It's clear that much of the '90 era construction around here was without regard to heating/cooling efficiency. The climate is obviously very mild, and energy was relatively cheap back then. I know several people with single pane, 2x4 wall, lots of sliding glass, and they just do what it takes to heat it. Cooling is less of an issue because of large shade trees. The skylights are south and west. We definitely get solar gain through them, but that's easily fixed with some retractable shades (on order now). This was an unusually warm and long summer, and we barely needed any cooling. Guessing 12 hours of a/c time. If we had solar, we would have run a/c more, maybe double, but generally we just open the windows and enjoy an 80F interior.
|