A.L. – Florence, South Carolina

In a message dated 4/24/2012 1:58 PM:
Hi Charles,
Yes, it is fine for you to forward our contact information to your potential client. We will be glad to answer any questions your client may have.

We are really enjoying our home and are extremely pleased with how it performs. I would use your panels again if I ever had to build again.

I attached two recent pictures in case you are interested in how our home looks now.
Please let me know if you need additional information.

Best regards,
A.L.

In a message dated 4/24/2012 2:17 PM:
Thanks so much, [AL]! Your house really does look beautiful. How many square feet is it? I look forward to hearing some energy cost numbers from you when you have a year’s worth.
Best Regards,
Charles

In a message dated 4/25/2012 10:42 AM:

Good Morning Charles,
Our home is 2490 square feet.

Keep in mind the following notes about the energy cost information:
1. This is an all-electric home with two heat pumps and an electric water heater.
2. We are on a private well so our domestic water is included in the costs.
3. We have two large freezers in addition to our refrigerator. (We have a large garden.)
4. We did a lot of vegetable canning.
5. We installed lawn sod and landscaping plants last June and had to constantly water them because of the hot, dry summer. We also had to irrigate our garden all summer. The water pump use is included in the cost.
6. My wife and I are the only ones living here.

The kwh usage and costs are for the past 12 months.
Billing month kwh usage $ billing
April 2012 749 104
Mar. 739 103
Feb. 845 109
Jan. 845 109
Dec. 2011 783 102
Nov. 629 84
Oct. 737 94
Sept. 1135 133
Aug. 1366 158
July 1523 174
June 582 75
May 698 87
10,631 $1,332
Average per mo. 886kwh $111

In summary, we are very satisfied with these numbers. Our builder has offered to trade bills with us several times!

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best regards,
A.L.

In a message dated 4/25/2012 3:50 PM:
A.L.,

This is actually quite impressive information! I’m bouncing off our team to get some comparative data but still quite impressive. Congratulations!

And also thanks to your builder Mike Hill – by sheer coincidence he referred someone to us yesterday (crazy timing!).

Best Regards,
Charles Leahy
Eco-Panels

In a message dated 4/25/2012 9:13 PM:
Charles,
I am glad the information is useful to you.

As you can tell, our heating and cooling costs are low. There is not much difference in cost between the heating or cooling seasons and the off-peak times in the fall and spring.
My goal was to invest in a tight, energy efficient envelope rather than more exotic things like solar water heating, electrical solar panels, or geothermal. I don’t believe those things have much to offer me with this home and I believe the data supports that thought. Besides, I did not want the added complexity of these systems.

As I have said before, I will be glad to talk with any of your prospective clients. By the way, Mike Hill has said several times to me that he would like to build another home with your panels.

Best regards,
A.L.

In a message dated 4/26/2012 12:50 PM:
Good morning,
Do you remember what size HVAC system you purchase? 2 ton? 3 ton?

Also, if you ever move to LOTs of produce storage think about us for creating a small walk-in cooler for you. Some folks have pointed us to the “Coolbot” system (see www.storeitcold.com) that converts a standard off-the-shelf window AC unit into a storage refrigeration unit – saves them lots on power bills (read more on their website).

I love that people are getting more and more into the self-farming activities!
Let me know on the tonnage of your HVAC.

Best,
Charles

In a message dated 4/27/2012:
Charles,

I found the detailed heating/cooling study done on the house. The cooling load drives the equipment size in this area, so I did not include the heating load. The numbers include the sensible and latent cooling load. I thought you might be interested in these numbers.

Summer design conditions: Outside DB temp. 94 degrees F.
Inside DB temp. 75 degrees F.

Upstairs: Equipment total cooling load: 13,518 Btuh
Required equipment capacity: 1.2 ton

Downstairs: Equipment total cooling load: 17,543 Btuh
Required equipment capacity: 1.5 ton

Entire house: Equipment total cooling load: 22,969 Btuh
Required equipment capacity: 2.3 ton

I don’t remember now why the consultant said the entire house is different from the sum of the upstairs and downstairs.

Note: In my earlier email about the HVAC systems, I said the downstairs unit was a 15 SEER unit. I meant to say it was a 16 SEER unit.

This past summer here was very hot. We had many days in the upper 90s and some above 100. Both units cycled off regularly even on the hottest days. As you probably know, a properly sized system typically should run continuously at and above the design conditions. The cycling indicates that these small units are still slightly oversized. I am not complaining. In my opinion, this indicates the house performs better that the HVAC study indicates.

I hope this is helpful.

Best regards,
A.L.