Building Green

When you build your own home, you get to build towards your own preferences and lifestyle. Building your own home allows you to modify a house plan to meet your family needs, add personal touches, and commit to green, carbon-neutral living more seriously than houses built for investor profits. These dreams are shaped by reality and your budget. Building your own home is a series of compromises between your dreams and your capabilities. At the end of the day, you only have so much time and money to invest in the project, and it is up to you to place these investments in the areas most important to you. 

  Two of the largest costs involved in building a home are the foundation and the roof. Therefore, a ranch home with the exact same amount of square footage as a two-story home, will cost more money. Avoid this by building multiple stories, simultaneously improving your energy efficiency by reducing plumbing and duct runs. Furthermore, multiple story houses have a higher surface area to volume ratio than ranches, which means they expose less area to outside air and reduce the energy needed to heat or cool the home.

Materials are a huge factor in the overall cost of your home. Finding and using local goods can also make a big difference. Instead of shingling your roof with expensive slate or asphalt shingles, you can use metal. 

  One of the simplest ways to reduce your carbon footprint while lowering your energy bills is the use of Energy Star rated windows, fixtures, and appliances. These windows are highly effective at insulating your home, due to features like multiple panes, pane distance spaces, quality frame materials, coated glass, and noble gases used as insulation between panes. Energy Star fixtures and appliances simply use lower amounts of energy. Look closely though, just because a fixture is not labeled as an Energy Star devise does not mean it uses less energy. 

Good insulation is one of the easiest ways to lower your ongoing heating and cooling costs. A properly insulated home will require a minimal amount of heating or AC use, which reduces your home’s carbon footprint while lowering your bills. It is important to seal any passages air may escape through, such as around vents, ducts, windows, or doors. Without proper caulking, even the best insulation loses a large degree of effectiveness.

Much like solar panels, a solar water heater can cut energy costs significantly and use less energy than traditional methods. Water is cycled through solar collector tubes. This method works best in warmer climates that do not get below freezing typically. If you are not ready to make the large investment in solar panels, but ready for a greener lifestyle, a solar water heater is a great place to start.