Living costs affect most people in most areas of the world today, partially due to various conflicts but also due to fighting climate change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make energy savings. In recent years, my clients have asked what sustainable home solutions they can include within the new home build or sustainable renovation that would reduce their energy costs by reducing energy bills or creating renewable energy.
The sustainability approach to home building or remodeling is to incorporate a cost-effective and less wasteful approach to the life of a building, which is what we are concentrating on in this article. This will overlap slightly with eco-friendly solutions, whose main aim is to be eco-friendly and less harmful to the planet.
Sustainable Home Renovations Key Features
Energy Efficiency
A sustainable house is designed and built to be energy efficient through insulation, air sealing, energy-efficient lighting, passive solar design, etc. Insulation and air sealing provide greater energy efficiency solutions for a sustainable home because they reduce heating demand.
Renewable Energy
Installing renewable energy systems allows a home to generate some or all of its electricity and heating needs. This reduces fossil fuel dependence and energy bills.
Heat Recovery
Reuse the existing heat produced with heat exchangers, which creates energy savings and lowers heating costs.
Water Efficiency
Water is a precious, limited resource. Implementing water conservation measures is crucial for environmental sustainability.
Sustainable Renovation Materials
Using sustainably sourced, low-VOC, recycled, and nontoxic building materials creates a healthier indoor environment. To meet the demand, source sustainable building materials, such as quick-grown timbers.
Smart Design
Incorporating features like optimum solar orientation, more natural light, daylighting, natural ventilation, and passive heating/cooling reduces the need for lighting, heating, and cooling in new houses.
Indoor Air Quality
Proper ventilation improves indoor air quality, lessens indoor air pollution, is good for occupants, and reduces damage to the building. Condensation damages the building’s materials, requiring more long-term renovations and maintenance.
Composting and Recycling
Providing space and systems for responsible food waste, management, and composting reduces landfill contributions.
Resilient Landscaping
Native, drought-tolerant plants, bioswales, permeable pavers, and minimizing lawn areas reduce water needs and mimic natural environments.
Location and Site
Choosing an appropriate site and location close to work, amenities, transit, and density minimizes transportation impacts.
A Sustainable Home Reduces The Amount of Heating You Need
If a house is well insulated and has minimum air changes, this is a huge cost and energy saving in the long run, making it extremely energy efficient. This provides alternative options that run at lower temperatures. Making it possible to consider replacing the standard heating and cooling systems.
A house needs to be wrapped in insulation; it doesn’t matter what the house is constructed of, whether it’s a brick or timber frame, a flat roof, or a pitched roof. All methods of construction can be insulated to the same level. It all depends on the type of insulation used and the thickness required.
The next thing is to ensure air tightness. This means that if the windows and doors are all closed, the air moving in and out of the building through various small gaps is kept to an absolute minimum.
Which, in turn, keeps warm air inside in the winter and outside in the summer. You won’t have to keep heating the house if the warm air stays inside.
If an insulation upgrade is part of your sustainable renovation, I’d recommend starting with your roof, as the largest amount of heat is lost through the roof, so you can add insulation at ceiling level or within the rafter areas, as you might also be planning to finish your attic. This will make a big impact in reducing your energy bill.
You must check the minimum requirements with your local area as Building Codes vary from State to State.
Finally, close the gaps with new energy-efficient doors and windows or install new seals and weatherstrips.
Renewable Energy Solutions For Sustainable Homes
Installing solar panels has been around for quite some time and is popular. Using one or more inverters that store a large amount of solar power electricity is a great way to come off the grid as much as possible.
Another solution, if panels are not possible on your roof, is finding out if your energy supplier provides electricity at a lower rate, maybe at night, in which case you could have the inverters without the panels and store the energy during the night to use during the daytime. It’s not renewable, but it is worthwhile to consider.
Solar power does not require the house to be highly insulated, although this would be the best option. If this is your home’s heating method, you will need more solar panels to produce more electricity.
Heat Pumps are in around 1% of American homes and are highly energy-efficient compared to fossil fuel boilers/furnaces, but they are costly to replace, which puts existing homeowners off.
However, you need a highly insulated home to ensure they work to their maximum potential. The achievable temperature is around 55 degrees, with a maximum of 35 degrees, whereas a boiler/furnace is 80 degrees.
Heat pumps work well with underfloor heating, and hot water runs through pipes within the concrete floor. The heat radiators through the concrete, to warm the room and your feet!
Heat Can Be Recovered And Reused To Heat Your Home and Water
Surprisingly, there are many ways that heat can be recovered and reused in a home. Here are a few.
- Air-to-air heat exchanger – This system transfers heat between outgoing and incoming air streams through ventilation. It helps maintain indoor air quality while also conserving heating and cooling energy.
