If you're moving to a new home, an important concern should be that house's carbon footprint. Does it promote energy savings, or does it encourage wastefulness? The way a house is designed has a significant impact on its energy usage. Whether your home is built or bought, here's how to implement a sustainable design.
Sustainable Design for New Homes
Building a new home is the best way to ensure efficiency. You can literally make sustainable decisions from the ground up. Consider insulating the walls. A great supplement to your attic insulation, this helps reduce heat loss and boosts HVAC efficiency. It's fairly simple to put in when building a home, and it's very expensive to retrofit later.
Another essential sustainable design factor is window placement. Large windows provide natural light, reducing your need for electric lighting during the day. South-facing windows also let in direct sunlight, providing natural heating. Complement it with a deciduous tree next to the window, as its leaves will provide natural shade and cooling in the summer. When it loses its leaves in the winter, it will let in the warmth.
Sustainable Design for Existing Homes
Even if you're moving into an existing home, there are still plenty of sustainable ideas to implement. Try investing in a smart thermostat. From your mobile device, you can control heating and cooling, humidity, and other home-comfort factors. You can even receive notifications of ways to improve energy efficiency, when to change your filter, and more!
Your sustainable design might also include a zoning system and a tankless water heater. A zoning system heats and cools homes evenly, without sending air to areas that don't need it. A tankless water heater is similar, heating water on demand, rather than keeping gallons of it warm when no one is using it.
Finally, purchase Energy Star-certified appliances, such as your HVAC system, refrigerator, washer/dryer, etc., whenever possible. Energy Star appliances use less energy than similar models without sacrificing performance or comfort.
For more sustainable design tips for new and existing homes, contact us at Air Assurance. We help Broken Arrow homes get the quality home-comfort solutions it needs.