Ask your builder for an ENERGY STAR home
February 8, 2010 by Nate Munson · Leave a Comment
For years now consumers have seen the ENERGY STAR logo on home appliances and electronics and they have come to recognize that these devices will use less energy and therefore cost less to operate. Now many buyers are finding that many of the homes they have to choose from are also displaying the ENERGY STAR insignia. Just what does that mean and is it really a better house?
For many reasons the answer is clearly YES!
Homes that earn the ENERGY STAR are significantly more energy efficient than standard homes, incorporating a variety of features including:
1. Effective Insulation
Properly installed and inspected insulation in floors, walls, and attics ensures even temperatures throughout the house, reduced energy use, and increased comfort.
2. High-Performance Windows
Energy-efficient windows employ advanced technologies, such as protective coatings and improved frames, to help keep heat in during winter and out during summer. These windows also block damaging ultraviolet sunlight that can discolor carpets and furnishings
3. Tight Construction and Ducts
Sealing holes and cracks in the home’s “envelope” and in heating and cooling duct systems helps reduce drafts, moisture, dust, pollen, and noise. A tightly sealed home improves comfort and indoor air quality while reducing utility and maintenance.
4. Efficient Heating and Cooling Equipment
In addition to using less energy to operate, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems can be quieter, reduce indoor humidity, and improve the overall comfort of the home. When properly installed into a tightly sealed home, this equipment won’t have to work so hard to heat and cool the home.
5. Efficient Products
ENERGY STAR qualified homes may also be equipped with ENERGY STAR qualified products — lighting fixtures, compact fluorescent bulbs, ventilation fans, and appliances, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines.
6. Third-Party Verification
With the help of independent Home Energy Raters, ENERGY STAR builder partners choose the most appropriate energy-saving features for their homes. Additionally, raters conduct onsite testing and inspections to verify the energy efficiency measures, as well as insulation, air tightness, and duct sealing details.
This last requirement for earning the ENERGY STAR could perhaps be the most important. An independent and certified energy rater must verify that the home meets the standards. The rater starts with the blueprint and specifications of the home and projects the homes energy efficiency. Then through on site inspections during the construction and a blower door test at completion, they verify that the home was built and performs as designed. So the new homeowner can feel confident that the features and practices necessary to deliver energy savings were used.
The reasons that ENERGY STAR makes sense goes even father from an investment standpoint.
LOWER OWNERSHIP COST
Compared with standard homes, ENERGY STAR qualified homes use substantially less energy for heating, cooling, and water heating-delivering $400 to $800 in annual savings. Over the years you live in your home, this adds up to thousands of dollars saved on utility bills. Additional savings on maintenance can also be substantial.
BETTER PERFORMANCE
Properly installed energy-efficient improvements deliver better protection against cold, heat, drafts, moisture, pollution, and noise. An energy-efficient home helps ensure consistent temperatures between rooms, improved indoor air quality, and greater durability.
RESALE VALUE
To date, more than 6,500 home builders have partnered with EPA to construct over one million ENERGY STAR qualified homes. The trend is clear. By choosing a home with the ENERGY STAR label, you can be confident that it will have an increasingly valued feature when the time comes to sell.
DO THE RIGHT THING
Owning an ENERGY STAR home can do as much for your conscience as your wallet. Did you know that your home can be a greater source of pollution than your car? In fact, 16 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are generated from the energy used in houses nationwide.
Energy used in our homes often comes from the burning of fossil fuels at power plants, which contributes to smog, acid rain, and global warming. Simply put, the less energy we use in our homes, the less air pollution we generate.
Home buying is complex enough without having to know all the details of energy-efficient construction. Instead, by looking for the government-backed ENERGY STAR label potential homebuyers can easily identify homes that are truly energy efficient.
Take the Guesswork out of Greening your Home
February 8, 2010 by Nate Munson · Leave a Comment
Home owners these days are confronted with a dizzying array of products and services claiming to make their home more green. From high efficiency appliances and mechanical systems, solar, geo thermal, insulation and air sealing, how do people sift through the claims that companies make to determine the best use of their money?
The biggest part of making a home green is to minimize the energy use of the building. According to the Energy Information Agency 70% of all electricity consumed in the US is from buildings (21% from residential buildings). 50 % of the energy used in America today is from operating buildings and these same buildings create 39% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. So reducing energy consumption is job one for the green thinking home owner.
