A home is easily the most expensive thing most people will ever spend money on in their lifetime. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis says that the median sales price for a home was $374,900 in 2021.
This is a lot of money for most Americans. This cost is so high that if you bought that home, you would have to spend around 29.5% – 57.9% of your monthly income repaying the mortgage on the property for the next 20-30 years.
But as difficult as this sounds, it is only one part of the reality of owning a home. There are other aspects of homeownership that are just as vital as the cost of buying that home. The ongoing cost of living in a home is also very important.
Basic costs like the home’s energy bills can add up to a lot of money. But unlike your mortgage this cost is not fixed; it increases. This is why when buying a home, you cannot afford to focus solely on the purchase price of the home and your renovation costs, Windermere Property Management suggests.
You should give some thought to routine expenses like energy costs. If you can find ways to reduce this cost by making your home greener, you will save a lot of money in the long term. What simple steps can you take to make your home greener?
Top 12 green home-building ideas to implement in your home
The following ideas will not only reduce your energy spending, but they will also make your home more eco-friendly and lower your overall home maintenance costs.
1. Your home’s location and orientation
The lot where you build your home and the building’s orientation will influence your energy usage. As a rule, west-facing buildings have bigger energy costs due to longer hours of direct sun exposure. Buildings in flood-prone areas or earthquake zones also have higher costs.
2. The size of your home
These days everything is built to be bigger. But a bigger home needs more construction materials and will also require more energy to heat or cool. Avoid redundant spaces in the home; do not add rooms if they will not be occupied most of the time.
3. Use environmentally friendly building materials
Sustainable building materials are not as readily available as standard building materials and the cost of a green building is often higher than the cost of an ordinary one. But once the building is up, you can recoup those costs via massive energy savings.
4. Efficient and green insulation
Shoddy building techniques and inferior materials will only save you money in the short term. If you are looking for places to cut costs, it should not be in relation to the building envelope. An airtight building is the most important aspect of your insulation.
5. Buy energy-efficient equipment
Energy-efficient appliances are more available and affordable than they ever were. Any home appliance or piece of equipment with the Energy Star label will significantly reduce your energy costs. Some municipalities or companies even offer incentives for buying these appliances.
6. Consider installing solar panels
You do not have to go completely off-grid to enjoy the benefits of solar energy. If the cost of installing solar panels for the entire home is too high, you can power your outdoor lighting, water heater, or some other systems with solar energy.
7. Add water-saving features
Water-saving appliances and fixtures help you cut down on the amount of water you use in the home without adversely affecting your quality of life. Examples of simple water-saving devices you can install in the home today include low-flow faucets, toilets and showerheads, or a drip irrigation system.
8. Energy-conserving landscaping ideas
Use shady landscaping to protect your home from direct sunlight. Deciduous trees planted around the home increases sun exposure during the winter months. Locating trees on the western and southern sides of the home will also save energy.
9. Tankless water heater
A tankless water heater heats the exact amount of water you need at a time. Tank water heaters heat all the water inside them even if you don’t need all of the water. Moreover, the water inside that tank will be reheated several times a day.
10. Energy-saving lighting system
A combination of energy-saving bulbs and smart systems will help to improve the quality of illumination in rooms, without raising your energy costs. Smart systems will turn off or dim the lights in a room when those rooms are vacant, or their occupants are sleeping.
11. Install a cool roof
Your home’s roof is a major contributor to the building’s energy costs. Because roofs are expansive and exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of the day, they play a big role in heating your home. Green roofing materials like slate, terra cotta and white tiles, or a living roof can reduce the roof’s impact on your energy bill.
12. Add a programmable thermostat
Programmable thermostats ensure that your HVAC systems do not produce more heating or cooling than is actually required. Given that 50% of your home’s energy consumption is from heating and cooling, this will reduce your energy bill by a lot.
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