A Potentially Cheaper Alternative to Traditional Solar Roofing

An exciting new report released by researchers to the American Chemical Society last month states that if a rooftop in every home in the United States contained just one solar panel, it would produce approximately half of the electric needed nationwide annually.  That said, solar panels have historically been too expensive for the general public to buy, making installation far from commonplace, according to an article in the International Design Times.

The financial constraints of buying such panels, however, have lessened a bit with the invention of solar shingles.  Dow’s PowerHouse Solar Shingle is a “thin-film photovoltaic power cell that takes the place of traditional roofing materials,” according to the article.  These shingles are still nevertheless costly, as the shingle includes copper indium gallium diselenide, a material controlled by the Chinese and expensive to purchase.  Dow claims, however, that each dollar spent on a shingle yields four times the amount in energy savings.

A promising and more recent development is a potential solar shingle made from a mix of copper and zinc.  Researchers from Dow and CalTech say “this new design is yielding record breaking solar energy results,” according to the piece.  Since these possible shingles are cheaper than the ones used with Chinese materials, it will hopefully bring sunnier days ahead in the development of solar technology.

 

New Houses in Westchester, Putnam Smaller in Size, But Bigger in Eco-Friendly Design

Home builders are going back to work again in Westchester and Putnam counties following the economic downturn but constructing smaller sized homes than previously built, according to an article in The New York Times.  This echoes a national trend where the National Association of Home Builders forecasts that the average home expected to be built in 2015 will be 2,152 square feet; approximately 10 percent smaller than homes built in 2010. Further expected trends in building include smaller master bedrooms as opposed to larger suites and living rooms merged with other spaces in the house, such as kitchens.

“Out of the boom years comes this nice kind of reaction with people thinking of basic needs instead of conspicuous consumption when it comes to homes,” said Sally Slater, a sales agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman in Bedford, to The New York Times. “It all ties in with the idea of minimizing one’s carbon footprint. Buyers are unwilling to commit to the high costs of heating and cooling a supersized home and the huge property tax bills that go with them.”

And it should go without saying that if you are in the market to build or renovate a home in the area, or are simply interested in getting a free home energy audit, you should contact us here at Healthy Home at www.gethealthyhome.com.

 

The “Prius Effect” on Home Sales in California

An interesting article on USAToday.com states that green-certified homes in California sell for nine percent more than their “non-green” counterparts. When an average California home was priced at $400,000, single family residences with green certification records sold for approximately $35,000 more over a five year period ending in 2012.

“We observed a phenomenon we’ve termed the ‘Prius effect’ — a positive correlation between the value of green home labels and environmental ideology, as measured by the rate of hybrid registrations,” said research co-author Nils Kok, visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In these areas,  residents may see green homes as “a point of pride or status symbol,” according to Kok.

Not surprisingly, the Berkeley research team also found that home buyers in hotter climes value green homes to save green on utility costs.

With all that said, now is the perfect time to contact Healthy Home Energy & Consulting for a free home energy audit and to get started on building a greener residence.

A List of Five Fab Eco-Friendly Interior Design Blogs

The Healthy Home team strives to make your house as energy efficient as possible and encourages you to contact us for a home energy audit.  Once you focus on making the structure “green”, it is time for the fun part of sprucing up the interior of your home.  Home furnishings can be sustainable as well and we highly recommend checking out these five great eco-friendly home decorating blogs featured on today’s ecologist.org.    Although four out of five of the featured blogs below are from UK-based writers, the ideas written about are universal and can be applied to U.S. readers.

Heath Design’s founder, Oliver Heath, has his own UK television show and blogs about nature-inspired green home design and eco-home news:  www.oliverheath.com.

Ecoluxestudio is written by two Americans about how to make your home green without sacrificing that luxurious and fancy interior designer “done” feel:  www.ecoluxestudios.wordpress.com

Nina’s Apartment provides helpful tips on how to spot that flea market find and unearth hidden treasures at thrift shops and vintage stores.  It also showcases the Scottish writer’s passion for all things of mid 20th century Scandinavian design.  http://www.ninasapartment.blogspot.co.uk/

Concord Green is a blog about home building and interior design along “ethical and eco-friendly lines.”  With gorgeous photos, the blog also chronicles Lisa Kaufmann Tharp’s building of Concord Green, a home that “blends harmony with nature.”  www.concordgreen.blogspot.co.uk/

The last blog, Homegirl London, follows “homegirl London” tracking down her favorite retro and vintage dwellings in England’s capitol.  Home trends and local Brit talent is showcased.