The best way to determine the energy performance of a home is to have a HERS rating energy audit done on your home. A HERS rating (Home Energy Rating System) uses a blower door and sophisticated software to determine the home’s actual energy efficiency. It is the “gold standard” for measuring and analyzing design performance and existing home performance. It is used by green certification organizations like LEED and Energy Star, as well as the mortgage industry and the IRS for tax credits and improved mortgage terms. Like a golf score, the lower the number, the better, with par being 100, average homes scoring between 130 and 150, and a net-zero energy home scoring a zero.
“You could say that a homes’ HERS rating is like a car’s MPG” says Nate Munson, whose company Evergreen Home Services, LLC has performed over a hundred ratings this past year. “The analysis has three major advantages. First it uses a blower door to de-pressurize the building to pinpoint air leakage and measure the natural ventilation rate. Second infrared imagery may be added to see exactly where heat transference is occurring. Third the software allows us to measure all the components that make up the building envelope. The report then ranks the components according to the amount of energy they use.”
Home owners can use the report to see which repair or improvement makes the most sense based on the energy and money saved. In most cases the biggest offender is air leakage. “We all know that a home has to breathe, but not hyper-ventilate” says Munson. Even in homes that are well insulated, air infiltration can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the insulation. After the air leakage is sealed, the blower door is used again to ensure that the sealing was effective, measure the performance increase, and verify that the home can “breathe properly”.
Michael Klement, principal of the well respected Ann Arbor firm Architectural Resource, agrees. He encourages homeowners that are considering additions or remodeling to start the process with a HERS rating “Energy management is a key component of our green design process. A HERS rating has proven to be a valuable tool to help our clients whether new, remodel or addition, establish real and quantifiable metrics for energy management and conservation”
The momentum towards more energy efficient homes continues on other fronts as well. Under new state legislation utility companies like DTE are required to provide incentives for saving energy. Homeowners can receive a $300 energy audit rebate if the have a HERS rating done and make at least one of the recommended improvements. Also available from DTEenergy are energy improvement rebates for air sealing, insulation, windows, etc. of up to $1,500. Under federal legislation the tax deductions or credits for home energy improvements have been increased to $1,500.
Many contractors and product vendors will rely on visual inspections or general assumptions to recommend home improvement. The HERS rating empowers a home owner with the knowledge and understanding of the energy performance of their own home, looking at it as an entire system. And that knowledge can save homeowners money and start them down the true path to being green.
www.evergreenhomeservices.net
www.energystar.gov
www.resnet.us
www.dteenergy.com
www.architecturalresource.com
Evergreen Homes Services LLC is a nationally certified home energy rating company and home performance contractor specializing in making you home more comfortable, affordable and efficient.
Double Your Rebate from DTE Energy
February 8, 2010 by Nate Munson · Leave a Comment
It’s been said the only thing certain about life is death and taxes. Well to that you could probably add utility bills. While we can’t do anything about the first two, EverGreenEnergySavers.com can definitely help with the latter. And DTE Energy will help pay you to do it!
DTE Energy is leading the pack (of utility companies) by helping homeowners pay for both energy audits and improvements! The key is to make sure that both the audit and improvements QUALIFY for rebates. The first step is a qualifying audit performed by a nationally certified BPI building analyst or HERS energy rater.
Having this type of audit makes the most sense because these raters have been trained to analyze the home as an entire system involving the building envelope as well as the mechanical systems. A HERS or BPI rater can give you an objective and accurate picture of what improvements your home needs and which improvements will provide the best return on investment. An audit from an insulation company will provide you with a predictable result, you guessed it, you need insulation.
Having a qualified audit DOUBLES the amount of the improvement rebate. So even if you think you only need attic insulation or new windows, our audit will get you more money to pay for them. And in many cases the audit points out many low costs improvements that will save you even more and qualify for a bigger rebate.
Go to www.YourEnergySavings.com for details.
Last but not least please remember, not all energy audits are created equal! Don’t settle for an audit with predictable results. You can significantly improve the comfort, health, safety and affordability of your home, but not with any kind of “energy audit”. We show you how to get the “biggest bang for your buck” with an audit from a nationally certified professional with years of experience! Take control of you energy costs and the efficiency of your home! With DTE’s rebate program there has never been a better time to make these improvements and EverGreenEnergySavers.com can help with the entire process. Sorry, we can’t help with death and taxes.
