Project data sheet: Heater upgrades at low-income households in the Philadelphia area

About 40 percent of the average household’s energy use goes towards heating. Unfortunately, many homes have older, inefficient heaters that waste up to 40 percent of this energy. By upgrading to newer, more energy-efficient heaters, homeowners can save hundreds of dollars per year in heating costs and reduce their carbon emissions by thousands of pounds per year.

The Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia will install 13 high-efficiency furnaces at low-income households in the Philadelphia area.

This page provides additional information that you may find useful about the project, including project details, NGE’s energy metric calculations, and contact information for project organizers and vendors. To return to the general project page and make a donation, click here.

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PROJECT DETAILS

This winter, the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA) of Philadelphia will replace or repair 13 inefficient heaters at low-income homes with newer, higher-efficiency models.

The heating systems at these homes  currently operate at efficiencies between 60 and 70 percent: New high-efficiency condensing furnaces operate at 90 percent efficiency.  By upgrading their heating systems, the homeowners will be able to heat their homes with less energy -- saving money on energy bills and lowering their carbon emissions.

ECA's heater mechanics will provide the heating system replacements, and the replacement heaters will be tested using state-approved methods and equipment to ensure that they are operating safely at the correct efficiency. The old heaters will be removed and taken to a metal recycling facility for disposal.

More about the Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia

ECA is dedicated to solving the energy problems of low-income families. The organization provides services designed to reduce the monetary burden of utility costs. To accomplish this, ECA offers weatherization services alongside heating system replacement and repairs. ECA also conducts energy conservation workshops that teach people how to save energy in their homes.

ECA administers the City of Philadelphia’s Heater Hotline Program, which offers a lifeline to low-income home owners by providing emergency heater repair services.  For more information about the Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia, visit its website at www.ecasavesenergy.org.

PROJECT SAVINGS CALCULATIONS

Assumptions

  • ECA will replace or repair 13 heaters of low-income households headed by homebound senior citizens. Of these 13 heaters, the funds raised on New Generation Energy’s website will finance six systems.
  • The new heaters will be high-efficiency condensing furnaces that operate at 90 percent efficiency.
  • The older models that will be replaced operate between 60 and 70 percent efficiency. We use an average figure of 65 percent efficiency in calculating the energy and carbon savings.
  • According to ECA, its customers average energy bill is $1,930 per year.
  • ECA estimates the minimum lifetime of the new heaters at 20 years. While heaters often last longer because they can be repaired, we use the minimum lifetime to ensure that our calculations are conservative.
  • We use the fall 2011 average cost of heating oil in the Central Atlantic region provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).  By using this average cost, we are not factoring fluctuations in heating oil costs into our calculations. Since it is impossible to predict heating costs 20 years into the future, we use the current figures to calculate an approximate savings amount.
  • For the amount of CO2 emitted per gallon of heating oil, we use the EIA's figure of 10.15 kg of CO2 per gallon of home heating oil -- or 22.33 lbs of CO2 per gallon.

Sources of green savings

Energy savings in this type of project come from reduction in fuel use. By installing higher-efficiency furnaces, the homeowners will be able to heat their homes with less fuel. These fuel savings translate into reduced energy bills as well as reduced carbon emissions.

Calculating savings

Calculating savings from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) projects is generally straightforward. In this case, homeowners are replacing an older heater with a new one that uses less energy. The efficiency of these heaters is provided by the manufacturers. Once we know the improvement in efficiency, we find the ratio of the old efficiency to the new efficiency. We then multiply the original energy use by this ratio to find the reduced energy use and carbon emissions.

As mentioned above, the heaters ECA is replacing have an average efficiency of 65 percent. The new heaters have an efficiency of about 90 percent. The old/new efficiency ratio is .65/.9, or 0.72. If the average ECA customer’s annual energy bill is $1,930, we multiply that figure by the efficiency ratio of 0.72 to find that the new annual bill will be approximately $1,393.89. By subtracting the new figure from the old, we calculate that each household will save an average of $536.11 per year.

The funds raised through New Generation Energy will finance the installation of six such heaters. Therefore, the NGE-funded heaters will save a total of $3,216.66 every year for the lifetime of the heaters. Assuming a 20-year minimum lifetime, the heaters will save low-income Philadelphia households at least $64,333.20 in total.

Using the fall 2011 average heating oil cost of $3.915/gallon in the Central Atlantic region, the $64,333.20 lifetime savings represents a lifetime savings of 16,432 gallons of home heating oil.

To calculate the lifetime CO2 emissions reduction, we multiply the lifetime gallons of home heating oil saved by the national average of 22.33 lbs of CO2/gallon.

Summary of project savings

The total savings from this project are:

Projected lifetime $ savings = $64,333.20

Projected lifetime energy savings: 16,432 gallons of home heating oil

Projected lifetime CO2 reductions = 366,926.56 lbs CO2

This project’s energy metrics calculations were performed by Anne Kenslea. If you have any questions or comments, please email Anne at akenslea@newgenerationenergy.org or leave a comment below.

PROJECT ORGANIZERS AND VENDORS

The following information is provided for the benefit of the general public. In particular, we hope that this information will be helpful for other small businesses and nonprofit organizations considering similar green energy projects.

Project participants have agreed to answer questions from the general public regarding their project, and contact information is listed below. While these real world experiences can be an invaluable source of practical information, we ask that anybody engaging in correspondence with the listed project participants be sensitive to their time availability.

Project vendor information is included without any qualification whatsoever from New Generation Energy as to the suitability of the listed vendor for a given green energy project. Please note that NGE receives no financial support from these vendors. This information is included to allow the general public to correspond with these vendors.

Project organizers

Energy Coordinating Agency, Inc.

1924 Arch St.

Philadelphia, PA 19103

PROJECT SUPPORTERS

Are you a Philadelphia-based business that wants to help this green project? Learn about our local + GREEN program.

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DISCLAIMER

The information contained herein is provided by New Generation Energy solely as a public service. New Generation Energy makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of the information contained herein.