Items in the Benefits Category
Increase your Home’s Value
Posted in Benefits - 22 March 2010As the trend continues towards “Certified Green Homes” more and more buyers are looking for homes with demonstrated “Green” or “Energy Efficient” accreditations. In the past, homeowners and builders received little to no credit for energy efficient upgrades or certifications. This is now starting to change as consumers begin to recognize the value of these features in the long term. In some areas, appraisers are starting to be trained on assigning value to Green building features and Renewable Energy systems and there are now special mortgages called “Energy Efficient Mortgages” which add the projected operational cost savings of an energy efficient home to an applicant’s income when determining the amount of loan he or she qualifies for. But most importantly, consumers are starting to recognize that healthy and energy efficient homes provide higher long term value and enjoyment to them and are asking for these features when shopping around.
Save Money
Posted in Benefits - 22 March 2010According to the US department of Energy, in the typical home 45% of household energy costs are spent on heating, cooling & lighting alone (US DOE 2007 Buildings Energy Data Book). Said another way, nearly half of what you spend on energy comes from only three areas. There are many changes, some as inexpensive as changing out your incandescent bulbs (those traditional light bulbs) with Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL – those corkscrew bulbs) to more expensive upgrades such as insulation, new furnaces or air conditioning units. There are many ways to save money by increasing the efficiency of the appliances used in the home as well as the efficiency of the structure itself.
By understanding the relationship between the many components in a house, we help our customers prioritize projects by demonstrating both the cost of a change along with the impact that change will have on the overall energy footprint of the house. Outside of a comprehensive energy audit, any time a homeowner is planning on undertaking any renovations, there is often an opportunity to take additional steps, often as simple as caulking around drywall and frame joints to improve the energy consumption of a house. See our blog for specific tips.
The most effective strategy for improving household energy efficiency is to first target your home’s envelope—walls, attic, windows, and doors. Then improve the energy efficiency of systems, such as heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances. Finally, consider clean energy generation (solar, geothermal, and so on).
Most home performance retrofit projects will pay for themselves over time in reduced energy consumption and lower utility bills. But thanks to numerous incentive programs – including many funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) – you can accelerate that return on investment.
Contact Us today to learn how you can save energy, and dollars!
Live Healthier
Posted in Benefits, Healthy Home - 22 March 2010
You may have heard a statement similar to this before “The air inside our homes is more polluted than the air outside!” While this statement is extremely variable, for many of us this is true. How can that be? A house is a complex system comprised of machines and materials which all have an impact on the air we breathe. Anyone who has ever had their hardwood floors refinished knows this very well since they often have to move out during the process and for several days afterward. This is due to something called “VOCs” or Volatile Organic Compounds, which are released from materials when exposed to the air. That “new car smell”, VOCs, the headache you get after you spend time in a freshly painted room, VOCs.Additionally, it is possible to mechanically draw “bad” air into your home, with your clothes dryer, bathroom fans, furnace/air conditioner blower or your range hood. These appliances are designed to move tremendous amounts of air and can cause pressure differences in your house which seek to be balanced by drawing air back into the space, sometimes from undesirable locations, such as garages, combustion vents or storage sheds. Radon is another very real source of indoor air pollution that can pose significant long-term health issues.
Indoor Air Quality problems can be overcome or avoided altogether with a little upfront knowledge, some specialized tests and regular preventative maintenance. See our blog about pressure imbalances and VOC’s for some details on these issues.
Sell Your Home Faster
Posted in Benefits - 22 March 2010
Home buyers are beginning to look beyond the veneer of “big, new and shiny” and are seeking homes with demonstrated quality. The new slogan is becoming “I want to know how much house I can afford to live in”, rather than simply “how much house I can afford” as more and more buyers appreciate that our days of cheap energy are numbered. Factoring in the cost of operating a house is an important element of the equation when calculating our monthly budget. Among the other features they seek, these buyers are looking for homes that can demonstrate an energy efficient and healthy living space.The ability to present prospective buyers with a comprehensive analysis of your home’s energy footprint along with the efforts undertaken to improve it can go a long way to demonstrate the quality of the home and help differentiate it from others on the market. People want to feel good about what they purchase, this is something every successful salesperson understands. You wouldn’t purchase a home today without hiring a professional home inspector, why buy a home without knowing what your energy costs will be? While the savings from a lower than average gas, water or electric bill may not be as striking as that new granite counter-top, the peace of mind of knowing that you will be able to better weather any fluctuations in your energy bills will be.
Services from Sundogs Solutions, such as a Home Performance Audit and Weatherization, are market differentiators that will make your home stand out above the rest.
Do Your Part for a Better Planet
Posted in Benefits, Green Building, Healthy Home - 22 March 2010Whichever side of the “Global Climate Change” debate you fall on, all you have to do is listen to our local ozone warning report during the summer months to witness firsthand how humans have an impact on the environment in which we live. In North Carolina, we see the adverse effect we have on our environment, in trail erosion to sedimentation of our lakes, in neighboring mountain tops removed for our coal to rivers we can no longer swim or fish in. With so many local examples, most can agree that it would be better for all if the water from the lakes we swam in or the air we and our children breathed every day, were cleaner.
“Greening” your home does not have to involve an expensive array of solar panels or anything that exotic. True, for some this is both a statement of their commitment to a cleaner planet, or an economically sound investment, sometimes both. For most of us however, it can be as simple as replacing our traditional incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Are you due for a new hot water heater? Do you have good exposure on a southern face? A solar hot water system makes great economic sense. With a typical payback of 5-7 years and lifespan of 10-15 years, that system provides you with “free” hot water for anywhere from 3 to 10 years and often longer. Like most things in our lives, we get used to how things are and are reticent to change what we know.
At Sundogs Solutions, we seek to educate our customers with the facts and tailor solutions that fit their needs and goals. There are a lot of spurious claims both on the benefits and ills of various “Green” and “Renewable” options for homeowners. Sundogs Solutions will gladly work with you on any project you have in mind to assess the practicality of the implementation both from the project cost and the payback time-line.
