OUTSIDE THE STATE LEGISLATURE’S doors, our air was filled with wildfire smoke from Canada and extreme heat, while record flooding wiped out farms and livelihoods in western Massachusetts. Inside, lobbyists and special interests used a flawed academic report in an attempt to undermine Massachusetts’s climate goals, creating false headlines designed to push us back decades.(...)
I wonder if you could do that instead of central air. I’ve lived in houses where certain rooms don’t get AC or heat, annoyingly always mine. having one per floor, internal insulation, separate smart thermometers etc. could provide both better heating and cooling and eek out energy savings.
You can’t always retrofit just by installing a mini split head in each room (with each external unit providing 1-3 heads), as some older houses don’t have insulated pipes etc and cold can do other damage.
As part of a bigger remodel or a new build, absolutely.
I was thinking of new builds, retrofitting old buildings has it’s limitations, not to mention how some old homes in urban areas are better off torn down and replaced by denser housing
You can also go even further. Heating the people directly through various methods (well placed skylights/windows, infrared panels, pointing the head unit at the people) can reduce the temperature you need to keep the building at.
it’s not quite that trivial but if you’re building new the cost is roughly the same. I live in an all electric home and wouldn’t dream of ripping out the electric stove for a gas one, or getting a gas water heater. I mean I could go for an induction stove but that is a drop in replacement
All homes are electric, gas pipes are an additional cost. All electric just means, what, 2 or 3 outlets using slightly higher gauge wiring?
You can also do things like mini splits in many areas instead of expensive, bulky, insulation-piercing, unreliable ducts.
I wonder if you could do that instead of central air. I’ve lived in houses where certain rooms don’t get AC or heat, annoyingly always mine. having one per floor, internal insulation, separate smart thermometers etc. could provide both better heating and cooling and eek out energy savings.
You can’t always retrofit just by installing a mini split head in each room (with each external unit providing 1-3 heads), as some older houses don’t have insulated pipes etc and cold can do other damage.
As part of a bigger remodel or a new build, absolutely.
I was thinking of new builds, retrofitting old buildings has it’s limitations, not to mention how some old homes in urban areas are better off torn down and replaced by denser housing
Oh. Absolutely.
You can also go even further. Heating the people directly through various methods (well placed skylights/windows, infrared panels, pointing the head unit at the people) can reduce the temperature you need to keep the building at.
it’s not quite that trivial but if you’re building new the cost is roughly the same. I live in an all electric home and wouldn’t dream of ripping out the electric stove for a gas one, or getting a gas water heater. I mean I could go for an induction stove but that is a drop in replacement