Check out Beta American’s own Pete Monahan in this edition of NewlyGreen’s.

Watch as Pete helps Greg and Connie replace their 50 year old behemoth of a boiler with a brand new, modulating condenser super high efficiency model.

The new boiler is smart enough to adjust the water temperature within the system based on outside air temperature, resulting in huge savings for these homeowners. In other words, the boiler has brains and only uses the energy it needs to keep the house warm.

Efficiency is further improved with the use of a heat recovery condenser in the chimney. Already heated air is pulled back into the system, where the heat is “scrubbed-out” and recycled towards heating more water.

Adding zones increases comfort in rooms where you need heat most and makes for smart savings. By using wireless thermostats, Pete helped Greg and Connie create independent zones throughout the house. The thermostats communicate back to the boiler and make requests for more or less hot water.

All of this combined for an increase in efficiency from 50% with the old system to 94% with the new one.

The bottom line: these green homeowners now save 47% on their monthly heating bill.

Founded in 2005, Bangor, Maine-based Hallowell International has developed an air-source heat pump HVAC system called the Acadia that not only works in temperatures well below zero degrees Fahrenheit but also rivals geothermal systems in efficiency at a fraction of the installed cost. It runs–as all heat pumps do–on electricity, which, given the recent rapid rise in the cost of fossil fuels, is the most cost-effective source of energy this side of the sun and the wind.

Those in the know are probably scoffing right about now. Duane Hallowell, president and CEO, is accustomed to the scoffing.

“What we are doing is known to be impossible,” says Hallowell with a glint in his eye. He has a pointer in his hand and is whacking away at a graphic on the wall that depicts the heating capacities of an Acadia system at various outside temperatures. The bars over on the right of the chart say minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

According to Boyle’s Law, if temperature remains constant, the volume of a given mass of gas is inversely proportionate to the absolute pressure. Therefore, if one raises the pressure of the gas via a compressor, and the volume remains constant, the temperature must go up.
Photo: Bill Gloede
FREEZE FRAME: CEO Duane Hallowell (left) and VP/sales and marketing Chip Curtis at Hallowell International stand in a psychometric chamber in which the temperature has been reduced to two below zero by the Acadia system, which has transferred the heat into an adjacent lab.

This is how a conventional heat pump–or your average air conditioner–works, with the exception that the refrigerant changes from a liquid to a gas under pressure. Every heat pump or A/C unit has a high-pressure side that disperses heat though a condenser and a low-pressure side that absorbs heat through an evaporator.

Unlike conventional heat pumps, the Acadia adds a compressor to the cycle’s low-pressure side. This involves much more than just installing a second compressor; there are eight separate patents that explain how it is accomplished. “We’re well protected,” quips Hallowell.

“Today’s air-source heat pump is designed primarily as an air conditioner with a secondary function for heat,” he explains. The Acadia started as a heating unit. It employs two stages of compression, an additional booster compressor, variable-speed electronically commutated motor (ECM) technology on blowers, and programmable thermostats that combined deliver four stages of heat and two stages of A/C. The result is an extremely comfortable heat from a forced-air system, better humidity control, and an 80 percent reduction in the time needed to reverse cycles to defrost the system–a common problem with conventional heat pumps.

United Communities, which is currently privatizing the housing facilities at McGuire Air Force Base in southern New Jersey, is installing 2,400 Acadias. The man who put United together with Hallowell, HVAC contractor and owner of Beta American Services Pete Monahan thinks the Acadia “is the best air system on the market, and there are a lot of good air systems out there.”

“We’ve got about 22 of the systems in,” he adds. “We’ve been down to 10 and 12 degrees, and we had no problem at all. We haven’t had to use the resistance heat [the fourth stage of heating, meant for temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit].”

The Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating for the Acadia is 16.5; the Heating Seasonal Performance Factor is 9.7. Its savings over fossil fuels is dependent on the going price of those fuels versus the electricity rate, but savings can be more than 50 percent.

An Acadia system runs between $8,000 and $14,000, installed. Hallowell promises more technological advances in the near future and has signed Parker Hannifin as a strategic partner. The company’s Web site is www.gotohallowell.com. Cute.
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Pete Monahan, president, Beta American Services, Oakland, N.J., was lucky enough to receive that call, and because he is well versed in everything from dual-fuel equipment to geothermal systems, he was able to give this customer a wide array of options. What might be surprising to learn is that the homeowner didn’t choose a conventional HVAC system; instead, she opted to have a new kind of heat pump installed in her $11 million home.

