Air Conditioning

Since 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy increased the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER) of Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps from 10 to 13 SEER. This SEER gauges how a piece of equipment rates in regards to energy efficiency. A standard efficiency for an air conditioner is 13, while advances towards 21 SEER are now available.

Keep in mind, you are increasing your initial investment when going with a higher SEER unit. However, your return on investment increases as you save on your utility bills. Furthermore, the Federal Government is encouraging homeowners to save energy by buying High Efficiency. They are offering to pay for 30% of the cost of an Energy Star rated system up to $1500! This is huge! In most cases, there is a marginal difference between buying a standard efficiency unit vs. a high efficiency unit because of all the incentives from Tax Credits and other Rebates! You can find out more about this on our Rebates, Tax Credits, and Incentives page.

Heating

The U.S. DOE issued an increase for the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) Rating from 78% AFUE to 80% AFUE for Gas Furnaces and 82% AFUE for Oil Furnaces (to be standardized in the near future). The AFUE rating of a furnace works a little bit differently than the SEER for an Air Conditioner. The percentage, 80% AFUE for example, means that out of all the fuel you're consuming, 80% is actually being used to heat your home. I know, it's hard to grasp that you're actually wasting 20% of your natural gas, oil, or propane. High-Efficiency Models are now rated as high as 95%+.

Like Air Conditioning, the Federal Government is giving homeowners a tax credit for 30% of the cost up to $1500, which is a maximum credit for any Energy Star Qualified installation. For example, if you installed a 96.7% AFUE Gas Furnace in addition to a 16 SEER Air Conditioner, you would receive a tax credit for $1500, not $3000. It still is an unbelievable deal, nonetheless! These tax credits aren't just available for furnaces, but for gas- and oil-fired boilers too.

There are rebates for installing high efficiency boilers, too. You can find out more about them and more on our Rebates, Tax Credits, and Incentives page.