- Drain water heat recovery – Drain water heat exchangers capture the warmth from wastewater from showers, and send it to the stored water heater; this reduces the energy required to heat the water in the tank.
- Solar air collectors – These systems use solar thermal panels to preheat ventilation air before it enters a space, reducing the heating load.
- Heat pump water heaters – Heat is extracted from ambient air and transferred to water in the storage tank, making the system efficient.
- Thermal mass – Materials with high thermal mass, like stone and concrete, absorb heat during the day and release it slowly at night.
SHOP SHOWER DRAIN HEAT RECOVERY
How To Reduce and Reuse Water In Your Sustainable Home
Clean water is used throughout our home: to clean ourselves, for drinking and cooking, for cleaning food, for tap water, for cleaning pots and pans, for cleaning the house inside and out, for flushing toilets, and so on.
Any modern appliances are designed to use water efficiently, but we overuse the resource by using large and multiple shower heads or filling large soaking tubs. However, if low-flow showerheads are installed and diffusers on faucets, this will reduce water and energy usage by up to 50% and is hardly noticeable.
A Tankless water heater means you are not constantly heating water stored in a tank for the time that you need it. Tankless water heaters are a pressurized instantaneous system, which means that occasionally, there may be an issue when there is a drop in pressure. However, tankless water heaters are a great option for hot water in small homes where space is of a premium.
Also, have a quick shower more frequently than a bath, as the bath.
Graywater from sinks, showers, and washing machines can be used for irrigation. However, if you install a rainwater harvesting system, this collects rainwater from the roof, and it can be used in toilets and washing machines, washing the car, and drip irrigation systems.
Small changes can make a big difference in home water conservation. Efficient fixtures, appliances, and practices add up over time.
Invest In Energy-Efficient Appliances For Your Sustainable Home
Whether you want to save energy or conserve water, replace old appliances as soon as possible. This reduces monthly costs and provides long-term savings. Appliances with high energy efficiency ratings require less fossil fuel. This lowers associated greenhouse gas emissions and your home’s carbon footprint.
Access rebates and incentives – Many utility companies and local governments offer rebates, tax credits, or other incentives for purchasing ENERGY STAR-certified efficient appliances, which all help to reduce your carbon footprint.
Switching to efficient appliances and smart home solutions is a simple way to lower home energy use while enjoying multiple benefits that save money and help the environment.
Replace Fluorescent Light Bulbs
LED bulbs use at least 75% less energy and last 25 times longer.
- Prioritize lighting the work area rather than entire rooms. Use task lighting where needed rather than lighting an entire space.
- Install dimmers, motion, and occupancy sensors so lights turn off when unnecessary. This prevents lights from being left on unnecessarily.
- Use ENERGY STAR-certified LED fixtures and bulbs. They meet strict efficiency guidelines for quality and performance.
Install A Whole House Ventilation System Instead of Air Conditioners
This will depend on your area because it will be too hot in some places for even the most well-designed house to keep completely cool. But with a well-designed home, well-insulated, and minimum air changes, a mechanically vented house with heat recovery and a cooling system can keep the temperature cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Creating a Comfortable Eco-House with A Passive Design
The best place to start with a sustainable house is for it to be a Passive Design, where the building design does all or most of the work without adding too much mechanical intervention. Here are some typical features you will find in a Passive House.
- Reflective roofing material – Coated with highly reflective paint or membrane to minimize solar heat gain and lower attic temperatures.
- Green Roof – A green roof provides a natural insulation layer and will absorb some of the rain fall
- Overhangs and awnings – Shading devices like roof overhangs, awnings, and louvered covers are placed strategically over windows to block direct summer sun while allowing the lower winter sun to enter and warm interiors.
- Operable sun shades – Adjustable exterior shades offer flexibility to control sunlight and glare as needed for window comfort and energy efficiency.
- Natural cross-ventilation – Windows, doors, and skylights are positioned to harness breezes and ceiling fans to enhance air circulation and passive cooling.
- High levels of insulation – Thick insulation in walls, ceilings, floors, and foundations paired with air sealing to prevent heat transfer into or out of the home.
- High-performance windows with double or triple-paned glass and low-emissivity coatings, gas fills, and insulated frames.
- Thermal mass materials – Materials with high heat storage capacity, like stone, brick, and concrete, will store heat from the sun during the day and release it into the house at night.
- Solar orientation – The long axis and majority of window area face the south to maximize solar gain in winter, with roof overhangs shading in summer.
- Landscape shading – Strategically placed trees, shrubs, and vines provide movable shading from seasonal sun angles.
- Solar panels – Used to generate renewable electricity to help offset home energy use and carbon footprint.