That heat pump is the Acadia™ system from Hallowell International, which the company says is an energy-efficient, eco-friendly electric heating and cooling system that can keep a home’s indoor temperatures comfortable even when outdoor temperatures dip down to -30˚F. While its first cost is markedly higher than a conventional heat pump, the company states the Acadia can cut home heating and cooling costs by up to 70 percent.

For an increasing number of homeowners, using less fossil fuel and reducing their carbon footprint is becoming very popular — and they’re willing to pay a premium to go green.

ALTERNATIVE TO GEOTHERMAL

Monahan has a hand in just about every market and technology available. His company works in the residential, commercial, and industrial markets and installs all types of equipment. Not that long ago, he received a call from a customer who was interested in having a geothermal system installed, but he also wanted Monahan to check out the new Acadia heat pump before putting together a quote.

After visiting the company’s Website and talking with Duane Hallowell, president of Hallowell International, Monahan was sold on the technology and ready to give it a try.

“What I like about this system is it addresses geothermal customers’ concerns,” said Monahan. “They’re usually environmentalists. They don’t want to burn fossil fuel, and they want to save energy. This machine has an average COP of 4, which is pretty high. It’s a nice alternative to geothermal, especially when you can’t get a field in. It’s very rocky in New Jersey, and it’s difficult to find drillers.”

The cost of the Acadia can’t compare to that of a builder’s grade heat pump, but it’s definitely an option for customers looking at high-end and/or dual-fuel systems. At that price point, the Acadia is still about $2,000 to $3,000 higher than a conventional system, but it costs approximately one-half that of a geothermal system. Depending on the climate and cost of electricity, the payback for the Acadia usually averages less than four years.

The other benefit of the Acadia is that it appeals to customers looking for ways to reduce the amount of carbon they contribute to the environment. A case in point is an installation Monahan finished last year. The homeowner installed $70,000 in solar panels on her home, drove a Toyota Prius, and wanted a heating and cooling system that would not require fossil fuels.

“This customer contacted me because she had read about the Acadia heat pump online, and that’s what she wanted,” said Monahan. “She’s in her 70s, so she wasn’t looking for a return on investment. She didn’t want to have fossil fuel on her property, and she already decided that this was the technology she wanted to use.”

CHANGING OUT THE OLD

This homeowner lives in a modest, 1,500-square-foot, 1960s ranch-style house that still had all its original equipment, which included radiant heating around the perimeter only and a hot water coil on top of a General Electric air handler. An oil-fired boiler with a tankless coil in it and a 7 SEER condensing unit completed the system.

A small mechanical room in the garage housed the air handler and boiler, which were both fairly simple to remove. The oil storage tank was also taken out, due to concerns that it might leak into the ground. Because the tankless coil was removed, Monahan installed a Rheem Marathon™ high-efficiency electric water heater.

This particular application required a 3-ton Acadia heat pump, which came packaged with a York air handler. Back-up resistance heat is not required with the Acadia system; however, the air handler has a 10 kW strip heater, which is used for defrost. The seldom used defrost cycle lasts only 60 to 90 seconds and operates about 80 percent less frequently than that in a conventional heat pump.

The company states that it is more energy efficient to use an electric strip heater for defrosting than a furnace because by the time the furnace fires up, the strip heater has already been in and out of defrost mode. “I like the way that York configures the electric heater because the circuit breakers are inside the air handler, so you can run one power feed from the electrical panel over to the air handler, and it gives you a separate circuit breaker for the air handler and a separate circuit breaker for the electric strip heater. It’s a nice feature,” said Monahan.

The customer’s overhead ductwork was insulated on the outside and still in decent shape, so nothing had to be done to it. Monahan re-installed her existing Aprilaire bypass humidifier as well as a new Aprilaire media air cleaner. The system comes with a three-stage heat/two-stage cool programmable thermostat, which according to Monahan, allows about 120 percent more moisture to be removed during humid months than a conventional system.

“In the winter, the first compressor comes on and keeps the fan low, which gives a really nice, high discharge temperature that is very comfortable,” he added.

