From Trend to Must-Have: 19 Key Aspects of an Energy-Efficient Home

Energy-efficient homes are moving from a popular choice to a must-have. Not only are your friends, family, and neighbors looking to save as much as they can on their monthly energy bill, but the positive environmental impact and increased indoor comfort are also benefits.

By conserving as much energy as possible and not needlessly wasting heat, cold air, water, and electricity, we can help to preserve our planet and combat global warming while simultaneously reaping the benefits of a smaller energy bill. There are even federal tax credits in place for certain energy-efficient building designs. With so much emphasis on energy efficiency in construction, it can be hard to know where to begin when looking to build the most energy-efficient house.

Energy-Efficient Home Design Features
Thankfully, there are multitudes of ways to integrate energy savings into beautiful home designs. In order to help you understand how to build an energy-efficient home, let’s go through 19 different measures you can take to ensure that you’ve put together the most energy-efficient home design possible.

1. Sufficient Insulation

All good energy-efficient houses have sufficient insulation. Insulation is what keeps the temperature outside your home from also becoming the temperature inside as well. It keeps the outside air out, and the inside air in. Thus, it goes without saying that proper insulation is crucial for energy-efficient houses.

When looking to build an energy-efficient home, you’ll need proper insulation in both your walls, and your attic. You can achieve this by having insulation blown into the wall cavities if it isn’t already there. Attic insulation is much like wearing a hat in the winter, as it keeps all the heat from escaping out the top.

You might also consider using a continuous insulation system such as a house wrap. This will provide protection from air and moisture that might otherwise leak in or out through gaps in traditional siding, cracks in your doors and windows, and other small passageways.

2. Airtight Windows

Windows are common culprits of energy leakage in a home. They can become old and leaky over time. You can either plug the leaks with weatherstripping and/or storm windows, or you can replace them altogether. Replacing your single-glazed windows with an Energy Star-rated version will go a long way toward building an energy-efficient home.

3. Trees and Shrubs

If your home is lacking the proper insulation, one alternative solution is to plant trees and shrubs around your home, especially on the west side. These will provide valuable shade in the summer that will block heat from radiating into your home.

4. A New Furnace

The heating system of a home plays a large role in its energy efficiency. Furnaces installed before 1992 are known to waste up to 35% of the fuel they use. If you have this type of furnace, you may need to replace it with a condensing furnace.

A condensing furnace will save you up to 27% on your heating costs and will cut fuel waste down to a very manageable 10%. Even if your furnace was installed after 1991, you can still convert to a newer condensing furnace while expecting to save at least 10% on your heating costs.

5. An Advanced Water Heating System

If you haven’t already, you should turn down your water heating system to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, you should insulate the hot water lines so that they retain more heat in-between uses and don’t take as long to warm up again. Also, low-flow water fixtures for your baths and showers are helpful cost-cutters.

If you really want to save money on hot water, you can have an advanced “on-demand” circulating hot water loop installed. This system works perfectly with low-flow water fixtures to conserve the energy used to heat the hot water. This can save you a considerable amount of money compared to a “hotel” loop which will waste both electricity and water-heating energy.

6. Energy Efficient Lighting

Using old lighting like incandescent bulbs is a great way to waste a ton of energy. New lights designed for energy efficiency such as CFLs can save you up to three-quarters of the energy that a typical incandescent bulb would have used.

This is because a CFL will last for around 10,000 hours in comparison to the measly 1,000 hours that the average incandescent bulb would last. When you add up the total cost and value produced by each type of bulb, a CFL bulb will cost you less than a third of what a regular incandescent bulb will.

You can also try LED bulbs which will provide you a similar reduction in cost over their entire lifespan. Dimmers are great as well, allowing you to lower the lights to suit your needs.

