2 Features to Look for in an Energy Efficient Home
One of the most important things that you can look for when shopping around for a new home is how energy efficient the home is, mostly because this can be both beneficial to the environment and save you quite a bit of money over the course of the years that you are living in the home. Listed below are two features to look for when shopping for an energy-efficient home.
Copper Roof
One of the first features that you should consider when looking for an energy-efficient home is a copper roof, mostly because a copper roof can help keep the entire home a bit cooler than if it had a traditional roof made out of other materials. The main reason for this is that a copper roof is very reflective, which means that when sunlight shines on the copper roof, the copper roof will reflect the sunlight away from your home instead of absorbing it.
When the sunlight is reflected away, the interior of your house will not heat up as quickly as it would if the roof absorbed the sunlight, which will cause the interior of your home to be a few degrees cooler. In the end, this will lead to you not having to turn your air conditioner on as frequently or leave your air conditioner on for longer periods of time just to make your home more comfortable in the summer.
Radiant Heating
Another feature to look for if you want to buy a home that is very energy-efficient is radiant heating. Radiant heating is a system that will use a series of water pipes or electrical pads installed in the floors and walls of the home that will cause the walls and floors to heat up and radiate the warmth out into the rooms of the home.
The primary feature of radiant heating that allows it to be energy efficient is that radiant heating systems will often be able to be programmed into zones throughout your home. For example, you can set up a heating zone that is dedicated to each of the floors of your home, or a heating zone that focuses on the bedroom and another zone that focuses on the common living areas of the home. This will allow you to activate the heating zones for the areas of your home that are in use and leave the rest of the areas of the home unheated, which saves you a lot of money as you will not be spending money or energy heating rooms that nobody is using at a particular time of day.
Contact a real estate agent today in order to discuss your criteria for a new home and to discuss what features he or she would recommend looking for in an energy efficient home. A copper roof and radiant heating are two great features to consider when looking for a home that is energy efficient and that can save you money on your utilities while living there. To learn more about energy efficient homes, contact services like RE/MAX LEADING EDGE.