an example of how much a family of four living in a typical 1970’s 2-storey house with a full basement and three bedrooms could save in ventilation costs by replacing an air exchanger with a high efficiency ENERGY STAR rated HRV. A typical air exchanger for a house of this size, providing ventilation to the whole house would use 960 to 1080 kWh a year.
Replacing it with a high-efficiency HRV that uses 340 to 400 kWh a year results in a 65% reduction in energy costs associated with ventilation.
That's a years costs above the non energy star models are around 50% efficient
The air in and out is not a big source of loss compared to the COP gains of this little one hose ac heat pump
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Will operating costs increase my electric, heating or cooling bill?
An HRV/ERV requires service and electricity to run the fan but it provides an opportunity for heat recovery. All homes need ventilation air that must be heated in winter and may be cooled and dehumidified in summer. John Bower (1995)
1 calculated the cost for 80 CFM of continuous balanced ventilation in several U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, Minnesota, with and without heat recovery. A typical annual cost of 80 CFM of continuous ventilation was calculated at $86 with heat recovery and $188 without heat recovery. Of these amounts,
approximately $42 is the cost of the electricity to run the 60 W fan).2 Systems requiring the furnace fan to run continuously will have additional costs for operation. Continuous operation of a typical furnace fan for heating or cooling and circulation would range from $0.40 to $1.00 per day.