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Sustainability Shout Out: Maine Standard Biofuels
Posted on May 20, 2013 by reVision heat

Maine Standard Biofuel - B20 Portland, Maine

Maine Standard Biofuels has expanded it’s product offerings beyond its premium grade Biodiesel to now include the delivery of home heating oil to consumers and businesses called Bioheat®. This is really exciting because Bioheat®  consists of 20% locally produced biofuel, made right here in Portland at Maine Standard Biofuels own refinery.  MSB recycles used cooking oil from area restaurants and turns that waste oil into biodiesel for use in our oil burners and any diesel vehicle.  Bioheat® is not exactly the same as standard #2 heating oil. Homeowners and businesses can use up to a B-20 blend (20% Biodiesel + #2 Heating Oil) without any modification of the oil burner. Using 20% biofuel, especially when that biofuel was made from locally sourced recycled material is a great alternative for people using oil, and it’s an important step in the right direction to using a sustainable home grown energy source.

MSB delivers Bioheat® to towns in the Greater Portland area.  Prices vary, but are usually the same or sometimes cheaper than the price of regular home heating oil.

Great work Maine Standard Biofuels!

Maine Standard Biofuels
mainestandardbiofuels.com
51 Ingersoll Dr.
Portland, ME 04103
(207) 878-3001

The Latest Heat Pump Works Down to -15°F
Posted on May 14, 2013 by Pat

Fujitsu RLS-2H Mini Split -15 MaineFujitsu has just released their latest heat pump, the RLS-2H which maintains it’s rated output down to -15°F. That’s a pretty amazing feat! The 15,000 BTU RLS-2H produces 15,000 BTU/hr at -15°F and 20,000 BTU/hr at 0°F.

How it does this is a little less amazing.

The RLS-2, reVision heat’s choice heat pump for cold weather heating applications, produces 100% of it’s output at 5°F and operates down to -5°F. To increase it’s functionality, Fujitsu added a larger heat exchanger and a high capacity compressor to create the RLS-2H.

Another change from the RLS-2 to RLS-2H is a resistive electric “drain pan heater”. Drain pan heaters sit below the heat exchanger on a heat pump and catch condensation that could otherwise freeze at very low temperatures. Other brands of heat pumps require the addition of a drain pan heater for systems installed in cold climates. reVision heat uses them in our Daikin Altherma systems as well as our Mitsubishi Hyper Heat systems. The RLS-2 doesn’t require one.

What this means for home owners

The addition of the drain pan heater means that the system works reliably to colder temperatures, but it also means that they work less efficiently than the RLS-2. The drain pan heater comes on at 30 degrees, dropping efficiency and pushing the output of the system to a colder temperature. The HSPF, which is a measure of efficiency of heat pumps, of the RLS-2H 15,000 BTU system is 10.3, where as the HSPF of the RLS-2 15,000 BTU system is 12. Another way to look at it is, seasonally, the RLS-2H will use 16% more energy than the RLS-2. In applications where primary heating is required, and the difference between 15,000 and 20,000 BTU’s matters, we’ll spec the RLS-2H, where systems don’t need to be as robust, the efficiency of the RLS-2 will win the day.

Learn more about Heat Pumps

Air Source Heat Pumps

I Thought Air Source Heat Pumps Didn’t Work in Maine

Gray Family Says Goodbye Oil, Hello Solar Powered Heat Pumps 

School Saves 28% on Heating Costs with Air Source Heat Pumps

You’re Invited to Celebrate the Craigs at Heat Me! May 14 in Yarmouth
Posted on May 6, 2013 by reVision heat

Join us on May 14  for our first Heat Me! in Yarmouth when we celebrate the Craig family and their exciting journey off fossil fuels. By switching to a Kedel pellet boiler, they are heating their home and hot water with a local, renewable fuel source,  saving 50% on their heating costs, and reducing their CO2 by 90%. Come meet the Craigs, learn how their adventure began, enjoy some delicious food, and get a tour of their new Kedel heating system. Event details are in the image below and on our event calendar.

Heat-Me-Craigs-May-14

Landlord Saves $2300 per year with Natural Gas Boiler
Posted on April 23, 2013 by reVision heat

landlord saves $2,300 with natural gasIn February 2011, Brad Boehringer contacted reVision heat to look into having natural gas heat installed in his three story apartment building. At that time, the building was heated with a 20 year old oil boiler and each level had it’s own natural gas hot water heating system creating an inefficient way to heat and provide domestic hot water to the apartments. Knowing that his heating system was nearing the end of it’s lifespan, Brad contact reVison heat on the recommendation of a neighbor.

