Sensible Strategies for Creating Energy Efficient HomesWhether you're a builder, homeowner, architect or realtor, Building Performance Resources, Inc. can assist you with solid energy efficient building and home performance advice. By working together, we can reduce dependence on fossil fuels and improve our quality of life. Imagine drastically reducing or even eliminating your energy bills altogether. The technology has been available for a long time to build just such a home with little additional cost when compared to a conventional home built to current energy codes. Terms like "superinsulation", "zero energy" or "near zero energy", can sound confusing or even a little intimidating. But the reality is that homes like this are being built every day, all over the world and any skilled builder can successfully build one with no major changes in construction technique or design. Add up last year's energy costs. What else could you use that money for? A vacation? College tuition? Investment? The possibilities are endless. By living in an energy efficient high performance home, you will live life more independently, and put money into your pockets for something more exciting than the energy bill. To achieve a low operational cost, whether it is a new or existing home, the main focus should be on air sealing and insulating the building's thermal envelope, which is the separation between the interior and the exterior of a home. The thermal envelope serves as the outer shell to protect the indoor environment, and usually includes any part of the building that is heated or conditioned space. If this envelope can be made more energy efficient, the heating and cooling load of the building will become smaller. In fact, it is quite possible to build a home with a thermal envelope so energy efficient, that its heating load will require no more than the equivalent output of one or two 1500 watt hair dryers. |
