As the world reaches a basic understanding of the environmental costs of daily living, many people are making more sustainable choices in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint. While travel mugs are still a great way to reduce your individual impact, new and innovative approaches such as sustainable home design are growing in popularity.
We’ve spoken to two businesses that specialize in eco-friendly home design to bring you these tips for making more sustainable choices in your home. Whether you’re building from the ground up or renovating, Plant Prefab and Aeroseal provide energy-efficient and eco-friendly ways to improve your most precious investment — and our planet.
Sustainable homes: Why ‘go green’?
It may not always be obvious, but there are many reasons to design an eco-friendly house. When it comes down to it, sustainable homes have two key benefits: environmental preservation and energy efficiency.
Eco-friendly home design for sustainability
As climate change accelerates, so does the demand for sustainability as a conventional element of home design. What does this mean? It means that homes are designed with a minimized disturbance of the environment. Sustainable building materials, ethical construction processes, and water conservation are all considered in order to reduce a home builder’s carbon footprint.
By becoming more mainstream, it’s also a financially viable option for more people, at least according to the air sealing technology professionals at Aeroseal.
“The demand for eco-friendly homes increases every year, evolving from being an option for more expensive, custom homes to becoming a standard part of mainstream home design,” they say. “Now more than ever, homeowners realize the need for greater comfort and cleaner air indoors. And these benefits can be realized easily and affordably with an eco-friendly home.”
The eco-house experts at Plant Prefab also see the push for sustainability increasing.
“There seems to be an increasing awareness about the dangers of climate change and the huge impact the built environment has in exacerbating the problems with respect to carbon emissions,” they say.
“As a result, we’re seeing more demand for sustainable and healthy construction in our homes. Many cities and states are mandating that homes and buildings be constructed to be more energy and water efficient.”
Eco-friendly home design for energy efficiency
The second perk, and perhaps the one you’ll notice the most, is energy efficiency — and more specifically, lower utility bills. By cutting down or, in some cases, eliminating your reliance on the grid, you’ll see energy bill savings.
As explained by the folks at Aeroseal, electricity, gas, and water bill savings are seen through three main areas of action: “Tapping into a renewable energy source like solar to power the home, making sure the home is constructed to be air-tight and well insulated, and using more efficient mechanical systems in the home to use less energy.”
Through energy efficiency, the financial benefits can also be twofold. By putting less strain on your cooling and heating systems, they’re more likely to last longer, meaning you’ll be spending less frequently on costly maintenance and replacements.
How to design an eco-friendly home
Here are six ways you can incorporate sustainable design principles into your home.
Work with — not against — your surroundings
If you plan on building your home from the ground up, it pays to consider the landscape of the site you’ll be building on. By working with your surroundings, you can minimize the disturbance to the landscape and reduce construction costs in the short term, and temperature control costs in the long term.
It goes without saying that we’d all choose a perfectly even plot of land if we could, but many people choose more difficult sites to stay within budget. A sloping site, for example, is often leveled before a house goes up, even though it isn’t always necessary. In some cases, uneven land can lend itself to a home with great under-house ventilation, reducing the need for expensive heaters come wintertime.
Also, keep this rule in mind when it comes to landscaping. Native plants will not only look great, but they often require less energy-intensive maintenance like watering and mowing.
Make your home airtight, starting with insulation
Given that heating and cooling makeup almost half of your home’s energy consumption, it’s essential that you’re making every effort to minimize warm or cool air loss, depending on the time of year.
Proper insulation is one of the most energy-efficient tools in the kit, as it’ll help prevent you from running your thermostat too high or low to compensate for air leaks. Recycled insulation, such as cellulose and glass mineral wool, which uses a minimum of 50% recycled glass, is a common option for making insulation even more eco-friendly. Plant Prefab also recommends selecting products that are GREENGUARD Gold certified, meaning they have met rigorous third-party chemical emissions standards, to avoid the off-gassing that comes from formaldehyde, a material used in traditional fiberglass products.
To make the insulation even more effective, consider duct and air sealing technology, such as that from Aeroseal. According to the experts at Aeroseal, even new homes encounter leak issues.
“Whether a home is new or old, its ductwork and building envelope contain many small leaks. Small leaks are a big problem, wasting as much as 30% of a home's energy,” they say.
“Duct sealing and air sealing technology from Aeroseal seals these leaks – guaranteed. And homeowners will feel the difference with more even temperatures throughout the home, cleaner healthier air, and lower utility bills.”
