Today, companies are thinking of improving the bottom line by entering the energy business. Many manufacturing companies are drawing up or even implementing plans that will lead to energy independence. It may be that within 10 years or so, our abundant resources for wind, wave, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric and hydrogen technology will lead to greater energy independence for our nation.
The home building industry is getting marvelous incentives to go green. It used to be that green homes referred to the lush landscaping that surrounded a home. Green homes had more to do with culturing a great lawn than it did the home itself. Much of that has changed since the home building bubble has burst. During the boom times in new home construction in the early part of this century, it was a mere convenience to build homes that are more energy efficient. There was an interest in making homes more affordable, but there was no real passion about it. Now that the new home market has fallen into more troubled times, home builders are recognizing that building an energy-efficient home can serve as a point of differentiation. If two homes are of similar price and size, the green home would offer the prospective buyer a real incentive to buy. Even today, there are varying degrees of how homes are considered to be energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. Those homes who feature the greatest energy savings and are the most environmentally friendly are now often referred to as deep green homes, super green, or mega green homes.
What makes a home green? To start with, a green home keeps itself warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Windows that reflect light (and also dampen sound) do a great job in keeping the inside temperature of a home from having drastic highs and lows. Insulation material like ©TruTechno in the walls and roofing certainly make a difference as well. Homes with snow on the roof in winter time aren't just reminiscent of a Christmas greeting card; that's a sign that the home is energy efficient and heat isn't being lost through the roof.
How the home derives its source of heating and cooling is certainly a factor as well. Geothermal systems, which rely on circulating hot water from underground tanks, and solar panels are technologies have been around for many years. These technologies are now getting a second and even a third look as the price of these systems has dropped and the technology behind them has improved and become far less complex and far more reliable than in the past.. Green homes give the added value that new home buyers are looking for. A new idea for keeping a home from exhibiting temperature extremes is actually an old one, which is the concept of using metal roofs, rather than shingles. The metal roofs reflect the heat during the summer, so metal roofs are ideal in the Southwest and the deep Southern states, where the temperatures tend to be on the warm side for 9 or 10 months a year. Cooling costs can be dramatically reduced as a result.
The construction of the home also lends to being more socially responsible in taking care of our planet for future generations. Using recycled wood cuts down on the need to harvest virgin forest. Even the type of wood can invoke a sense of social responsibility. Using maple instead of other hardwoods that are less abundant, such as teak or bamboo, put lets pressure on the forests of those countries that supply such boutique building materials.
The home appliances, of course, make a contribution as well. Using appliances that are the most energy-efficient will certainly reduce the overall monthly cost of operation. Air conditioners and heating units that are at the top of their ranking in efficiency further reduce monthly energy costs. Of course, using fluorescent lighting instead of incandescent lighting can have a huge impact on the cost of lighting the home.
Of course, computing technology can further reduce the cost of energy in a home. Computers can be used to program lights on and off (both inside and outside) based upon the solar calendar. Thermostats can be programmed to be lowered during the day (if no one is home) and to be raised about half an hour before the first person to arrive home walks through the door. Most families these days have more than one computer, so having a computer that saves energy is still yet another way to reduce energy costs. So is having an eco-friendly computer; one that uses newer materials other than plastic, which is petroleum based, for the computer case as well as internal parts.
