subject: Energy Efficient Builders Should Adopt Energy Comparison While Building Houses [print this page] Do builders really care about how green their work is while constructing your dream home? Critics and many environmentally-conscious people have been asking this question because many builders claim to rank and then try to make the sale by their energy rating. The government has also taken interest in these issues as there is intense pressure from non-profit organisations and environment protection organisations. In many countries, the government promotes the sale of carbon-free homes, which are energy efficient. It is also proposed that energy comparison should play a significant role in the delivering zero carbon homes.
For a home to be zero carbon it should meet the standards of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), whose objective is to protect the environment and save money through efficient methods and products. To meet the energy comparison standards of EPA a house should have efficient lighting, efficient cooling and heating systems, duct systems and tight construction, and windows with high-performance capability and properly insulated from climatic changes.
Apart from these, the builders also have to fulfil the standards for clean indoor environments. Builders also take care that the houses are pest resistant, fire resistant, cold resistant, termite proof and energy resistant. Additionally, the houses should also have proper ventilation. It has been seen that proper ventilation saves a good amount of energy, as compared to other appliances.
Besides the above mentioned benefits, the other advantages of energy efficient houses are that these houses carry high resale value. The main reason behind this is more awareness regarding environment friendly homes, and the durability of such constructions. Plus, such houses consume less energy in comparison to the typical houses or buildings. Energy efficient builders construct homes that can help you to save money on utility bills by providing the same luxurious environment and better indoor air quality.
The primary concern is the quality and type of construction material that need to be used from setting up to the time of completion. It also includes the life cycle assessment and embodied energy of raw materials. Other facts that need to be considered are: the amount of energy a house consumes in terms of heating, cooling and lighting that is necessary to make the occupants live comfortably. For instance, passive heating within the house can keep the interiors warm. It is usually done by extracting warm air and also the heat of sunlight.
Well-designed triple or double glazing windows: material with thermal mass that absorbs and slowly releases the heat helps in keeping a building environment friendly and comfortable to live in. The other designs that are usually seen in energy efficient buildings are the photovoltaic solar water heaters, photovoltaic cells to light up buildings at night and for circulating cool subterranean air, and subterranean tunnels.
To mitigate the ecological footprint of buildings, radiant bulbs and sensors that sense ambient light and automatically turn off artificial illumination are also considered. Energy-efficient builders have to be very careful while building houses so that they consume less energy in comparison to other traditional houses. They have to incorporate both cutting edge and typical technology for better results.
