling most airborne indoor particles. Medium efficiency air filters are generally less expensive than HEPA filters, and allow quieter HVAC fan operation and higher airflow rates than HEPA filters since they have less airflow resistance.
Higher efficiency filters with a MERV of 14 to 16, sometimes misidentified as HEPA filters, are similar in appearance to true HEPA filters, which have MERV values of 17 to 20. True HEPA filters are normally not installed in residential HVAC systems; installation of a HEPA filter in an existing HVAC system would probably require professional modification of the system.
RESOURCE: EPA Guide to Air Cleaners in the Home
Some air cleaners use ultraviolet (UV) light technology intended to
destroy pollutants in indoor air. These air cleaners are called
ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) cleaners and photocatalytic
oxidation (PCO) cleaners. Ozone generators that are sold as air
cleaners intentionally produce ozone gas, a lung irritant, to destroy
pollutants.
- UVGI cleaners use ultraviolet
radiation from UV lamps that may destroy biological pollutants such as
viruses, bacteria, allergens, and molds that are airborne or growing on
HVAC surfaces (e.g., found on cooling coils, drain pans, or ductwork).
If used, they should be applied with, but not as a replacement for,
filtration systems.
- PCO cleaners use a UV lamp along
with a substance, called a catalyst, that reacts with the light. They
are intended to destroy gaseous pollutants by converting them into
harmless products, but are not designed to remove particulate
pollutants.
- Ozone generators use UV light
or an electrical discharge to intentionally produce ozone. Ozone is a
lung irritant that can cause adverse health effects. At concentrations
that do not exceed public health standards, ozone has little effect in
removing most indoor air contaminants. Thus, ozone generators are not
always safe and effective in controlling indoor air pollutants.
Consumers should instead use methods proven to be both safe and effective to reduce pollutant concentrations, which include eliminating or controlling pollutant sources and increasing outdoor air ventilation.
Visit www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html for more information on ozone generators sold as air cleaners.
Usually the best way to address this risk is to control or eliminate the sources of pollutants, and to ventilate a home with clean outdoor air. The ventilation method may, however, be limited by weather conditions or undesirable levels of contaminants contained in outdoor air. If these measures are insufficient, an air cleaning device may be useful.
Some air cleaning devices are designed to be installed in the ductwork of a building’s central heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system to clean the air in the whole house.
Portable room air cleaners can be used to clean the air in a single room or specific areas, but they are not intended for whole-house filtration.
Pollutants that can affect air quality in a home fall into the following categories:
- Particulate matter includes dust, smoke, pollen, animal dander, tobacco smoke, particles generated from combustion appliances such as cooking stoves, and particles associated with tiny organisms such as dust mites, molds, bacteria, and viruses.
- Gaseous pollutants come from combustion processes. Sources include gas cooking stoves, vehicle exhaust, and tobacco smoke. They also come from building materials, furnishings, and the use of products such as adhesives, paints, varnishes, cleaning products, and pesticides.
RESOURCE: EPA's Guide to Air Cleaners in the Home This document describes performance characteristics associated with several types of air cleaners sold to consumers for home use. It does not discuss the effectiveness of air cleaners installed in the HVAC systems of large buildings, such as apartments, offices, schools, or public buildings.
