Energy Efficient Home Ideas

Whether you just want to drop a few dollars off of your gas bill or you are looking for a better way to fuel your home altogether, doing just a few things can make a tremendous amount of difference in your home. Why bother with cost efficiency? You can afford the bills so why bother? Many people will be shocked to learn that they can lose up to 25% or more of the energy in their home without the need to. You literally could be flushing your money down the drain. The good news is that making your home energy efficient does not have to be overly challenging. It also does not have to be overly costly either. There are some changes that will cost a decent amount of money to implement into a home. These are usually the things that need to be taken into consideration if you plan to save a great deal of money. As you will see in this e-book, there are plenty of things that you can do to better your home’s ability to use energy more wisely from just about every aspect you can imagine.

This book is about how to build tomorrow's house -- today. How to build a house that is energy efficient, solar heated, uses every inch of space well, is designed for the people who plan to live there, is elegantly simple, and yet doesn't cost a small fortune.

Pretty Good House provides a framework and set of guidelines for building or renovating a high-performance home that focus on its inhabitants and the environment--but keeps in mind that few people have pockets deep enough to achieve a "perfect" solution. The essential idea is for homeowners to work within their financial and practical constraints both to meet their own needs and do as much for the planet as possible. A Pretty Good House is: * A house that's as small as possible * Simple and durable, but also well designed * Insulated and air-sealed * Above all, it is affordable, healthy, responsible, and resilient.

Zero energy homes produce at least as much energy as they consume through a combination of energy efficiencies, passive design and renewable energy production. California has adopted zero net energy as the new residential standard for 2020; many other governments are considering similar policies. Developing zero energy homes is the first step towards making all buildings zero energy — a critical step in mitigating climate change, since buildings account for 40% of material and energy use worldwide. Home Sweet Zero Energy Home is the first practical guidebook that clearly shows how zero energy homes can be good, livable, affordable homes. The author identifies all the pieces of the zero energy puzzle and how they fallinto place, and explains how homeowners and buyers can also take smaller steps towards sharply reducing the energy use of existing buildings. Focusing on real costs and savings, this book takes an in depth look at: Site selection and passive design Insulation, windows, doors and building materials Heating and cooling Appliances and electronics Financial resources and incentives. Whether you are a prospective buyer, owner, or developer, Home Sweet Zero Energy Home is your complete guide to creating a more comfortable, efficient, environmentally friendly home without breaking your back or yourbank account.

Hands-on, practical solutions to save money by making smart energy changes One of the best and most affordable strategies people can employ to combat global warming is to improve the energy and water efficiency of their homes. Energy Efficient Homes For Dummies provides homeowners with advice, tips, and projects to reduce costs, increase energy efficiency, and cut down on waste and pollution. After performing a do-it-yourself home energy audit, readers create an action plan based on their personal goals. Readers are presented with a wide range of potential solutions, from making better use of blinds and awnings to exploring geothermal options in order to reduce household costs and their impact on the planet. Rik DeGunther (Rescue, CA) is the founder of Efficient Homes, an energy consulting firm that focuses on home energy audits and the design of efficient heating and cooling systems.

How should we go about making old houses energy efficient without devaluing future sustainability or the appeal and character of old homes by the use of inappropriate solutions? This practical and essential guide to retrofitting for energy efficiency seeks to provide answers to this and other the questions homeowners of old houses are asking. Whether your house is medieval and timber-framed or a Georgian, Victorian or Edwardian terrace, it can be made more energy efficient and sustainable, and this practical and comprehensive handbook will show you how. Revised and updated throughout, and with a foreword by Kevin McLoud, Old House Eco Handbook includes chapters on the building envelope; roofs and ceilings; windows and doors; walls; floors; paints; energy, airandwater; plus a brand newchapter on retrofit materials. In association with The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, this is a must have for owners of old houses looking to make their homes more energy efficient and sustainable. Chapters Include: 1. Old houses can be green 2. Old house to eco house 3. The building envelope 4. Retrofit materials 5. Roofs and ceilings 6. Windows and doors 7. Walls 8. Floors 9. Paints 10. Energy, air and water 11. Old house for the future