Ask the Remodeler: Eco-friendly ways to lighten your footprint
Whether it’s cutting bills, making homes more comfortable, or protecting the planet, here are some ways to approach energy efficiency.
In keeping with today’s Address theme, here are some thoughts on bringing some green into your home remodel.
We have found that people incorporate green ideas into their homes for several reasons, all of them good. Some clients want to save money on their energy bills, while others want to make their homes more comfortable and safer for their families. There is an increasing number that simply want to do good by the environment and live a little lighter on our planet. These factors can increase the quality of life inside and outside the walls of our homes.
Some trends we are seeing:
• Heat pumps and EV car chargers: I wrote about this not long ago, and we are getting more and more calls for these in both remodels and as stand-alone projects. Both of these items add significantly to the electrical load of a house, and there are several options that can be taken to help with that (more on that below).
It is important to note that just because you are heating/cooling your home and charging your electric car, it doesn’t mean that the source of that energy is green. There is a good chance at least some of it is coming from a gas-fired electrical power plant or worse, coal. Most utility companies will allow you to check a box to have your energy generated by carbon-free fuel sources. The more customers that ask for that, the more carbon-free sources the utility company needs to utilize.
• Solar panels: Then there is the option of adding solar panels to your home. Depending on the configuration and orientation of your home, these can supplement a considerable amount of the energy needed for these new energy loads. If your home isn’t a viable candidate for solar panels, you can join a solar community energy co-op. These are a little complicated to address here. In a nutshell, you lease solar panels on a solar farm somewhere in the state based on your projected energy use.
While the energy produced by these panels doesn’t go directly to your home, it feeds into our grid and reduces the state’s overall carbon footprint. Co-op members typically receive a 10 percent to 20 percent credit on their electric bills.
• Windows and doors: Just as important as our energy sources are our energy savings. High-efficiency modern doors and windows not only reduce our bills, but they also greatly increase comfort inside the home. Modern windows keep our homes warmer in the winter, and the coatings on the glass reduce heat in the summer.
Doing quite a bit of work in the city, we have had numerous clients comment on how quiet their homes are with newer, tighter windows and doors. We often do energy audits for clients’ homes using what’s called a blower door test. This allows us to isolate the smallest of drafts and poorly insulated areas in a home. The additional insulation and proper air sealing can be addressed as a whole project or done in stages.
• Recycled building products: Another area in green remodeling we are often asked to incorporate into a project is the responsible sourcing of materials. This can take several forms. The most common is that the materials are from a recycled source. Most people would be surprised at how many building products are made from recycled items. It runs the gamut from siding and roofing all the way to cabinets, countertops, tile, and virtually every interior design element.
The lumber that we use can be recycled, which creates structurally stronger building products. If we’re using conventional lumber, we try to select Forest Stewardship Council-certified products. FSC certification indicates that it was harvested sustainably from a managed forest.
• Where materials are purchased: Another factor that is becoming important to some clients is that we source products from companies that are good corporate citizens. These would be those that themselves purchase their materials and energy from sustainable sources, and the end products they produce are green and eco-friendly.
These companies typically pay living wages and benefits to their workers and often give back to their communities. In addition, we try to use companies that are local or at least geographically closer so that the carbon footprint from shipping is far lower than other products on the market.
There are many sources online to help you navigate this ever-growing field. Check out websites such as greenbuildingadvisor.com. As always, consulting with a local remodeling professional is always a good start.
Mark Philben is the project development manager at CharlieAllen Renovations in Cambridge. Send your questions to [email protected]. Questions are subject to editing.
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