The Lack of Green Solutions Providers - The HVAC Dilemma

Posted December 12, 2008 12:37 by Robert

Tags: hvac systems

I am not your average consumer in that I am fairly educated about various green technologies, HVAC system and the building process. The folks at FreeGreen have been instrumental in helping to establish the envelope for the home, which will involve 2x6 construction, spray foam insulation and high performance windows.  The combination of these items helps to address the demand side of the equation, likely requiring 30-50% less energy than a comparably sized home built to code.  So now we are focusing on the supply side and the choices are overwhelming and the process is frustrating. From a traditional oil furnace (which I won’t do) to a full blown geothermal system or solar system, the problem I am finding is that it’s really hard to find someone who can take you across the whole spectrum of choices in terms of the cost and performance tradeoffs.

Currently we are looking at three options, a hybrid propane heat pump system from a more traditional supplier like Lennox (http://www.lennox.com/popups/definitions/dualfuel.asp) , an air source heat pump (i.e. the Acadia from Hallowell http://www.gotohallowell.com/) or a DX Geothermal (http://www.earthsource-energy.com/) or Water-Based Geothermal (http://www.waterfurnace.com/) system. For the most part, these solutions are available from different specialized installers who are selling what they know and understand and the product they have rights to distribute.  This doesn’t really help the consumer who is trying to decide from different technologies and figure out what is affordable and has a reasonable return on investment. Although some HVAC contractors have expanded their offerings to include solar and geothermal, many of these are offered through partnerships with third party providers, leaving them with responsibility for more of the traditional interior ductwork and controls.  For example, almost all geothermal installations require the use of a third party well driller and this is not something an HVAC company would have in house, yet is represents about half of the cost of installation.

Out of all the HVAC contractors we have spoken with to date, only two have stood out and for the same reason; they had HVAC engineers on staff and were familiar with a wide range of products and applications. Both offered to look at the plans and provide a range of solutions and options from more mainstream to fully green to show the tradeoffs and costs.  I am stilling waiting for the results, but I am much more comfortable with this holistic approach. Then once we choose the path we are going to go down, we can take a look at the pieces of that approach and figure out if there is an opportunity to reduce costs. For example, right  now we know there are many well drillers sitting idle in this economy who are offering prices that seem to be about half of what the resellers are quoting.

Two major related learnings here for everyone.  First, there is definitely an opportunity for a trusted third party consultant or project manager to help with solar, geothermal, etc installations. This would be someone who helps you figure out what you need and where to buy it and would not have a vested interest in promoting one solution over another. They would also manage the process from beginning to end and would probably be able to offload most of their costs onto the vendors much like a buyer’s broker. The second learning, which I can extend to other areas of the project is that you should be ready and willing to pay people solely for their time and experience, rather than products they sell. Whether it’s a lighting plan, AV plan, interior design issue, etc, sometimes it’s better to pay people for their time and independent advice rather than relying on a service provider who is tied to a specific product or distributor. Understandably, these folks will offer to roll over any consulting fees into a product purchase as a way of protecting their upfront investment of time, but this can be a double edged sword. No one is an expert in everything, and I can’t tell you how much value we have received from buying a few hours here and there from a subject matter expert who helped us make better decisions without any strings attached.  Even if someone charges $100+ an hour, if they are really an expert, even a few hours of specialized advice can be invaluable and save you time and money in the long run.

E-mail | Permalink | Comments (2) | Comment RSS