Building an Energy Efficient Home in the United States

Jun 13, 2018 9:45:00 AM / by Priscila Novaes

Are you interested in building a custom home in the United States but aren’t sure how to make it energy efficient?

The Home Energy Score is a national rating system that provides comparable and credible information about a home's energy use across the housing market. Their reports can be used to show how to improve the energy efficiency of the home to achieve a higher score and save money.

Energy Score has Auditors that help with a new build or with the renovation of your existing home to make sure you get the most renewable energy system available. They will take the climate and site conditions into consideration and recommend changes or new ideas that will make your home more efficient, saving you money.

In the meantime, here are a few tips to help you build an energy efficient home:

Whole-House System Approach

The whole-house systems approach considers the house as an energy system with interdependent parts, each of which affects the performance of the entire system.  It is important to make sure all the elements in your home are interacting and functioning as part of an energy efficient structure to make sure you meet your energy efficient goals. It is important that you and your building team consider all the variables that affect the energy use of your home, such as appliances and home electronics, insulation, lighting and day lighting, water heating, windows, doors, skylights as well as occupant behaviour.

Working with industry specialists like the Normerica team and a Home Energy Score specialist when building or renovating a home from the Whole-House Systems approach is important to ensure you are not missing any core components.

 Ultra-Efficient Homes

The Ultra-Efficient Homes approach combines energy efficient construction and commercially made eco friendly products with the local climate and site conditions. Energy efficient upgrades such as upgraded windows, mechanical ventilation and a more efficient hot water heating system are available. In order to reduce home energy use as cost-effectively as possible the designers at Normerica will make sure you have access to all possible options to increase your building performance.

It is important to know that on-site renewable energy systems are always taken into consideration as a number one priority to maximize the efficiency of the project.

 With Normerica’s standards for airtightness and insulation your timber frame home will deliver superior energy efficiency, environmental comfort, and lower heating costs. Our homes are built to the highest efficiency standards, so you’ll use less energy overall, reducing your carbon footprint.

Energy Efficiency In Log Homes

Timber frame homes are considered eco-friendly and energy efficient by their nature. The material is natural and renewable, and Normerica only buys from suppliers who follow sustainable forestry practices and are members of the Forest Stewardship Council. That fact, coupled with our understanding of building science and our unique building system, has enabled us to create some of the most energy efficient buildings around. Our state of the art, wall and roof system produce less waste – both during manufacturing and on the job site.

If you are located in the United States you should be maximizing your opportunities to build an energy efficient home with these federal tax benefits. Whether you are a consumer or a builder by trade there is a lot for you take advantage of when building green. If you have questions and want to learn more about our custom timber frame home packages download our Residential Construction Guide or our Construction Guide for Builders and Architects. We have many options to help you build an energy efficient dream home.

 Check out Home Energy for more about their score and rating system.

About Normerica

Since 1979, Normerica has created the highest quality timber frame homes and buildings across North America and around the world. Our decades of timber frame experience and expert in-house design capabilities have given us the ability to offer a high level of customization and design flexibility – a key advantage of timber frame homes and post and beam construction.