 If you're watching this, you're probably considering a new heating and cooling system for your home. A well-installed system is likely the last 15 to 20 years. If your new HVAC was a newborn, it would be graduating high school before you buy another one. If you choose incorrectly, typically the only way to fix it is to replace it again. That may sound scary, but you already know everything you need to know about HVAC, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning from your car. Every car with air conditioning can do five of six things that every HVAC system should be able to do, but most home HVAC systems can't do any. Let's take a quick look at what those are. First is load matching. By far the most important factor in creating a comfortable space is matching the amount of heating or cooling the HVAC puts out to what the home or car needs at that moment. Every car can vary how much heating or cooling it puts out, as well as the fan speed. Meanwhile, over 80% of home systems are oversized, single stage or single speed systems, meaning they are either on or they are off, making temperatures race up and down, which leads to poor comfort. Second is filtration. When you drive, there's a lot of garbage in the air, car and truck exhaust, pollen, road dust, and so forth. Your home needs to keep those same things out, plus filter out pollutants inside your home. Every car has a high performance filter that helps reduce pollutants getting into your car. Most homes have mediocre filters with far worse performance, where the pressure inside the duct system is too high to use high performance filters. Third is dehumidification. Typically, the most important factor in creating a healthy environment in your car or home is keeping the humidity in a healthy range. By pushing the AC button in your car, you can have dehumidification 24-7-365, but very few homes have this capability. Keeping humidity levels in check reduces the spread of disease, helps prevent mold, mildew, and odors. And this is particularly important in spring and fall when the air is damp, but not much cooling is needed. Fourth is fresh air. Every car can bring in outside air and heat, cool, or filter it. This helps the air smell fresh. It reduces the spread of airborne diseases and is an important factor in indoor air quality. Few homes have this capability. Fifth is mixing. In your car, you can mix and stir the air to keep you comfortable depending on the season by sending it to your face, feet, or the windshield. Mixing the air reduces room-to-room temperature differences in your home and can provide continuous filtration and fresh air as well. Most homes have an inefficient fan motor that makes this noisy and expensive to do. Sixth is humidification. Adding moisture to the air is the only thing that your car can't do. Dry air is uncomfortable, it leads to dry skin, increased dust, and can promote the spread of viruses. Every HVAC system should be able to do these six functions. Load matching, filtration, dehumidification, fresh air, mixing, and humidification. Every car can do five of the six functions of HVAC well. Most home systems can't do any. In case having control over some or all of these conditions is something you want your new system to be capable of, work together with your HVAC 2.0 contractor to choose the path that works best for you. If you'd like to learn more about the six functions of HVAC, see the HVAC 101 guide linked below, or ask your HVAC 2.0 contractor about it.