The EPA has released the second annual list of American cities with the highest number of Energy Star rated buildings. To become Energy Star certified a building must perform in the top 25% of other similar buildings. Since 1999, almost 9000 buildings have received an Energy Star rating, with total energy savings totaling $1.6 billion and greenhouse gasses have been drastically reduced. These 9000 buildings have caused the greenhouse gas emissions equal to 1 million homes to be prevented per year! The list is sorted by number of Energy Star rated buildings, with LA in the lead with 293 buildings and Washington a close second with 204 buildings. Here is the total list:
1. Los Angeles, CA, 293 buildings and 76 million square feet
2. Washington, DC, 204 buildings and 55.1 million square feet
3. San Francisco, CA, 173 buildings and 51.6 million square feet
4. Denver, CO, 136 buildings and 31.5 million square feet
5. Chicago, IL, 134 buildings and 59.9 million square feet
6. Houston, TX, 133 buildings and 64 million square feet
7. Lakeland, FL, 120 buildings and 11.5 million square feet
8. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, 113 buildings and 33.1 million square feet
9. Atlanta, GA, 102 buildings and 29.6 million square feet
10. New York, NY, 90 buildings and 50.4 million square feet
11. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, 89 buildings and 34.5 million square feet
12. Portland, OR, 80 buildings and 13.6 million square feet
13. Boston, MA, 74 buildings and 28 million square feet
14. Seattle, WA, 69 buildings and 20.1 million square feet
15. Detroit, MI, 62 buildings and 12.9 million square feet
16. Sacramento, CA, 61 buildings and 8.5 million square feet
17. San Diego, CA, 58 buildings and 9.7 million square feet
18. Austin, TX, 55 buildings and 8 million square feet
19. Miami, FL, 54 buildings and 12.3 million square feet
20. Phoenix, AZ, 52 buildings and 11.1 million square feet
21. Ogden, UT, 51 buildings and 5.5 million square feet
22. Charlotte, NC, 44 buildings and 4.7 million square feet
23. Indianapolis, IN, 39 buildings and 8.2 million square feet
24. Des Moines, IA, 36 buildings and 4.6 million square feet; Fort Collins, CO, 36 buildings and 2.5 million square feet; Philadelphia, PA, 36 buildings and 12.5 million square feet
25. Louisville, KY, 35 buildings and 4.2 million square feet
To all the cities on this list, congratulations! You’re really helping do your part to make this world a greener place!
Archive for March, 2010
EPA’s Top 25
March 31st, 2010 by Melissa DoyleAllergy Season Has Arrived!
March 22nd, 2010 by Melissa DoyleHere in Houston, we’ve finally gotten to some gorgeous spring weather. Of course, with that perfect weather comes TONS of pollen! I woke up this morning to find my house and car had been painted yellow. I do have to say, nature has a great way of redecorating, I just wish I wasn’t so allergic to it! Since the rest of America is allergic to pollen as well, here are a few tips for keeping it outside.
Installing a high efficiency air cleaner will go a long way to removing the pollen out from the air you breathe. It also removes many different disease-causing bacteria. Another way to kill bacteria, mold, and allergens is to invest in an ultraviolet light. It can be attached to your HVAC system to kill these pollutants before the air leaves your system. Lastly, get your ducts cleaned. Dust and dirt and grime build up in your ducts and come out in the air you breathe.
There’s not much you can do about allergens outside your home, but regular cleaning and maintenance of your HVAC system along with a good air cleaner will help keep your indoor air nice and clean and those annoying allergies to a minimum. Any of our certified AC Doctor contractors would be happy to schedule a duct cleaning and recommend a good air cleaner or UV light.
Keep Cool This Summer
March 15th, 2010 by Melissa DoyleSpring hasn’t even officially begun yet, and already it’s getting HOT in some parts of the country. Well, hot enough to think about turning on the air conditioner. Don’t forget to have one of our certified AC Doctor contractors service your system before that time comes. The yearly check up can catch potential problems so you can stay cool this summer. Here are some more tips to help you stay cool.
Change your air filter. I just can’t express enough how important it is to have a clean air filter. The nationwide standard for changing your filter is once a month. That is not enough for warmer areas where the air conditioner is running constantly. When your unit runs more often, you filter gets dirty faster. A dirty filter causes more strain on your system and your body. Filters are designed to pull allergens out of the air and when it is full your AC has to work harder to get air through it and allergens are no longer pulled out of the air you breathe.
Clean your unit. When dirt builds up on the coils it restricts air flow. Turn off your unit while mowing the lawn, and then hose it off afterward. Even if you have a bag to collect the cut grass, your lawn mower kicks up dust and dirt. Turning off your unit keeps this dust and dirt from being sucked into your home. Hose off the dirt that gets spewed onto your system so it doesn’t impede air flow. It will also wash off any animal urine that can eat away at your coils.
Shade your unit. Keeping your condenser in the shade keeps the air around it cooler so it doesn’t have to work as hard to cool the air. Just be careful, plants that are too close to the condenser can hold hot air close to your condenser, which completely negates the effect of shading your unit. You also want to keep animals off of the condenser. Aside from urinating on it, they can block air flow by laying on it.
Even doing this routine maintenance is not enough for your system. It really does need to be serviced at least twice a year - once at the beginning on the cooling season and again at the beginning of the heating season. If anything seems off, call your AC technician. There may only be one or two small things wrong, but they will add up. You don’t want to be without AC when the temperatures are in the upper 90’s and climbing!
Know Your Energy Ratings
March 9th, 2010 by Melissa DoyleHigh efficiency is seems to be the main focus when installing new HVAC systems these days. Everyone says to look for high SEER, EER, and AFUE ratings, but what are these ratings? I know that generally speaking, higher rated systems are best, but I don’t want to just blindly buy a system because it has a high AFUE rating, and neither should you! So here is an explanation of what each rating means.
AFUE – This stands for Annual Fuel Usage Efficiency and it measures the percentage of heat produced for every dollar of fuel consumed. The current minimum AFUE rating is 78%.
SEER – Season Energy Efficiency Ratio measures the efficiency of your air conditioner by taking into account the amount of electricity your system uses. Systems that use less electricity have higher SEER ratings. Today’s systems have ratings of 13-18.
HSPF – Heating Seasonal Performance Factor is SEER for your heat pump. The current minimum HSPF rating is 7.7.
EER – The Energy Efficiency Ratio is a little more difficult to understand. It measures the instantaneous energy efficiency of cooling equipment. EER is calculated by taking the cooling capacity of your system and dividing it by the amount if energy it takes the system to run.
Still have questions? Your local AC Doctor certified contractor would love to answer them.
Plant Green To Go Green
March 2nd, 2010 by Melissa DoyleSky gardens are quickly becoming the latest trend in green building. Simply put, they are gardens planted on roofs of buildings. You do have to have roof access to be able to plant and enjoy a sky garden, but they have many benefits. As well as giving you a beautiful place to relax, they benefit the environment! They also reduce flooding by soaking up rain water. Storm drains can only hold so much water, and whatever they cannot hold backs up onto the street and sidewalks. Don’t forget that plants survive off of carbon dioxide. By increasing the number of plants in your area, you are decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air you breathe, and who doesn’t want cleaner air? Sky gardens also help insulate your roof, reducing the need for air conditioning and heating. Of course, being in hot, humid Houston, I can’t imagine not having to run my AC constantly throughout the year! Reducing your HVAC usage will not only decrease your bill, but also prolong the life of your system. While our main focus here at AC Doctor is your HVAC system, we also want to help this world become a greener place to live.
