[Greenbuilding] Attic Fan Companies and Air Conditioning

[Bobbi Chukran]

Hi Airlie,

Welcome to another Texan on the list!  I'm actually a consumer who 
follows the green building world closely.  We also wanted to replace 
the AC in our 10+ year old home, but couldn't find anybody locally 
that would even talk to us about air quality, etc.  They all wanted 
to sell us the standard stuff.  We found that odd, and surprising, 
since one of the companies are supposedly in the forefront of the 
green movement here (near Austin).

We broke 100 yesterday, too, and I expect that air quality and 
dehumidification are also issues with your home.  Because of my 
allergies, an attic fan wouldn't work for us since windows would have 
to be opened in order to use them.

I'll be watching closely any answers that you get here, although it 
seems that a lot of the conversation centers around how to keep warm 
rather than how to keep cool....LOL.

Bobbi C.
(Leander, TX)


>We are getting ready to revamp the AC system in our 48 year-old home
>here in deep south Texas (McAllen). We get near to continuous sun and
>already have had >100 degree days this summer. My plan is to install a
>new high efficiency AC system (the current plan is two 20 SEER Lennox
>units) and install a solar attic fan (currently looking at either SAS
>from Real Goods or Attic Breeze). Do you have any thoughts about the
>companies I've mentioned? Are there better choices for a high SEER AC
>unit or attic fan? What would you recommend?