As we all make strides toward living a life that is more eco-friendly, there are many different upgrades you can do to your home to enhance its overall sustainability. Since it accounts for a lot of your energy bills throughout the year, one area of your residence you might want to start with is your HVAC system. Here, we’re going to go over some of the best ways to upgrade your HVAC setup to boost future sustainability for your household.
New HVAC System
One of the most obvious HVAC upgrades that you can do to increase the overall sustainability of your home is purchasing a new high-efficiency HVAC system. You can determine efficient systems based on the energy efficiency rating that they have. Home cooling systems will have a SEER2 (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) rating, with a higher rating translating to better operating efficiency.
Heating systems will have an AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) rating designating their operating efficiency, again with a higher rating meaning a more efficient system. In general, one of the most efficient systems out there is going to be the heat pump. These offer both heating and cooling capabilities and will significantly exceed the efficiency of any other heating system on the market today. There are also high-efficiency central air conditioning systems and furnaces that you can purchase.
Zoned Systems
One really outstanding feature that you may integrate into your HVAC setup is a zone control system. This allows you to break up different areas of your home into particular zones so that you can independently control their temperature settings. For example, it’s pretty common for two-story homes to have two different zones. One zone will be upstairs and the other will be downstairs.
Typically, during the summer months as heat naturally rises, it can make your upstairs feel warmer than your downstairs. Instead of having to run your air conditioning system to cool your entire home uniformly, you can use your zone system to simply cool down the temperature upstairs to minimize your energy usage while optimizing your overall comfort.
Smart Thermostat
One very cost-effective upgrade that you can do to your HVAC system to help reduce your energy usage throughout the year is a smart thermostat. It will give you the capability of programming in various temperature settings depending on the particular time of the day or even the day of the week. This means that you could set the temperature during the summer months to be higher at times when you’re not going to be home so that you don’t have to waste as much energy cooling down your house when no one is there.
Even better, many of these thermostats come with eco-friendly suggestions so that you can further optimize your energy usage by accepting automatic changes to your thermostat’s settings. Because smart thermostats can easily be controlled from your smartphone device, you can alter your settings on a whim whenever your schedule changes. This furnishes more convenience for you and your family.
Sealing or Replacing Ductwork
If you have a forced-air heating or cooling system in your home, there will be a lot of air ducts running throughout your walls and floors. Over time, those air ducts will pull in unwanted airborne particles that will build up inside them. Furthermore, the natural expansion and contraction of the metal ducting material can allow joints to loosen over time.
These gaps can allow debris from inside your wall and floor cavities to get pulled into your ductwork and decrease your indoor air quality. Additionally, those gaps will allow your warmed or cooled air to seep out of your ductwork and not make it to the rooms in your home. This can drive up your heating and cooling costs throughout the year.
A great way to help ensure that all the treated air your HVAC system is producing actually makes it to the rooms in your home is to either upgrade your existing ductwork with new ducting or invest in duct sealing service. The latter is a noninvasive process utilizing a special serum that will go into your ductwork and harden to create a new surface. This is great for reducing any leaks in your ductwork so you can minimize air losses while boosting system efficiency.
Solar-Powered Systems
If you really want to make a big push toward transforming your home to be more sustainable, you may want to consider integrating solar panels with your HVAC system. This can allow you to capture free energy from the sun to power both your heating and cooling systems throughout the year. To take it a step further, you may even want to consider investing in a storage battery bank so that you can store up the energy that you don’t use during the day and employ it during the overnight hours when the sun isn’t out.
Systems With AL2 Refrigerants
One of the biggest recent transformations in the HVAC industry is the introduction of new AL2 refrigerants for cooling and heat pump systems. As of the beginning of 2025, HVAC companies and manufacturers may no longer produce or install systems that utilize one of the older refrigerants like R-22 or R-410A. Both of these refrigerants are known to damage the environment and are being transitioned out of use. By choosing to upgrade your HVAC system to a new one that uses one of these AL2 refrigerants considered safer for the environment, you can do your part in reducing global warming.
Variable-Speed Units
If you decide that you want to upgrade your heating or cooling system, one sustainable upgrade that you want to look for is variable-speed motors and compressors. Systems can run on either single-speed, two-speed, or variable-speed configurations. Single-speed units can only operate at full capacity, while two-speed systems can operate at low or high capacity. The beauty of variable-speed systems is that they can operate at a modulating capacity depending on your specific needs at the time.
For example, let’s say that you’re trying to heat your home when the indoor temperature is about 10 degrees off what you want it to be. A variable-speed system can turn on full blast to get your home up to temperature quickly. However, if your home is only about one degree off of where you want it, that variable-speed system will be able to use its more gently power mode to get your home’s interior temperature up that last one degree without wasting a lot of energy.
Smart Vent Systems
Smart ventilation systems are a really great way to help automatically redirect treated air, depending on where you need it most in your home. These systems use advanced AI-driven technology to analyze things like your interior temperature and even real-time weather data to help make better-informed decisions about how to adjust your home’s internal temperature for optimal energy efficiency and comfort.
Expert HVAC Upgrade Service
At Specialty Heating & Cooling LLC, we offer expert HVAC upgrade services to the Tigard, OR community. Our technicians can also assist with all your HVAC repair, maintenance, and installation needs as well as heat pumps, ductless systems, water heaters, and more. Call our office today to schedule a consultation.