“I wanted to be proactive with the aging heating system and deal with it thoughtfully and logically before I had an emergency in the middle of winter that required an expensive band-aid.” ~Brad Boehringer

When Pat Coon, Managing Partner of reVision heat visited Brad’s apartment building, he knew right away that reVision could upgrade Brad’s system and save him a substantial amount of money in energy costs per year. He proposed doing away with the oil boiler and replacing the three hot water heaters with one natural gas boiler for both heat and hot water. He estimated that Brad would save $2036 per year with one natural gas boiler and insulation upgrades.

“High efficiency NG was a no brainer with respect to the trends in energy costs. Pat Coon helped me figure out what worked best for my house!” Brad Boehringer

Financing was a concern for Brad but he was aware that reVision heat was a registered vendor with Efficiency Maine and had experience with the newly established Pace loan program. Pace, at that time, was in it’s infancy so the journey was a bit bumpy as they waded through the unknowns. In the end, Brad admits, “I couldn’t have done it without the Pace option!”

In order to qualify for a Pace loan, in addition to the new heating system, Brad was required to have an energy audit as well as insulation and air sealing updates. Henry Clews preformed the blower door test while New England Spray Foam spray foamed the rim joist and foundation 2 ft down. The installation cost for everything was approximately $16,000 with $5,450 worth of rebates and a small cash payment. The remaining cost was financed through Pace at 4.99% interest rate for 10 years making his monthly payments $95 per month for his new heating system and energy upgrades .

Before, the system update, Brad’s apartment building used on average 800 gallons of oil per year while the hot water for all three units typically cost around $969 per year. At last years oil prices, Brad would have spent $3,040 or a total of $4009 ($334 per month) for heat and hot water. Instead, with the help of reVision heat, Brad’s 2012 energy expenses were $1,626 for a total energy savings of $2,383 per year.

Brad loves that his natural gas heating system is “Low maintenance, easy to program, lower energy costs (I pay the heat bills for my first and second floor tenants). I set it and forget it! Plus it is about 25% the size of my old system, sexy looking and quiet.” reVision heat loves that we were able to help Brad find the best solution for his apartment building and make his journey of qualifying for Pace as easy as possible.

Brad’s 3 unit apartment is a wonderful example of how combining energy updates with an efficient heating system that utilizes a less expensive fuel can bring big savings to your home. When all is said and done, Brad is paying for his Pace loan with the savings generated through his updates and still has about $1500 leftover a year to use towards future weatherization upgrades, paying off his loan quicker or for whatever he wants.

Resources to Learn More:

Interested in learning more about how to save money with your heating system, give us a call at 207-221-5677 or shoot us an email.

Sustainability Shout Out: Garbage to Garden
Posted on April 18, 2013 by reVision heat
Garbage to Garden on Portland Cleanup Day

Garbage to Garden on Portland Cleanup Day

Our first Sustainable Shout Out is to Garbage to Garden, a volunteer-driven weekly curbside compost pickup program formed in August 2012.  Prior to its inception many Maine apartment dwellers and home owners weren’t composting their food waste, instead it was simply thrown away. In an effort to change that and divert food scraps from entering landfills and incinerators, Garbage to Garden was formed by Sable Sanborn and Tyler Frank. Cory Fletcher and Caitlin Milliken joined as partners to help shortly after.

The Garbage to Garden team picks up buckets of organic waste in the towns of Portland, South Portland, Yarmouth, Falmouth, and Cumberland, and then composts the waste at Benson Farm. The mature compost is MOFGA certified organic.

Garbage to Garden

Their Process is Simple:

  1. Sign Up Online
  2. Pick Up a Bucket at a Bucket Pickup Location
  3. Place Organic Waste in the Bucket and place it on the curb for pickup on normal trash day
  4. Receive a clean bucket or one full of compost back trash day – repeat weekly

reVision heat is excited to spread the word about Garbage to Gardens to our readers. If you are still throwing your food waste in the garbage, consider working with Garbage to Garden. Our Sustainability Shout  Out is a new feature that we are adding to our blog and newsletter. If you know of a business making a difference in our community please pass it on to us.