The first concerns when undergoing a home renovation project or building new from the ground up should address heating, cooling, and lighting, the largest energy drains in a home. Consider the following options to green your dream home because a home renovation should improve your eco-lifestyle, not waste more energy and money.
Start by adding a layer of insulation. Any home built before 1980 more than likely is under-insulated. Choose a form of insulation that fits your needs (blown cellulose, foam, fiberglass). By increasing the amount of insulation in the attic alone you can reduce your heating/cooling bill by as much as 10-50%.
Get off the grid. Support your electricity needs by installing solar panels. There is no better way to get off fossil fuels than to take advantage of an unlimited renewable resource, like the sun, and in a place like Las Vegas with 200+ days of sun per year, using solar energy is good common sense. They are expensive. A five-kilowatt system that meets the needs of a conventional home could run between $30,000-40,000. Put the initial cost in perspective, though. If you are shelling out $200 a month for heating/cooling/lighting, solar panels will pay for themselves in 15 years and as the cost of natural gas, electricity, and heating oil increases, even sooner. Other advantages to solar power: solar panels add value to your house, there are government incentives in some states that will reduce the cost of installing solar panels, and as more people choose to go solar, the cost of materials will decrease.
Install a geothermal heat pump. Anyone with a split unit air conditioner is familiar with the idea of a heat pump. In a simplified explanation, the evaporator coil extracts heat from the air inside and transfers it to the condenser outside your house where heat is dispersed to the outside air leaving cooled air to be recirculated through your house by a fan. Geothermal heat pumps are similar to ordinary heat pumps, but instead of using heat found in the air, they use the constant temperature of the earth to heat, cool, and in most cases provide hot water. Studies show that approximately 70% of the energy used in a geothermal heat pump system is renewable energy from the ground. An average American home will need a three-ton unit costing approximately $7500 to install, nearly double that of an ordinary heat pump system (small change in the long run). Add electricity supplied from a small solar panel to power the recirculating pump and fan, and you’re heating and cooling your home efficiently, off the grid, with a green mindset.
Go old school. Remember before air conditioning, when all homes had front porches and homes in tornado alley all had a ‘storm cellar’? There was a reason homes had porches and basements and it wasn’t merely for aesthetics and added home value. In mid-August when evening temperatures cool to slightly less than ‘hotter than hell,’ what better place to try and catch a cool breeze than on the front porch. The front porch was also the meeting place to exchange the news and gossip amongst neighbors after a long hot day. Someone living in tornado alley understands the utility of a basement, but it is also a cool place to escape to when the temperatures outside are unbearable. Porches and basements may not be as comfortable as sitting in an air conditioned room on a hot day, but for a little physical discomfort you can reduce your monthly energy bill and help ease America’s dependence on fossil fuels.
Finally, a little planning goes a long way in saving you energy and money. Here are five simple things you can do in the construction and positioning of a new house that can make a difference in your energy bill.
1. Place the house with the long or main axis of the house running east and west for maximum solar gain in the winter.
2. Window roof overhangs extended at least 30 inches provide shade from direct sunlight in the summer, but allow sunlight to warm the house during the winter when sun is lower in the sky.
3. Position windows in the house to take advantage of summer breezes from prevailing winds to cool the house.
4. Position unheated areas and the garage on the sides of the house to act as buffers against the brunt of winter winds.
5. Plant trees to provide shade on the side of the house that receives the most sun exposure during the summer and as buffer from the prevailing winds in winter.
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