Installation was straightforward on this project, but Monahan cautions others who are installing the Acadia to take the added precaution of making sure the units are raised up on feet. “Don’t use lintels, because there are drain holes on the bottom of the unit. It costs about $6 to buy the feet at the hardware store, and you’ll get in trouble if you don’t use them, because it will drag out the defrost cycle and cost more electricity.”

So far, Monahan has installed over 20 Acadia systems, and he has many more interested customers in the pipeline. As he noted, customers like the Prius-driving homeowner mentioned earlier are very educated and very green. And this particular homeowner is even more pleased that she hasn’t received an electric bill in 10 months. “There are a lot of people like that and more are becoming aware of how bad the environment actually is. People get angry over fossil fuels, and they feel good when they get off of it.”

And the good news is that they’re often willing to pay a premium to achieve that goal.

It was also the recipient of the 2008 heating innovation award from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The military is even using this technology – McGuire/Ft. Dix AFB in New Jersey is installing 2,000 of these systems into all of their base housing.

Why? The Acadia replaces oil and natural gas furnaces with traditional heat pump technology supplemented with patented ‘Boosted Compression’ technology, providing heating and cooling for the whole house, year round, at a fraction of the cost. It’s the first heat pump to work in cold climates – even below zero temperatures – and outperforms conventional heating systems by almost 300 percent, says Hallowell. Plus, it replaces the chlorofluorocarbons found in traditional heat pumps – which cause ozone depletion.

Hallowell International President Duane Hallowell says the idea was something he had thought about for some time. “I’ve had it in my mind vision for many years, that there could be an alternative to how we are heating and cooling our homes. Could there be a technology that was both affordable and that could replace the oil furnace that I’d always known?”

Manufacturers claim that the Acadia can decrease home energy bills by up to 70 percent – even when outside temperatures reach well below zero. It’s almost as efficient as geothermal, but 1/3 of the installation cost, though it costs about 30% more than a traditional system. Not bad considering that the Acadia is Hallowell’s first proof of concept.

Sustainable Industries’ judges praised the system’s ability to work in low temperatures, saying it’s a great solution for colder climates, such as the Pacific Northwest. One judge noted the Acadia comes close to the efficiency of a geothermal heat pump, but at a lower cost. In sustained below-freezing temperatures, most pump systems rely on a back-up heating source, either electric or fossil-fuel based. The Acadia, which runs on electricity, has a patented booster compressor that allows it to continue to keep buildings warm, even in sub-zero temperatures, without relying on a secondary heat source.

Hallowell says that environmental and HVAC industry experts have known since the 1950’s that air source heat pump technology offered a viable alternative to fossil fuel systems and a long-term, sustainable source of indoor climate control. But they couldn’t figure out how to make them work in cold climates. However, when David Shaw, a retired compressor designer and refrigeration engineer received a $400 electric bill in 1995 he began to seriously consider designing a heat pump that could work where temperatures drop well below freezing. As a result, Shaw engineered the Boosted Compression technology that enables the Acadia to operate efficiently at below freezing temperatures.

“The beauty of the Acadia is how it takes advantage of components that the HVAC industry already knows and understands,” says Duane Hallowell. “By building a high performance machine from standard HVAC components you can keep costs in check and have any qualified HVAC technician service or install the equipment. There are no special tools or devices required as there are no devices that have yet to be introduced to the industry. The simpler a system is designed, the more reliable it will be in the long term with fewer components to have problems. Reliability and sustainability is an important point with consumers making an investment and the contractors who commit to servicing the equipment.”

All units are assembled in Bangor Maine and are distributed throughout the United States and Canada.

I spoke to architect and Acadia client Ed Nilsson about his system. Nilsson read about the Acadia in 2004. When it was time to upgrade the solar system at his house in Massachusetts to photovoltaics in place of the solar space heating system he had, he decided to turn to the Acadia for both a heating and cooling system. “There’s nothing comparable that could heat a house in this climate and not use resistance heating,” says Nilsson. “We would have used it even if we didn’t use it in conjunction with the photovoltaics. As it turns out, the 50% reduction in our electricity costs is shared equally between the photovoltaics and the Acadia unit.”

Nilsson was so jazzed about his Acadia, used in conjunction with his solar energy system, he not only recommends it for his clients, but he made a little movie about it: