Did you know the same technology can be used to heat and cool your entire home as a heat-pump air conditioner? Modern mini- and multi-split heat pumps are increasingly popular as a means to shrink residential carbon footprints and reduce utility costs. Beyond the financial and environmental benefits, heat pumps applied as part of Mitsubishi Electric’s Zoned Comfort Solutions® give you reliable, precise control over the conditioning in each room.
Stay in your comfort zones
Our Zoned Comfort Solutions use intuitive smart controls and an outdoor condensing unit connected to one or more indoor units via refrigerant piping. Each ducted or ductless indoor unit serves a designated comfort zone and gives you individual control over each zone’s temperature.
Your contractor will help you divide your home into comfort zones based upon its layout and how you want to use each space. The family room, kitchen, media room, playroom, bedrooms and other spaces can be kept at temperatures appropriate for specific activities and the time of day. Perhaps you’ll keep your bedroom at a lower temperature when it’s unoccupied during the workday, but then have the system raise the temperature to ensure you’re comfortable prior to bedtime. Mitsubishi Electric’s controls make scheduling and quick temperature adjustments simple. If you have an infrequently used room, you can save energy and money by turning off conditioning for its zone. The outdoor heat pump’s INVERTER-driven compressor varies the system’s capacity to precisely match the zone’s comfort requirements and maintain your set point, or preferred temperature. A single-zone system has one outdoor heat pump connected to one indoor unit while a multi-zone system can support up to eight indoor units.
Solutions for any home, anywhere
Whole-home applications typically require ducted indoor units designed to condition larger zones. A multi-position air handler from Mitsubishi Electric can serve an entire floor like a conventional furnace or boiler but is more efficient and eliminates the need for a gas line or flue vent. Depending on your home’s layout and the level of static pressure in your ducts, your contractor might recommend horizontal-ducted indoor units, which are available in small, medium and larger sizes.
The type and number of units will vary by home. For example, a multi-position air handler could condition your home’s first floor and common living areas while a pair of horizontal-ducted units handle your upstairs bedrooms. Or you could customize comfort for your one-story home with two or three horizontal-ducted units. In whole-home applications, Diamond Contractors® also commonly install ductless indoor units to create smaller comfort zones without adding ductwork (in addition to the larger zones served by the ducted units). Ductless options include ceiling cassettes, wall-mounted units and floor-mounted models.
Zoned Comfort Solutions are purpose-built for heating and air conditioning. In whole-home applications, your contractor will also install complementary systems to satisfy fresh air requirements. Your contractor can add Mitsubishi Electric’s kumo cloud® and kumo station® to coordinate equipment for ventilation, filtration, humidity management and auxiliary heating. kumo cloud works with popular digital assistants and enables you to control your home’s comfort and operation through a mobile app.
Renovate an older home for sustainability
Here’s one of example of what builders can achieve with whole-home heat-pump designs. Atlanta-based builder Elemental Green Homes and mechanical contractor Canton Heating & Air partnered with the Mitsubishi Electric Performance Construction team to renovate a craftsman-style bungalow built in 1925 for superior energy efficiency and indoor air quality. The project team added a new master suite and made substantial improvements to the ranch-style home’s air sealing and insulation before dividing its 1,600 square feet into three comfort zones. A horizontal-ducted SEZ unit conditions the central zone while the adjacent zones each have an EZ FIT® Recessed Ceiling Cassette. This hybrid approach using ducted and ductless equipment resulted in an energy-efficient and comfortable home, several rebates and an EarthCraft certification.
Mitsubishi Electric has whole-home heating and cooling solutions for homes of every type in any location. Contact your local Diamond Contractor and start your transition toward personalized comfort, lower utility bills and a reduced carbon footprint.
All-Electric Home
If you’re considering an all-electric home, you’re likely motivated in part by environmental concerns. You want to reduce your carbon footprint through electrification and help mitigate climate change, especially as the grid gets greener. Perhaps you’re aware of how researchers are quantifying the financial and public health impacts of burning fossil fuels and feel compelled to rid your home of gas-powered appliances. Altruistic motivations are worthwhile, but an all-electric home can also improve your quality of life.
