When you are looking for an air conditioning replacement in St. Augustine, FL to prepare for another heavy Florida summer, you will come across a slew of statistics, brand names, types, and sizes that may start to feel overwhelming. Among all this data, you will also spy a sticker on many air conditioning units: a blue background with a white five-pointed star and the capital letters (always capital) ENERGY STAR. This looks important… but what does it mean?
If you have a professional installer working with you (and you should), he or she will help you understand the complexities of air conditioner models to find the right one for your home. The ENERGY STAR label will play a part of this, and chances are high that you’ll end up with a system with this sticker on it. We’ll explain why.
If the installer at your side is from Climate Masters, you can rest easy that you are receiving experienced and qualified service from one of the best heating and cooling contractors in St. Johns County.
The ENERGY STAR program
The ENERGY STAR label indicates that an appliance meets the standards set by the ENERGY STAR program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the authority of the Clean Air Act, established ENERGY STAR as a voluntary program in 1992 to help homes and businesses save money with energy-efficient appliances and protect the environment from damaging emissions. Manufacturers of appliances can choose to submit their product to the scrutiny of the program. If an appliance meets a set of regulations for energy efficiency and low negative environmental impact, it receives the label as a sign of approval.
The regulations differ depending on the appliance. With air conditioners, a system must have non-proprietary technology to achieve its efficiency (i.e., no single company can have a monopoly on energy efficiency), contain features that customers in general demand, and return on investment on its installation after only a few years if it costs more than a non-qualifying system.
A very specific AC requirement for the ENERGY STAR label is its minimum SEER. This is an energy-efficiency rating, and the higher the number, the less electricity the air conditioner wastes as it cools. To meet the ENERGY STAR program requirements, an air conditioner must have at least 14.5 SEER, easily verifiable through testing.
If you see the ENERGY STAR label on an air conditioner, you can feel confident that it is a safe, beneficial, and non-wasteful unit that will save money for you… provided it’s actually the right unit for your home. This is why you need to have professional assistance, since the ENERGY STAR label isn’t the only important criteria. Let the technician guide you toward the AC that will combine efficiency, environmental friendliness, and effective cooling.
Call our experts in air conditioning replacement in St. Augustine, FL today to get started with an excellent new AC installation for the summer.
