Quickscrews
Quickscrews Cabinet Install Screws
Built for strength and precision, Quickscrews Cabinet Install Screws are the go-to choice for professional cabinet installers. Designed specifically for cabi...
$169
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Are All-Electric Homes More Sustainable?
Natural gas continues to be the most popular heating option for the majority of homes. Millions of households also rely on natural gas for their cooking needs. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, around 70 million American families and businesses burn natural gas, oil, or propane for heating. This choice generates 560 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, which amounts to one-tenth of the nation's total emissions. Relying on natural gas for your heating or cooking needs not only increases your carbon footprint but also ensures that your home won't be able to achieve net-zero energy status.
Another critical factor is that natural gas use in the home can produce dangerous indoor air contaminants such as particulate matter (PM2.5), a hazardous air pollutant. Studies have found that gas stoves create about twice as much PM2.5 as electric stoves. Add to this, when gas stoves and furnaces malfunction, there is a risk of releasing nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and other dangerous air contaminants into the air. Switching from gas to electricity for your home's heating, cooling, and power can be a costly retrofit. For this reason, new homeowners who want to optimize their indoor air quality should opt for an all-electric home.
What Are Some Sustainable Home Building Strategies for Energy and Utility Savings?
Homeowners can implement many new home construction strategies to combat these rising costs and ensure long-term energy savings and resiliency. Some of these include:
- Decide if you want to achieve a building certification like LEED, Passive House, or ENERGY STAR to help guide you in your design and building process.
- Insulate, insulate, insulate: Check out our insulation guide and learn more about innovative products like insulated studs.
- Install high-quality, efficient windows: ENERGY STAR, Triple Pane, or even Quad - what to choose? Explore our many articles on these topics to learn more.
- Investing in Renewable Energy and building a Rainwater Catchment System and Cistern - we will dive further into these topics below.
Rainwater Catchment Systems and Cisterns
The vast majority of us trust that every time we turn on a faucet in our homes, safe and abundant freshwater will be available. However, water scarcity is a serious problem that could affect households across the nation and the world. Investing in a rainwater catchment or harvesting system and a household cistern is a foundational element of resilient home design.
New home construction that incorporates rainwater catchment and storage options can also save money in the long term. In the US, the average water bill amounts to $72.93 a month for a family of four that uses 100 gallons of water per day per person. Even without factoring in the expected rising cost of potable water due to scarcity and increased energy prices for pumping, a rainwater catchment system should pay for itself in well under a decade. When constructed properly, these systems can last a lifetime, ensuring a free, autonomous water source for your home.
What Are Some Sustainable Home Building Strategies to Lower Your Environmental Footprint?
Many homeowners will also want to design new home construction that minimizes the overall environmental impact. However, it is essential to state that the embodied energy footprint that comes with new home construction tends to "outweigh" the operational efficiency advantages of new home construction. Some estimates find that the increased energy efficiency of new home construction might take upwards of 80 years to offset the emissions and environmental impact of sourcing materials for a new house. Thus, retrofits and renovations of existing building stock tend to be more environmentally friendly options. However, that said, there are ways to reduce the embodied energy footprint of new home construction, which we will outline below.
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Local and Recycled Building Materials
The best way to lower your home's embodied energy footprint is to search for local and recycled building materials. Local building materials don't need to be shipped worldwide, and homeowners can search for companies and manufacturers that invest in regenerative practices. Recycled building materials essentially have a negative embodied energy footprint. They prolong the lifespan of materials that would otherwise end up in landfills across the country, often leading to excessive methane emissions.
Earthen Construction Techniques
Earthen construction techniques such as cob, wattle and daub, straw bale homes, and rammed earth are other innovative alternatives for homeowners looking for the most environmentally friendly new home construction techniques. You can often find the raw material for these types of homes directly on the building site. You can use earthen building techniques for walls, natural floors, and interior plasters. Not only are these techniques beautiful, functional, and healthy, but they can also act as a thermal mass to help improve the energy efficiency of your home.
Rise Writer
Expert. Practical. Sustainable.
Article by
Tobias Roberts
Tobias runs an agroecology farm and a natural building collective in the mountains of El Salvador. He specializes in earthen construction methods and uses permaculture design methods to integrate structures into the sustainability of the landscape.
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