Maybe it’s the Southerner in me, but aren’t window air conditioner units supposed to be ugly and downright evil?You’re upending my world, Noria. The point of a window AC is the battle to get the damn thing installed. The struggle is part of the journey through hell. It’s supposed to sound like a 757 is idling next to your bedroom.Based in Philadelphia, Noria Home is taking on a market that has seen little innovation in 60 years. The window mounted – I use the term loosely for some of you – air conditioner.Noria is addressing every gripe we have about a window AC. Pain in the ass to install? Not anymore thanks to its window frame adapter. Install it first and then slide the Noria AC in. No more balancing acts with your family both inside and outside with a pickup truck.You’d use a truck too over a ladder.That covers the installation. Now, the second biggest gripe. The company recognized the untapped market and unveiled a unit that is both sleek and stylish. At less than six inches tall, a Noria will not take up your entire window.

Throw open the shade and enjoy a bit of sunlight.Keeping things simple is a control knob that is both intuitive and gets rid of the incessant button mashing of current window units.The low-profile engineering changed up how the team structured the fans. Instead of blowing cold air directly out, the fans are directed upward to create convective cooling. A 5,000 BTU/hr unit can cool your average size bedroom with ease.Want to bring the outside indoors? On cool summer nights (the Noria team doesn’t live in the south), you can switch the compressor off, and the unit will pull in fresh air. depreciation of air conditioning unitIts onboard thermostat ensures the temp won’t dip too low for those that like to sleep warm. axial fan air handling unitBelow are the specs and performance numbers for the Nora window AC:Cooling Type: Vapor-compression refrigeration using environmentally and ozone-friendly R410a refrigerantRoom size: Up to 160 square feet.how to determine seer rating on ac unit

Power Consumption: approximately 460-480 watts, for an EER we estimate to be 10.4 to 10.8.Size: 5.8”H x 18.25”W x 15”DWindow Opening size: 21″ to 36″ wide.Window Type: Single or double-hung window framesThe small footprint allows for easy storage outside the summer months. Slide it out of the window adapter and store it under a normal bed frame. Platform beds may run into issues, but at 30 pounds, you can easily haul it over to your closet.Noria Home App. Come on. You know it’s going to have an app. Using Bluetooth LE, the app can turn the AC on/off from the comfort of your bed and set up scheduling to run the unit when you’re out of the house.The delivery times are a bit of a wait. If you want it before this summer, temper those expectations Ship dates for the Noria are slated for March 2017. Is it a wait? Yes, but the company is promising beta testing programs for the Philadelphia area and constant communication with backers.Already, the campaign is nearing the halfway point of its $250,000 goal with 44 days to go.

Pricing for a Noria AC starts at $299. $549 is the price tag for the company’s Frosty Package.Learn more over at the Noria campaign page. These are free-standing, easy to move air conditioners that you can move from room to room. Because they need to vent hot air somewhere else, portable air conditioners are generally set up in windows and come with their own window kit. These are ideal for people who live in small spaces and/or only use air conditioning sporadically. They can be the most cost-efficient option since they only cool off one particular area instead of an entire home space. Some options even work double-duty by including heat so you can use it year-round. Traditionally found in college apartments and dorm rooms, today’s window air conditioners are energy efficient, quiet and overall easy on the eyes. They can be installed in any room with a window that leads to the outside and works by filtering hot air from inside outside through the window. Window air conditioners tend to feature a fan option, heater and programmable timer.

They are an efficient and economical option for small spaces. Wall air conditioners look similar to window units with the exception that they are mounted on an outdoor wall and therefore filter hot air outside through the wall instead of a window. They tend to be more energy efficient than window units because they create an airtight seal that keeps hot air outside. One main difference is that these units are actually built into the wall, whereas window units can be installed and taken down. They are therefore a more permanent option than window units. Unlike portable, window or through the wall units, the ductless mini-split model is not an actual unit that can be installed in one room or another. They are capable of cooling more than one room at a time, similar to central units, but they don’t require ductwork. They are made up of two main parts: a large condenser unit that needs to be installed outside and one (or more) compact blower units that can be mounted on the wall or ceiling.

These mounted units are placed strategically inside the rooms or zones you want and can be controlled separately, so you can only cool the spaces you are using to save energy costs. Central air conditioning units are popular for homeowners who need to cool several rooms at the same time. These systems are fully ducted, making them a more expensive option than portable or split units but can be the best choice overall for larger homes. They work by first extracting warm air from all over your house to cool at a central point and then distributing that cool air to your house through a series of vents and ducts. The hot air is then filtered outside. Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner (PTAC) Commonly found in hotel and motel rooms, senior living facilities, hospitals, condominiums and apartment buildings, PTACs are an all-in-one air conditioner/heating unit. They are commonly installed in walls and windows.Last week I wrote a blog post after I calculated the energy savings per year and the payback period for a Split AC/heat pump versus a Window AC.

