Pre Solar – Your Smart Home Pros™
Salt River Solar offers additional products and services to both residential and commercial Arizona customers:
Radiant Barriers
Solar Attic Fans
KVAR kec Units
What is a radiant barrier?
Radiant barriers are materials that are installed in buildings to reduce summer heat gain and winter heat loss, and hence to reduce heating and cooling costs. The potential benefit of attic radiant barriers is primarily in reducing air-conditioning cooling loads in hot climates. Radiant barriers usually consist of a thin but strong sheet or coating of a highly reflective material, normally aluminum, applied to one or both sides of rafter and attic surfaces. Some products are fiber reinforced to increase the durability and ease of handling. Radiant barriers can be used in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. However, this fact sheet was developed only for applications of radiant barriers in ventilated attics of homes.
How are radiant barriers installed in a residential attic?
Radiant barriers may be installed in attics in a number of configurations. The simplest is to lay the radiant barrier directly on top of existing attic insulation, with the reflective side up. This is often called the attic floor application. The best way to install a radiant barrier is to attach it near the roof. The roof application has several variations. One variation is to attach the radiant barrier to the bottom surfaces of the attic truss chords or rafter framing. Another is to drape the radiant barrier over the tops of the rafters before the roof deck is applied. An excellent variation is to attach the radiant barrier directly to the underside of the roof deck.
How do radiant barriers work?
Radiant barriers work by dramatically reducing heat transfer by thermal radiation across the air space between the roof deck and the attic floor, where the conventional insulation is placed. All materials give off, or emit, energy by thermal radiation as a result of their temperature. The amount of energy emitted depends on the surface temperature and a property called the “emissivity” (also called the “emittance”). The emissivity is a number between zero (0) and one (1). The higher the emissivity, the greater the emitted radiation.
On a sunny summer day, solar energy is absorbed by the roof, heating the roof sheathing and causing the underside of the sheathing and the roof framing to radiate heat downward toward the attic floor. When a radiant barrier is placed on the attic floor, much of the heat radiated from the hot roof is reflected back toward the roof. This makes the top surface of the insulation cooler than it would have been without a radiant barrier and thus reduces the amount of heat that moves through the insulation into the rooms below the ceiling. Under the same conditions, a roof mounted radiant barrier works by reducing the amount of radiation on the insulation. Since the amount of radiation striking the top of the insulation is less than it would have been without a radiant barrier, the insulation surface temperature is lower and the heat flow through the insulation is reduced.
Radiant barriers can also reduce indoor heat losses through the ceiling in the winter. Radiant barriers reduce the amount of energy radiated from the top surface of the insulation, but can also reduce beneficial heat gains due to solar heating of the roof.
How does a radiant barrier differ from conventional attic insulation?
Radiant barriers perform a function that is akin to that of conventional insulation, in that they reduce the amount of heat that is transferred from the attic into the house. They differ in the way they reduce the heat flow. A radiant barrier reduces the amount of heat radiated across an air space that is adjacent to the radiant barrier. The primary function of conventional insulation is to trap still air within the insulation, and hence reduce heat transfer by air movement (convection). The insulation fibers or particles also partially block radiation heat transfer through the space occupied by the insulation.
What are the characteristics of a radiant barrier?
All radiant barriers have at least one reflective (or low emissivity) surface, usually a sheet or coating of aluminum. Some radiant barriers have a reflective surface on both sides. For example, if a one-sided radiant barrier is laid on top of the insulation with the reflective side facing down and touching the insulation, the radiant barrier will lose most of its effectiveness in reducing heating and cooling loads.
Emissivity is the property that determines how well a radiant barrier will perform. This property is a number between 0 and 1, with lower numbers indicating better potential for performance. The emissivity of typical, clean, unperforated radiant barriers is about 0.03 to 0.05. Hence they will have a reflectivity of 95 to 97 percent. Some materials may have higher emissivities. Measured emissivity values should be part of the information provided by the manufacturer. Some allow water vapor passage through holes or perforations, while others have substrates that naturally allow water vapor passage without requiring holes. However, excessively large holes will increase the emissivity and cause a reduction in the radiant barrier performance. The ability to allow water vapor to pass through radiant barrier materials is not needed for the roof applications.
What is a Solar Attic Fan, and How Does It Work?
Let the SUN cool your attic space!
A “solar attic fan” is a power roof vent that runs on solar energy instead of electricity from your power box. Instead of consuming electricity to cool your attic, the solar fan uses a built-in solar panel to transform sunlight into electric power. This solar electric drives a motor that turns fan blades and removes heat and moisture from your attic. The solar fan can is easily installed.
Solar attic fans save the homeowner money directly and indirectly. The roof receives direct, intense rays from the sun. Whether it’s a shingled roof or a metal roof, heat begins building up in the attic space.
When the attic space overheats, a shingled roof will heat on the underside of the shingles. This causes wear and tear on your shingles and you risk wearing them out before the end of their life expectancy period. Shingle manufacturers are aware of this and require ventilation for a correctly installed roof to be covered under their warranty.
For example, imagine that you paid $5,000.00 for the installation of a 24-year shingle. However, after 8 or 10 years it appears as though the corners are curled, and it’s leaking. You contact the shingle manufacturer and complain of shingle failure. They examine the shingles under a microscope and determine that the excessive wear was from overheating caused by lack of adequate ventilation. Unfortunately, the warranty only covers correctly installed shingles, and yours were not.
Here’s a quick check for attic overheating? Inside your home, get a stepladder and climb it. Is the room warmer the further up you go? This is not a good sign. This means the air conditioner is working overtime to cool the inside of your home. The overheating in the attic space causes warming of your ceilings. That means more electricity usage than necessary, which results in higher electric bills
Electric Attic Fans use about 400 watts of power per day when they run. These fans have thermostats that are set to start the fan at a certain temperature, usually around 100 to 115 degrees. They will then run as long as it takes to get the temperature back down to 10 or 20 degrees below the starting temperature. Once your attic is allowed to get to 100+ degrees (the starting temp of the electric fan) it will be a losing ground to cool the attic space, because this is happening during the hottest part of the day. Also, electric fans will consume as much as $20 per month.
A correctly installed solar attic fan runs from sun-up to sundown, summer or winter, at no cost for operation. With air in the attic space constantly being circulated during the day, attic space temperatures remain lower.
That means:
1. Cooler attic spaces
2. Less work for your air conditioner
3. Your shingles don’t deteriorate before their life expectancy.
4. Ultimately this results in lower electric bills and money savings for the homeowner.
The cost of a solar attic fan will vary depending on the manufacturer, the roofer, and the area of the country. Usually under $1,500.00 including installation is a reasonable rate. Quality and correct installation are paramount. Properly installed, the solar fan will provide years of no-cost operation, while reducing energy consumption in your home. Because solar fans are low-voltage, there is no risk of fire.
As you can see, the benefits of solar attic ventilation are numerous, while making our world a cleaner and better place to live. Consider letting the sun do the work and cool your hot attic space, stop unnecessary wear and save you money!
How Does the KVAR Unit Work?
The KVAR Unit reduces the amount of power drawn from the utility by storing (in its capacitors) the otherwise lost electricity (watts) caused by the inductive motors in your home. (Some examples of inductive motors are air conditioning units, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, pool pumps, vacuum cleaners, furnace blower motors, fans, etc.) The technology applied by the KVAR Unit restores that stored electricity back to your inductive loads, thus causing you to decrease your demand from the utility. If you increase efficiency of the inductive loads, you decrease your demand from the utility, and you use less electricity. After all, you’ve already paid for that electricity. Why pay for it and waste it when you can pay for it, store it, and reuse it again? This whole process is called power factor optimization.
What is Power Factor?
Power factor is the percentage of electricity that’s delivered to your house and used effectively, compared to what is wasted. For example, a 1.0 power factor means that all the electricity that’s being delivered to your home is being used effectively for its purpose. However, most homes in America today have a .77 power factor or less. This means that 77% of the electricity that is coming through your meter at your home or business is being used effectively while the other 23% is being wasted by your inductive load. With a low power factor, the utility has to deliver more electricity to do the same work. However, the KVAR Unit increases that power factor in most cases to .97 or .98, thus increasing the effective use of your electricity and lowering your usage. The closer a capacitor is to the load, the more effective the power factor correction
PUT THE BRAKES ON RISING ENERGY COSTS! Save Up To 25% Towards Your Monthly Electric Bills! REAL Energy Savings Made Easy! Imagine a box that fits neatly next to your electrical panel, saves you hundreds of dollars and surge protects the entire home. With NASA proven technology it reduces greenhouse pollution tremendously which helps the environment. Lend our expertise to your home or small facility and protect your future from rising energy costs. The KVAR unit has been tested and has been proven to work by: NASA, Honeywell, Underwriters Laboratory and Energy Star. Lend our expertise to your home or small facility and protect your future from rising energy costs. What are the benefits? It reduces energy demand, decreased heat dissipation in all inductive load appliances, thus extending their productive life cycle and giving the whole house surge protection. The beauty of this system is you can take it with you when you move. All of us at Salt River Solar and Wind LLC are working harder and smarter than ever to give your family a great energy value and keep your monthly bills as low as possible.
Can the KVAR Units be taken with you when moving from your home or business?
Yes. On single and three phase panel systems, the unit can be relocated to another similar panel configuration although if the panel unit was left in place it would add a selling benefit to the new owner because of the added energy conservation.
Large industrial capacitors have been around for at least 60 years. What new is the ability to have this equipment for small business and home use. The KVAR Unit will reduce the wasted electricity that flows into your breaker box. Salt River Solar and Wind LLC provides KVAR Units to customers without generation or acquisition of additional power, and reduces capital expenditures by leveraging the existing infrastructure. 5 years warranty. U.S. Patented, NASA Tested, UL Listed, CSA Approved, Cleaner & Greener Certified, RoHS Certified. Also, the technology is recognized by the US Department of Energy.
Let’s talk dollars and cents:
If your electric bill is $200 a month now and after getting the KVAR unit it could drop down to $150. You are looking at $600 savings in your first year alone. This means the cost of the unit will be recovered in less than 12 months. Honestly, some people have reported way more than a 25% improvement on their electric bill. Your incredible savings is not just for one month or a year. This savings will continue FOREVER, without any additional maintenance or cost to you. After the first year you will have a 100% ROI. This is a sure way to reduce your monthly electric utility bill and save BIG $$$for many years to come!