7. Discard Your Old Refrigerator

When you buy a new fridge, you might be tempted to keep the old one around as a backup for extra supplies. Unless you want to pay an extra $150 per year, that’s a bad idea. Unplug your old fridge so it isn’t using up energy, and if possible, buy a fridge that has a mounted freezer on top. These kinds of refrigerators will use up to 25% less energy than a side-by-side refrigerator with an ice machine, for instance.

8. Build an Energy Efficient Home with Tax Incentives

The federal government offers many tax incentives for various energy-efficient systems. Solar panels, building envelopes, on-site renewables, and upgrades to your air-conditioning/heating system can all be paid for in part or in full by the federal government in some areas. Check your local regulations regarding tax incentives for energy-efficient upgrades to see how much you can save while building an energy-efficient home.

9. An Energy Audit

You can’t really know for sure where and how much energy you are wasting until you get an energy audit done. You can assess your current situation and make a guess as to where the most energy is being wasted, but an official energy audit will give you the concrete evidence you need to turn your house into the most energy-efficient home on the block.

10. A Programmable Thermostat

Ductwork can easily become broken down and riddled with gaps and small holes over time. If you live in a mobile home, your ductwork could be in dire shape. A gigantic amount of energy will escape from poor ductwork, so securing yours is essential.

You could replace all the ductwork in your home, but that would cost a significant amount of time and money. Instead, try using Aeroseal to seal up your ductwork. Aeroseal is the perfect solution for homeowners looking to get their ductwork airtight and back to performing like new.

Applied from the inside-out, Aeroseal is a hardening foam substrate that acts fast to completely seal up any gap or hole it is placed in. Homeowners around the nation have seen their energy bills slashed by huge amounts thanks to the effectiveness of Aeroseal. It’s also much cheaper to apply Aeroseal than it is to replace broken-down ductwork.

15. The Most Energy Efficient House Designs Feature ICFs

Contrary to popular belief, the most energy-efficient home designs are created from the ground up. It’s best to plan for energy efficiency before you even build your home, assuming you’re building one. If you do get the chance to plan for energy efficiency from the very beginning, use an interlocking wall system such as ICFs, (Insulated Concrete Forms).

Insulated concrete forms are one of the most effective ways to cut down on energy waste. They are made from hollow concrete blocks which are specially designed to act as their own form of insulation. These blocks are all linked together with rebar to form a solid wall system without any gaps.

ICFs are totally airtight. When combined with another form of continuous insulation like a house wrap, they can be a supremely effective combination when it comes to slashing your energy bill.

16. Make Use of Your Shades

If you live in an area with hot summers, making use of your shades, curtains, and blinds is a great way to save money on your A/C costs. Pull the blinds and curtains closed during the day so that the sun cannot pour into your home and heat it from the inside. You can make this can work in reverse as well by opening your shades during the cooler months to let the sun naturally heat up your house, which will lessen the strain on your furnace.

17. Use Less Hot Water

Hot water is pretty essential for baths and showers, but not so much for clothes. Of course, some clothing items might require a specially heated wash or you might need to get a tough stain out with hot water, but other than that you can save big money by washing your clothes almost exclusively in cold water. You could also take cold showers too, as another money-saving measure.

18. Replace Your Air Filters

The air filters in your heating and cooling system will become dirty over time. Replacing them regularly will allow your system to work with less strain because it won’t have to work twice as hard to push air through a dirty filter.

19. Use a Ceiling Fan when Possible

Using a ceiling fan instead of turning on the A/C is another aspect of most energy-efficient home designs that people tend to overlook. The habit of using your ceiling fan to cool down your house so that it’s not cooking like an oven can add up to big-time savings.

Building an Energy-Efficient Home will Help You Save Your Hard Earned Cash

With energy-efficient options for a home becoming more and more prevalent every day, it’s a good idea to brush up on some ideas you might want to try yourself.

Whether you want to use the most energy-efficient home design from the ground up, or just add a few items here and there, it’s never been easier to save massive amounts of money on your energy bill.