Fresh Air Exchange Systems/HRV"S

But at the same time you have made it more difficult for fresh air to move into your home and for stale air to move out. The indoor air quality has deteriorated, and that makes the home environment uncomfortable and unhealthy, causing things like:

• Headaches
• Congestion
• Runny nose, watery eyes, and sneezing
• Itching
• Coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Increase in allergies and asthma

Proper ventilation is vital for healthy indoor air.

Heat Recovery Ventilators or HRV`s provide a constant source of fresh, filtered air to flow through your home. Ventilation exhausts harmful pollutants that are not eliminated by filtration, such as carbon monoxide and other harmful gases to the outside. Proper ventilation controls excess humidity, especially important during cold seasons.

HRV`s move stale, contaminated, warm air from inside the house to outdoors. At the same time it draws fresh oxygen-laden air from outside and distributes it throughout the house. Stale, polluted air is constantly being replaced by an equal quantity of fresh clean air.

As the two air streams pass through the unit they do not mix. They pass on either side of a heat-exchanger core which transfers heat from the outgoing air to the incoming air. The efficiency of the HRV is so great that virtually none of the warmth collected from your home is lost to the outside. In summer, the HRV works in reverse - removing heat from the incoming air and transferring it to the outgoing air, to keep your home cool and fresh.

What does "green" mean? In this instance, the word is defined as anything that`s done to enhance or conserve the environment or to conserve energy - designing environmentally sensitive development sites, employing energy-saving technologies, and providing adequate ventilation and air purification sustaining system.

Tight buildings reduce energy costs, but can also trap humidity and pollutants that may aggravate allergies and cause general discomfort, as well as damage windows and other parts of the building shell.

Today heat-recovery ventilators, also known as heat exchangers, enhance air quality and reduce overall energy costs. These systems bring in fresh air from the outside, preheat the incoming air during the winter and pre-cool the incoming air during the summer.

Once a home is well insulated and ventilated, other measures can be taken to conserve electricity, befriend the environment and lower costs.