Choose Energy Star: You’ll Get More Breathing Room in Your Budget

The Energy Star label on your heating and cooling equipment means that you’re getting a product that meets strict standards for energy efficiency and that will save you money while helping reduce the greenhouse gases that harm our environment. This rating system, a cooperative undertaking of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, also provides ratings on a broad range of other products.

Overall product categories include:

• Heating and cooling equipment
• Building products
• Water heaters
• Appliances
• Computers and electronics
• Lighting and fans

In new construction, an entire home can earn Energy Star status based on the materials used, such as insulation, doors, windows and roofing products, as well as the heating and cooling equipment and appliances.

The greatest impact on energy usage is in heating and cooling equipment, which accounts for nearly half of the annual energy bill for a typical single-family home. Installing an Energy Star-qualified heating and cooling system will yield 15 to 18 percent greater energy efficiency than a standard system.

According to the agency’s website, Americans using products rated for their energy efficiency last year alone reduced the amount of energy they used — and the associated greenhouse gases generated — by the equivalent of 33 million automobiles. Equally important, their savings on utility bills approached $18 billion.

Products are rated on their energy efficiency based on these factors:

• In addition to increased energy efficiency, they must provide features and operating performance expected by users.
• Energy efficiency and performance must be verifiable through testing.
• Any additional cost for a qualified product must be recoverable through energy savings within a reasonable amount of time.

Energy Star maintains a complete list of qualified products on its site, as well as handy savings calculators that will help you gauge how much you can shave from your utility bill. The site also includes a searchable database for local rebates or other incentives available for installing qualified equipment.

For help choosing the most efficient heating and cooling equipment available or for more information on the Energy Star program, the experts at Stack Heating & Cooling are always available. We’re happy to help.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Stack Heating services Cleveland, Ohio and the surrounding areas. To get started, check out our website.