5 Ways to Go Green Without Spending All Your Green

Oh, the joys of going green! Oh, the misery of spending a ton of money to do it! There IS a balance somewhere. I mean, we can not all raise pesticide-free vegetable gardens and drive steam powered vehicles, but we can do many sensible, simple things to go green right away and the right way. Follow this advice to get there.

1. Upgrade Your Filter. (Pretty obvious, huh? You would be surprised.) Improved air quality not only benefits you and other occupants, but keeps your system cleaner. There is a large benefit there too since most system failures are related to dirt. Dirt on the evaporator coil causes two problems: it reduces system airflow, and cuts cooling capacity. Equipment operating with dirty coils may use as much as 37% more energy than equipment with clean coils. The solution? Clean the evaporator coils, then maintain their efficiency with better filtration. Even Greener: If your goal is to obtain points in the Green Building Councils LEED standards by upgrading to MERV 13 filters, finding the easiest and least costly method to do so is important. FurnaceFilters.com MERV 13 pleated filter line offers 2 inch and 4 inch standard filter sizes so upgrading means simply changing filters. There is no retrofitting required for your air handling systems or filter racks, which can dramatically reduce costs. Plus, these filters offer similar service life and pressure drop compared to standard pleated filters but offers greatly improved air quality.

2. Watch the Drop. Fact: The cost of the energy to push air through a filter can be 8 times more than the cost of the filter. That is where a cheap filter gets really expensive! Choose the filter with the lowest Pressure Drop for your required efficiency. Lower pressure drop results in lower energy cost and fewer CO2 emissions. For example, the Quality Flow filter from FurnaceFilters.com, Inc. has up to a 50% lower pressure drop than comparable filters. The energy savings alone can pay for the filters.

3. Hold the Dust! Higher dust loading typically means longer service life, fewer changes, less maintenance costs. Plus, longer service life saves product cost and landfill impact. The Quality Flow filter from FurnaceFilters.com holds up to three times more dust than comparable filters and should last three times longer. This means you are scheduling fewer changes, fewer down hours, holding less filter inventory or order intervals. It is just smart to look for greater dust holding and longer change cycles. (Unless you actually like changing filters regularly!)

4. The Hidden and Scary True Cost. Most people look at sticker price only. A cheap bulb that burns twice the energy is no longer cheap. Same thing here. Initial purchase price must be balanced against 1) efficiency 2) service life and 3) energy cost to arrive at True Cost. Kimberly Clarks energy calculator is a tool for evaluating the Life Cycle cost of your application. (Just visit http://www.kcfiltration.com/resource/calculator/KC_calc.html). Simply enter the data for two different filters of the same efficiency that you are considering and you will see which filter offers the best total cost. You will also be able to view any carbon dioxide emissions reduction. Disposal reduction, labor and shipping costs should also be considered.

Lower costs, longer change cycle. After installing Quality Flow MERV 14 products in several medical and commercial locations, our customers have been exceedingly impressed with the extended life and operation. The purchase costs have been greatly reduced, and the traditional annual change cycle has been extended to an average of 18 months which increased the savings even further!

This is truly an innovative product in construction, visual presentation, and performance. We designed FurnaceFilters.com filters to excel in overall performance, not be cheap up-front to trick you into far greater costs later. We do not feel that is right.

5. Stick to a Schedule. There is a specific trade off point where the energy cost of keeping a filter in service longer is more expensive than replacement. Too soon and you buy too many filters; too late and you lose energy dollars plus put your equipment at risk. Since energy costs are 83% of HVAC operations costs, it makes sense to change your filters slightly ahead of a low pressure drop. Why? FurnaceFilters.com filters are cheaper than wasted energy! Reduced energy consumption also reduces CO2 emissions.