Cost Factor: Home Construction

The way your home is constructed can affect the size (capacity) of your air conditioning and heating system. For example, insulation can play a role. R-values tell you the insulation’s resistance to heat flow; the higher the R-value, the more resistant. Insulation with higher R-values can help decrease the system size you’ll need for your home. Lower R-values may mean that the capacity of your system has to be increased in order to keep your home comfortable.

Homes with well-insulated windows, doors, walls, roofs, attics, floors, basements, and crawl spaces, along with sealed exterior cracks and seams, typically require less air conditioning and heating capacity than homes that are not as well insulated.

In general, the smaller the capacity of your system, the lower the energy consumption and the greater the energy savings over the life of the system. That's why correct capacity enough but not too much is so important.