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Sustainable Home
Nowadays, sustainability is the name of the game, especially when our homes are concerned. When building a new home, you have all the opportunity in the world to make it as sustainable and as eco-friendly as you see fit.
However, you might be wondering why go sustainable? Well, the fact of the matter is that sustainable homes are more cost-effective in the long run, they minimize the impact we have on the environment, and they are very popular on the real estate market. Therefore, if you’re building a new home, here are some things you should keep in mind if you want to be left with a living space that’s truly sustainable.
The position of your home
The first thing you’ll need to determine is the position of your home. Do keep in mind that the mere position of the home itself can significantly aid your heating and cooling efforts later on. For example, if the climate of the area you live in is on the colder side, try to make the wall of your home that has the greatest number of windows face south. This way that the natural light will help you keep your home warm during winter, which will significantly reduce the need to artificially heat up your home. If you live in a warm climate, on the other hand, reduce the number of windows on the side of the home that’s facing west and plant trees that shed the leaves during winter so that your home can stay cool during summer and warm during winter.
Heating and cooling system
Probably the biggest portion of a household’s energy is being wasted by an inadequate air conditioning system. So, when choosing a system, make sure you get the one that can detect and regulate the room’s temperature on its own to prevent overheating or overcooling the rooms and thus wasting a lot of energy. Additionally, when choosing windows and doors for your new home, think in terms of double-glazed glass or any similar, energy-efficient alternative to make sure that the optimal temperature stays trapped inside of your home.
Insulation
Proper insulation is another key element of any sustainable home. No matter how good your HVAC system is or how well you’ve positioned your home, if you can’t retain the optimal temperature indoors, it will all be in wain. Now, this doesn’t mean that you should build a tiny home; a two-story home can be just as efficient – if not even more – than a single-story home, as long as it’s properly designed. So, when choosing a contractor, make sure you go with a professional that has a lot of years of experience and who is passionate about what they do, such as this builder from Melbourne, to make sure everything is done right.
Materials
Finally, there’s nothing more sustainable and eco-friendly than a home that’s made of reused, salvaged and recycled materials. Therefore, talk to your contractor and see which materials they’ve planned on using and ask them to keep sustainability in mind whenever possible. For example, the insulation made of recycled denim proved to be very energy-efficient, as it mostly consists of reused cotton which is 100% recyclable.
These were, of course, just the basic features you need to keep in mind if you want to create a home that’s truly sustainable and eco-friendly. There are numerous other things you can do to boost your home’s energy efficiency, both on the inside and the outside, that include choosing the right appliances, implementing solar panels and getting the interior design elements do work double time, but those are the topics for some other time.
