Building a home using designs and processes to make it more sustainable can help protect not just the environment but your money too! A home built with sustainability in mind use energy much more efficiently – saving you money on your heating and power bills as well as reducing your impact on the environment. This sustainability can also be beneficial to your health, providing you with cleaner air and creating less pollution – both when it comes to building your home and living in it. By thinking about sustainability and efficiency right from the start of your build, you can make a big difference…
It starts with the planning
By choosing to build your home with us, you’ve already made a good choice! The building process for our modular homes produces much less waste than a traditional build – our factory process is much more precise, so we know exactly how much material will be needed to build your design and can make sure we are using as much of these materials as possible.
When planning your home, an important thing to consider is your floorplan. Open plan areas can be more energy efficient, as a lot of light is able to pass through the home, meaning you need less power to light and heat each space, which can help reduce the amount of energy you are using and lower the cost of your energy bills. The orientation of your home is also something you can use to your advantage, having windows and glazed areas facing north if possible can help you maximise the light and heat of the sun all day, again meaning you need to use less energy in the home.
A simple addition you can add to your home is water storage tanks, which will allow you to capture rain water for use in the garden and elsewhere, reducing your carbon footprint and also providing a good reserve of water when the days get hotter.
By thinking about these things when planning your home, you’ll be well on the way to being more sustainable and energy efficient!
Building your home
There are a few things you can do to make the most of your energy when building your home – adding extra insulation to keep you warmer in winter and cooler in summer is a great option. Our homes come with double glazed windows which will let in lots of natural light while keeping the warmth locked in when needed.
If you want to make the most of the natural elements, we can help to get solar panels installed on your home – this allows you to capture energy from the sun and use it to power your home in either a ‘back to grid’ or ‘off grid’ manner – once again reducing the cost of your own bills!
We can also help you with water tank storage so you can recycle rain water for use throughout the home or simply as an energy efficient way to supplement irrigation. By reusing rainwater you will be less reliant on water suppliers – which can really come in handy during the warmer months.
Inside your home
Once your home is built there are also things that can be done inside to help improve your energy efficiency and provide you with a better air quality. Simple things such as draft proofing your doors and windows, and using curtains and blinds to help regulate the temperature of the home are easy to implement, but can make a big difference!
Using energy efficient appliances will make your energy go further by using less power and water, which is also kinder to the environment as well as your wallet! The use of LED lighting in your home is another great option, as LED’s use far less energy than conventional bulbs, and also last much longer, so they have to be replaced less often, and they also don’t contain any harmful chemicals that some older bulbs do.
By considering these things and reducing your power output, you can rely more and more on solar and recycled water, making your home much more sustainable.
Other tips
There are also things you can do day to day that can help you around the home and garden – for example, make your kitchen waste work for you by creating your own compost – which will mean you are throwing less away and creating some wonderful, nutrient rich soil for your garden! As well as composting, making sure you recycle properly really does make a difference to the environment. It helps keep recyclables out of landfill sites, and they can be turned into something new to stop anything harmful from entering the eco system.
Indoor plants are another great way to make your environment healthier – and they look great too! Plants have been shown to improve the air quality and are very effective at making sure the air inside your home is being cleaned.
By considering energy efficiency and sustainability throughout your build and once you have moved in, you can really make the most of the renewable energy around you, and make sure that your choices help you save money as well as reduce your impact on the country environment that we love to call home.