Going Green

Going green has different meaning for different people. It can mean doing without modern conveniences such as electricity and cars. For other people its means using only renewable resources and for most of us we think of going green as modify our life style so as to save the environment. This can be done in many ways, but if it implies spending extra money most of us stops right there. However, if it was a way to save money and going green I am sure you would not hesitate to go green.

Combustion Software designs software that saves energy by improving the efficiencies of processes thereby using less energy to achieve the same end results. For owners of commercial combustion processes it can mean finding the best combination of fuel/air/oxygen and combustion chamber design using Combustion Expert. Fuel saving of up to 35% has been achieved.

For home owners the cost of heating the house can be reduced by 20% by selecting the right heating system. Unfortunately the conditions changes every year as prices of electricity and natural gas vary from month to month.

I installed a dual fuel system in my new house. Dual fuel is a combination with a regular heat pump and a regular gas furnace. The cost of such a system is about $500-$1,000 more than the combination of an air conditioning unit plus a gas furnace. My specs were SEER 13 for the heat pump and 80% efficiency for the gas furnace. If you select a higher SEER value you need to oversize the heat pump because it will be working at lower temperatures and you need to meet the balance point. The balance point is the point at which the heat generated equals the heat losses of the house. The heat pump becomes less efficient as the temperature drops whereas the gas furnace becomes more efficient as the temperature drops. You should discuss this with your heating installer so your system can work well in the region and temperature range of your location. So what is the switch over point? The answer is it depends …

I decided to construct a program that calculates the switch over point based on electricity and natural gas prices and the equipment used. The software is available on my website and is called “DualFuel” The cost is only $29.95 and after you pay it an installation code will be sent to your email address and you can start using it right away. You will need one electricity bill and two gas bills for the current version of the software. Oh! One more thing if you are using Windows 7 you need to run the SetupDF.exe in XP compatible mode. You do this by ;
Drag the mouse over the SetupDF.exe (called painting)
Right click the mouse
Select Compatibility / XP Service Pack 2 or 3
Now run the SetupDF.exe
If you have a Honeywell thermostat the switch over point is the emergency heat switch over point (code 350) where it switches from heat pump to natural gas. The Honeywell TH8000 thermostat can only be modified in steps of 5*F other thermostats may have a better resolution.
How does it work? Actually really good I figured I save at least 20% of my heating bill during the cold winter months.

http://www.combustionsoftware.com/downloads/setupDF.exe