The results were interesting. It should me that the price differential between the two alternatives would only be around $47 a year. This would mean the payback period would be over 40 years! I sincerely hoped this was not true! I published the post on Eco-Brooklyn’s website and Gennaro sent the link out to his circle of green building friends hoping to get some feedback. What we received back in a few short days was an overwhelming amount of feedback and recommendations. The split AC/heat pump cost $2100 to cover the cost of the unit and installation. It has a 9000 Btu/h output and a 26 SEER rating. For this exercise I used the most energy efficient, Energy Star rated, and most purchased window AC unit at Sears that costs around $210. The unit has an output of 8000 Btu/h output and a 10.8 EER rating. I converted EER to SEER in the exercise below. The group of green builders voiced their opinions and came to the conclusion that it was too difficult to determine specific solar and internal heat gains for this type of calculation.

Also, there is an indeterminable amount of air leakage through window and wall sources. These provide large questionable variables when trying to determine which system to implement. During the conversation on the thread I discovered that I had the wrong formula to determine the cooling load for the area using the different AC systems. In the original formula I divided the (Btu/h x cooling degree days x 24) by the change in average high and low within the month. I then divided that number by the SEER to get the total kWh needed for cooling. I discovered that instead of dividing by the change in temperature within the month I had to divide by the design temperature difference which is the difference between the average outside temperature and the optimal energy you want inside. For this exercise I had to use 65 degrees Fahrenheit for the optimal indoor temperature because that is the temperature that the NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) uses to determine cooling degree days.

The average temperature in New York during the months of the cooling degree days (May-September) is 78.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is the new formula I used to compute the total kWh consumption per year for each system: Cooling load =                 Btu/h x CDD x 24 1000 x SEER x design temp. Instead of using the individual cooling degree days for each month I used the total cooling degree days in New York according to the NREL. With the new formula I re-computed all of my previous calculations to get the following results: Cooling load= 9000 Btu/h x 1096 CDD x 24 h/day  = 659 kWh 1000 x 26 x 13.8 1059 kWh x .18 cents/kWh= $118.76 a year Cooling load= 8000 Btu/h x 1096 CDD x 24 h/day   = 1059 kWh 1000 x 14.4 x 13.8 679 kWh x .18 cents/kWh = $190.62 a year Payback period = ($2100 – $210) / $71 = 26 years With the new formulas I discovered the payback period decreased from 40 years to 26 years. An improvement, but it is still not the best.

But there is a discrepancy between the amount of energy consumed by the two different alternatives. On the market, there is no window AC that consumes 9000 Btu/h so I used the 8000 Btu/h alternative. So then I decided to take the future into consideration. Because of the rapid advance of global warming we are now subject to a much hotter climate, which will result in the increased usage of air conditioners. So now let’s use a hypothetical example that will probably become a reality in the years to come. I want to equate the cooling Btu/h equal to each other for the most realistic outcome. I will hold the type of split AC constant, but change the window AC to a hypothetical one with a cost of $250, a cooling load of 9000 Btu/h, and a SEER of 14.4. Now, let’s assume that because of global warming the climate of New York City becomes like the climate of Washington DC. The amount of cooling degree days in New York will increase to 1317 and the average temperature will increase to 84 degrees Fahrenheit during the warm months.

Here is what happened with the payback period between the two alternatives: Cooling load = 9000 Btu/h x 1317 CDD x 24 = 2399 kWh 1000 x 26 x 19 2399 kWh x .18 cents/kWh = $431 a year Cooling load = 9000 Btu/h x 1317 CCD x 24 = 4333 kWh 1000 x 14.4 x 19 4333 kWh xx .18 cents/kWh = $779 a year Payback period = ($2100 – $250) / $348 = 5.31 years Now, a payback period of 5 years is something to get very excited about. This means that currently in DC, the payback period for a split AC is only 5 years. Imagine if we go farther South: Richmond, Charlotte, Georgia, Miami?! It seems like the split AC should be the only option when compared to window AC’s.  In the coming years, we will see split AC’s becoming more efficient while the temperature will continue to get warmer, making them a more viable option for the average consumer in New York. But as of right now this is not the case. 26 years for the initial calculated payback period is definitely quite a long time to wait.

But there are definitely some discrepancies in my calculations and facts that would shorten this payback period. First of all, I do not calculate for any solar heat gains from windows or internal heat gains from people and electronic equipment. Also, I do not account for any air leakage from the building. Both of these factors will give off heat, requiring more air conditioning. In addition, window AC’s are highly expendable, and usually stop working after 3-4 years, so they will have to be replaced. Finally, I do not take into account that the Split AC is also a heat pump which will provide warmth during the winter months. All of these factors are uncertainties that will most likely shorten the payback period for the split AC, making it an economically viable option for many. An added benefit of installing a split AC system is that you are hiring someone to do so. Consequently, the money that you pay to your local installer generates wages for that individual, which translates to spending, which revitalizes and perpetuates local economies.