Happy reading!

A Map Of Energy Consumption In Every Single NYC Building

How much power does any piece of a city block use? There’s no way to tell. A building’s facade, unless it’s covered with lights, isn’t exactly screaming its annual energy expenditures. This map of the 5 Boroughs presents a full picture of NYC. Not surprisingly, Manhattan uses the most energy. Interestingly, the only piece of hard data used by the map’s authors, the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University, is energy consumption, measured by zip code. To drill down further, the mapmakers analyzed the type of building on each block and estimated energy consumption (e.g. stores v. residential v. office buildings). The result, while not scientifically precise, offers a very good estimation  of usage.

Co. Design

Just the Facts: Energy Saving Tips

This morning’s Business Insider offers some facts and figures on how some simple fixes can lead to direct savings:

• Insulating your home and eliminating draughts with caulk and weather striping can save 20%-30% on your heating and AC bills.
• Every degree that you adjust your home temperature will result in a 1%-3% savings.
• Changing your home air filters can cut down the amount of energy you use by 5%.
• Unplug. 75% of the electricity used by home electronics is consumed while they are “off” but not unplugged.
• Wrapping your water heater in an insulated jacket reduces heat loss by up to 45 percent and saves up to 9 percent of water heating costs.
• A leaky faucet can waste 212 gallons of water a month
• Your refrigerator can contribute 20% to your home’s electric bill. Make sure the refrigerator is set to 37 degrees and your freezer to 3 degrees.

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Energy-Efficient Improvements for Your Residence

National Geographic’s Green Living section has an extremely informative and potentially money-saving article on what are considered to be an energy efficient improvements to a home.  For example, using windows that carry an EPA Energy Star rating can save you up to 15 percent on utility bills. Moreover, if you replace your heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) unit, also look for the Energy Star rating to ensure maximum efficiency.  After purchasing this HVAC unit, be sure to follow the suggested maintenance plan.

Replacing or adding insulation to cut down on energy inefficiencies in your home, purchasing appliances with the Energy Star ratings and conducting a home energy audit are all additional ways that you can make your home more comfortable, energy and economically efficient.

A Forest on a London Rooftop

Roof gardens and eco-friendly housing are trends gaining traction around the world. However, this house in the heart of London is clearly setting a fast pace. It’s four roof gardens, 40 trees, a pond and a meadow are almost a self-contained eco-system. Eco-friendly features include: a foundation and first floor built with ground granulated blast furnace slag, in place of cement; triple glazed windows and 20″ thick walls; a solar water heating system and a system for collecting and using rainwater. The house was built by architect Justin Bere.

If you’re thinking about making some eco-friendly (and cost saving) changes to your home, we’re ready to help. And you don’t need to start with a rooftop forest. We’re happy to conduct a free energy audit.

Poll Indicates That Awareness of Home Energy Efficiency Lags

A recently released study by greentech research firm, the Shelton Group, shows that it will take energy bill increases of over $100 to get them to do something about energy efficiency. Somewhat counter-intuitively, wealthier home owners are the most likely to make changes. Yet there is some good news – more consumers are at least open to the concept of energy efficiency at home.

Here are some of the study highlights:

• Overall consumer awareness of energy efficiency programs remains low. 15 percent of those answering the poll said they had gotten a home energy audit. And it goes downhill from there…. Only 33 percent think they need one and only 45 percent or that small sampling say that they are likely to get one.

• Homeowners prefer to spend “found” money on home beautification, but 53% answered that they would most likely spend their own money to make their homes more energy-efficient.
• Over the course of the last year the percentage of homeowners rating their homes energy inefficient increased significantly, from 14% to 23%.
• The percentage of homeowners who thought they were using the same or less energy than five years ago, however, remained unchanged (71%).
• This year consumers said that their monthly energy bills would have to increase by $112 before spending money on energy efficiencies. For the previous to years the number was $128. Interestingly, other studies have found that for consumers making $100,000 per year the threshold number is $113. For households making less than $25,000 per year the “magic” number is $120. Also, people with graduate degrees have the lowest threshold number – a monthly increase of $98 will cause them to make changes.
• Shelton reported that the average number of energy-efficient home improvements made by homeowners was 2.6 (but an average of 4 improvements are required to realize significant energy savings). The improvements most homeowners think they need are replacing their water heater and installing a higher-efficiency HVAC system. However, the improvements homeowners are actually most likely to have implemented first are replacing windows and adding insulation.