Green Home Remodeling: How To Make Your House Energy Efficient

There are many people today who are considering having an energy efficient home. This is as a result of many benefits that owners of energy efficient homes enjoy. Such people enjoy paying less electricity and gas bills at a time when the cost of energy has gone up due to some factors. Transforming your home into an energy efficient home is a judicious investment. This is because it makes your house more attractive to potential buyers and tenants. With an energy efficient house, you are also assured of warmth and comfort. These are but some of the advantages that come with owning an energy efficient home. So how do you transform your home into an energy efficient home? Below are some ways you can use to make your house energy efficient:

Get an energy efficiency audit before you start your renovations work

An energy efficiency audit is an assessment done by a professional technician to determine whether your house is losing energy and money and how these problems can be solved. Therefore, before you can begin your journey of transforming your house into an energy efficient home, it is prudent that you conduct the audit to determine where you stand and how much work your house needs. It will enable you as the owner be aware of the underlying issues your house is facing and where these problems lie. Being aware of what the problems are can help you budget and plan for your renovations.

Use recycled and reused materials for your renovation

All home sustainable design strategies factor in the use of recycled building materials. There are numerous materials on the market that were manufactured using reprocessed building materials that would have otherwise been disposed of in sanitary landfills. Recycling has made it possible to reduce the demand for building materials from natural resources such as forests as well as reducing the total waste products that need to be disposed of.

When it comes to renovating your house with recycled or reused materials, it is important to consider using reclaimed building materials as one of your sustainable strategies. This is because reclaimed building materials can be used just as they are or minimal energy is required to alter them. Reclaimed building materials can come from used bricks, reclaimed roof slates, reclaimed wood floors among other things. When you use reclaimed building materials does away with the need to buy new building materials hence reducing the dependability of natural resources. When you read about reclaimed building materials, you will know that outside the good reclaimed building materials does to the environment, they have some few advantages to the person who seeks to transform their home into an energy efficient home. One of the advantages is that reclaimed building materials are cheap. Another advantage is that they bring character and class into the home.

Insulation of the doors and windows

One advantage of living in an energy efficient home is that the need for using artificial heating and cooling devices is greatly reduced. This can only be achieved if you replace the poorly designed windows and doors in your home with properly insulated energy efficient ones. On their website, the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science claim that nearly 40% of your heat leaks out the window during winter. They also note that draughts that are caused by gaps and cracks in and around the doors and windows will result in a 25% increase in your heating and cooling bills.

Green roofing solutions

This kind of roof not only offers you efficient insulation that is important in reducing your heating and cooling costs but it helps in grappling storm water. Although this roof can be very expensive, it can add the value of your property hence increasing the resale potential benefits of the house. This makes it a worthwhile investment for anyone wishing to transform their house into an energy efficient one.

Programmable thermostat

Heating and cooling account for a large majority of a home’s energy use. An average home will spend about $1000 annually on heating and cooling. However, in an energy efficient home that has a programmable thermostat, the heating, and cooling expense is reduced by close to $200 every year.

Tankless water heaters

A tankless water heater is a very efficient way of driving down the energy costs. Water heating forms about 25% of your energy consumption and with use of tankless water heater you can reduce your energy costs by about 35%.

Energy efficient houses are the houses of the future. With depleting energy resources that have caused the skyrocketing of energy prices, it is a high time that you transform your home into an energy efficient home if you wish to continue having that mile five to ten years from now.