Building an energy-efficient home in 2022 goes deeper than simply choosing appliances labeled as energy efficient. Here is an overview of some of the most popular options for making your new home more energy efficient and how Interra Homes can add these personal touches to your home!
Understanding the Whole-House Systems Approach
Although owning a few energy-efficient appliances helps your overall goal, a whole-house systems approach is much more effective in reaching energy efficiency. This method considers everything in your house – heating, cooling, appliances, lighting, windows, skylights, materials, and insulation. It is best to start on a brand-new build or plan significant renovations to your current home to achieve this goal.
Start with Smart Design
Innovative design ensures that every aspect of your house is as energy-efficient as possible when construction begins. For example, carefully considering how much space you need can help you avoid having to heat and cool rooms you will rarely use. Adding skylights, large windows, and other elements can make your home efficient by design and not just by its appliances.
Home Design Tips for Building Energy-Efficient Homes
Specific devices can go a long way toward making your home more energy-efficient. You can also use your home’s location and the nearby natural elements to increase your overall energy efficiency.
Energy-Efficient Devices and Systems
Although there are other ways you can make your home more energy-efficient, most of this approach comes from selecting appliances and systems specifically designed to meet energy efficiency qualifications. These options can include your HVAC system, washer and dryer, ventilation system, lighting fixtures, water heater, roofing materials, and other energy-saving devices. These alternatives to older appliances and systems work to use less water and energy to perform the same functions.
Solar Panels
Solar panels have been increasing in popularity for years, and this alternative to electricity allows your home to use less traditional power sources. Although solar panels are still more expensive to purchase upfront, they have been gradually decreasing in cost over time and are expected to continue dropping.
Use the Location of Your Home to Your Advantage
The location and direction of your home may provide even more options for using natural light, heat, and other resources to your advantage to help reduce the amount of energy you need to use to keep your home comfortable and functioning well. Strategically planning the angle of your home allows you to get the most light and warmth from the sun, and planting trees near your home can help keep your home cooler during the summer. These options mean that your heating and cooling systems will not need to work as hard
Where to Start: Choose an Energy-Efficient Design and Build Team
At Interra Homes, we help you personalize your new home by incorporating many energy-efficient options.
Energy efficiency can make and keep your new home more comfortable, as well as save you hundreds of dollars every year.
Every home we build is tested to ensure it stands up to our high-quality standards. We’ve found that our homes are consistently more energy-efficient than homes built to industry minimum code requirements. Interra Homes consistently offers our customers the best in energy efficiency and provides many above-average features at the base price of every home.
Learn more about our energy-efficient homes and process here.
We build all our homes to be significantly more energy-efficient. We build in over 40 neighborhoods across West Michigan (West to Lakeshore, East to Lowell, North to Rockford, South to Kalamazoo), and all our whole home projects come with a limited new home warranty. Choose from our one-stop-shop design studio to customize your new home. Interra Homes has high standards and structural integrity.
Contact us today to learn more about the benefits of working with us or start planning your energy-efficient dream home!