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Soon, you'll start seeing your energy bills start to rise each month because of the cold weather. That’s never fun. But, you might be paying a lot more than necessary to heat your home. We decided¹ to look into whether a new efficient furnace adds up to much in the way of energy savings².

First, how old is your heating system?

Some homes have furnaces that are twenty years old or even decades older. Kevin Shoemaker of Shoemaker Heating and Plumbing³ is getting ready to replace a furnace installed nearly 50 years ago.

I've been in the industry since 1977 and the piece of equipment I've quoted and going to change out was old when I started in the industry. Their energy savings will easily be 40%, Shoemaker said.

Here's why the energy savings is that high. It starts with something called the Annual Fuel Utilization⁴ Efficiency. AFUE basically tells you, as a percentage, how much of your fuel goes to heat your house and how much just escapes through the vent⁵ pipe. Older units are not efficient.

The AFUE on those would be somewhere in the 60 to 65% (range), Shoemaker explained. That means up to 40% of the fuel is wasted.

However, most of the products that are sold and installed today range from the 95, 96, 97% efficiencies, he added.

That's just the beginning of it. New technology uses two-stage burners and air-handling systems to more efficiently⁶ blend the heated air. Instead of the heat-it-up, cool down, kick on full blast again, it means a more steady temperature in the house. More efficiency. Also reduced greenhouse gases.

But does it really save that much?

We stopped by Jerry Beagle's house, one of Shoemaker's customers. His heating system, installed in 1970, quit on him.

Last year, about three weeks before Christmas, our boiler⁷ developed a leak. And, I tried to fix it the way I normally had fixed⁸ it. And then, all of a sudden one night the pan down below flooded, Beagle said.

The leak was beyond fixing. The weather was cold, down in the twenties. He called Shoemaker to see what his options might be.

He had a two-stage unit installed that not only heated the water that circulated through the baseboard heaters, it also more efficiently heated water for the faucet⁹. So, he basically replaced his hot water heater and his home heating system with one unit.

It was colder last year. His fuel supplier says on average, homes in the area used 15 to 20% more propane than the year before to stay warm. Beagle used 15 to 20% less. He says that's quite a difference.

LG: Thirty to forty percent...

JB: energy savings. Yep.

LG: What do you think of that?

JB: Fantastic. You cannot beat it. I mean, it was worth spending some money to get it.

The lesson is this: if your furnace is one of those energy wasting units, it could make sense in the long run to replace it before you have to.

But a new furnace or boiler can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to several thousand. Kevin Shoemaker says most people feel that’s a cost beyond their reach.

Sixty percent of the people that need a replacement¹⁰ don't have means to pay for it, he said.

A program called Michigan Saves was created by the state government. It put up money to guarantee loans from credit unions for people with a steady income and credit rating of 640 or above.

This is an unsecured loan at 4.99 percent APR for residential¹¹ customers and consumers. That's unheard of, said Selma Tucker, spokesperson for Michigan Saves.

Often an unsecured loan has interest rates of 17% or higher with a credit score of 640.

Those loans can be used for heating systems, insulation¹², and other weatherproofing.

There's another financial break. Many of Michigan's utility companies offer rebates¹³ when a homeowner insulates or puts in an efficient furnace or boiler. Sometimes the money runs out on those programs, so it's good to check with your utility ahead of time.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 utilization   

n.利用，效用

参考例句：

• Computer has found an increasingly wide utilization in all fields.电子计算机已越来越广泛地在各个领域得到应用。
• Modern forms of agricultural utilization,have completely refuted this assumption.现代农业利用形式，完全驳倒了这种想象。

5 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

6 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

7 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 faucet   

n.水龙头

参考例句：

• The faucet has developed a drip.那个水龙头已经开始滴水了。
• She turned off the faucet and dried her hands.她关掉水龙头，把手擦干。

10 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

11 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

12 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

13 rebates   

n.退还款( rebate的名词复数 )；回扣；返还（退还的部份货价）；折扣

参考例句：

• The VAT system offers advantages, such as rebates on exports. 增值税有其优点，如对出口商品实行回扣。 来自辞典例句
• In more recent years rate rebates have been introduced for households. 近年地方税的减免已适用于家庭。 来自辞典例句