Going all-electric with your home is easier than it may seem. Products for electrifying residential space heating, water heating and cooking are readily available and eliminate gas metering and hookup costs. Compared to typical gas-powered options, modern all-electric systems and appliances can deliver superior experiences while making your home healthier, more efficient and comfortable. Take induction cooktops as an increasingly popular example. Cooking with gas releases pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide into your kitchen and home. An induction cooktop, in comparison, uses electromagnetic currents to directly heat pots, pans and food without losing heat energy to the air or surrounding parts of the cooktop. You can breathe easier as this innovative use of magnets reduces indoor pollution, increases energy efficiency and enables you to heat food faster than gas ranges. Induction cooktops, convection ovens and electric fireplaces are great ways to start eliminating on-site combustion, but heat pumps are the most significant technology you’ll want for maximizing comfort and efficiency in an all-electric home. Modern high-performance, cold-climate heat pumps provide reliable, zero-emission space heating even in northern climates!
All-electric heat pumps and zoning
In an all-electric home, Mitsubishi Electric’s mini- and multi-split heat pumps provide space heating by moving outdoor heat energy indoors using refrigerant. This method enables the heat pump to provide more energy as heat than it consumes in electricity and requires no fossil fuels. During hot weather, the system reverses the process and transfers indoor heat to the outdoors to provide air conditioning. Boilers and furnaces produce carbon emissions as they burn fossil fuels to generate heat and they can’t cool your home. With a Mitsubishi Electric heat pump, you can reduce your carbon footprint and combine heating and air conditioning into one all-electric system.
As part of our Zoned Comfort Solutions®, mini- and multi-split heat pumps empower you to customize comfort throughout your home. Our systems consist of intuitive smart controls and an outdoor unit connected to one or more indoor units. Indoor units can be ducted or ductless. Ducted options include horizontal-ducted indoor units and multi-position air handlers, which can serve entire floors replacing gas furnaces or boilers. Ductless options include ceiling cassettes, wall-mounted units and floor-mounted models. Your contractor help design comfort zones in your home and each zone will have an individually controlled indoor unit. The outdoor unit’s INVERTER-driven compressor varies the system’s capacity to precisely maintain your preferred temperature for each zone while using minimal energy. This makes for smart comfort where your bedrooms, kitchen, home office, media room, exercise room have set points based on how you use each room. Also, if you have a room you use infrequently, you can save money and energy by turning off conditioning for its zone.
What about electricity bills?
Due to greater precision and energy efficiency, all-electric technologies increase predictability and control over electricity bills while getting rid of separate gas metering. Also, in new construction, starting with an all-electric home eliminates infrastructure costs for gas hookups. It’s possible to enjoy an electrified home without paying an electricity bill or with bills so low they’re almost nominal.
To construct net-zero or zero-energy-ready homes, builders reduce loads and the demand on mechanical systems through continuous insulation, air sealing and high-performance construction methods and then install solar panels to power the home’s energy-efficient, all-electric systems. This may increase upfront costs by 5 to 10 percent compared to similarly sized code-built homes, but the increase in the mortgage can be dwarfed by the money saved on energy costs.
Case in Point
The 1,863-square-foot, two-story home owned by Mark Kuntz, chief executive officer, Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US (METUS) provides an example. Kuntz decided to build a zero-energy-ready, all-electric home with solar panels to offset his family’s energy usage after purchasing an 11-acre property in Monroe, Georgia.
The project team constructed an airtight, continuous thermal envelope and then performed room-by-room heating and cooling load calculations to ensure proper sizing for the energy-efficient mechanical systems. The Zoned Comfort Solutions installed at the Kuntz residence include three MSZ-FH Wall-mounted Indoor Units and one PEAD Horizontal-ducted Indoor Unit to condition the first level of the home. Mitsubishi Electric’s mobile app and web service, kumo cloud®, enables Kuntz and his family to control the comfort of the home from their smart devices.
Homes with a HERS index score of 100 typically meet code, and lower scores indicate greater energy efficiency. 58 was the average score for a HERS-rated home in 2020, but the all-electric Kuntz home (built in 2018) achieved a confirmed score of -13 per Home Performance Solutions, a third-party green verifier. The home also earned DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, ENERGY STAR®, EPA Indoor airPLUS and EarthCraft™ certifications and exceeds the 2009 and 2012 International Energy Conservation Code® (IECC). With the solar panels, Kuntz’s projected energy costs per year total $120. That’s an annual savings of $2,837 compared to the average new home.
Everyone deserves the healthy and comfortable home environment all-electric residences can provide. When you’re ready to electrify your heating and air conditioning, contact a Diamond Contractor and trust Mitsubishi Electric to support you.