Have you ever thought about buying a new apartment? If yes, what factors do you consider to choose the best option?
In this article, we’ll let you know why energy consumption is important when you want to buy a new home.
Building energy
Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of total energy consumption in the world. The thing is that energy consumption is strongly connected with your comfort, and you can’t easily reduce your energy consumption. Heating, cooling, cooking, lighting, and many other items of energy consumption are of paramount importance in your life.
Therefore, you have to think of a smart way to save energy while keeping your life comfortable. That’s why policymakers, scientists, and also homeowners are trying to optimize the thermal performance of buildings to achieve energy-efficient buildings.
Condoly claims that the number of people looking for energy-efficient condo apartments in Canada is increasing every year. Also, the number of buildings that are a candidate for LEED certification has skyrocketed. So it’s good to think of energy consumption when buying a new home.
Benefits of an energy-efficient home
Here are several important advantages of buying an energy-efficient apartment:
Utility bills
30% of homeowners complain that their monthly utility bills are unaffordable. First-time home buyers comprise the majority of people who say the cost of heating, cooling, and lighting their home is shocking.
The most important benefit of buying an efficient home is to reduce your operational costs. Bear in mind that this is a long-term investment, and your initial money will return after a while through less power consumption.
Environmental issues
Another critical aspect of energy consumption is its effect on the environment. Unfortunately, a considerable amount of building energy comes from fossil fuels leading to GHG emissions to the atmosphere.
By purchasing an energy-efficient building, you’re contributing to saving the planet from catastrophic consequences.
Comfort
To convert a building into an efficient home, you need to use smart technologies. In fact, you don’t have any choice but to control your home’s temperature to save energy exactly.
Apart from preventing extra energy consumption, these technologies will bring comfort to your home. In other words, you’ll feel minimum temperature fluctuations when you’re home.
Grid independency
Whether you’re living in a wealthy country or in an unprivileged region, you’re probably dependent on your country’s power infrastructures.
This can make trouble for you at times of crisis. For example, when the overall consumption is high, electric power will be limited in many regions.
When you have an energy-efficient home, your dependency on the grid is minimum, and this will bring you peace of mind.
Higher chance to sell the house
Apart from the fact that you will get your investment through energy saving, buying, and efficient building have another advantage.
As many homebuyers are shifting towards green homes, your energy-efficient apartment can be sold easier and at a higher price in the future.
What should you look for when buying an energy-efficient home?
Now that you know why you have to buy a certified building, it’s good to review what items you need to check when purchasing an apartment.
Appliances
Whether your new home has its appliances or you want to buy them, they’re the most important item in terms of energy.
It’s highly recommended to buy A+ appliances to reduce your utility cost. ENERGY STAR-labeled refrigerators consume 20% less energy, and dishwashers consume 10% less energy and 18% less water.
HVAC systems
HVAC systems are key to your family’s comfort. You need to pay special attention to them in terms of energy consumption, durability, noise, being smart.
A smart HVAC system can reduce your power consumption as well as providing perfect comfort. Variable speed split coolers are a good example in this regard, which can adjust the load of the compressor according to the ambient condition.
Openings
When searching for a new home, windows and doors should not be ignored. They’re usually responsible for almost 10%-30% of your energy bills.
Daylight, ventilation, heating, cooling, and views are all strongly dependent on openings. So windows and doors have a great impact on the energy consumption of your home.
You have to look out for double-paned windows with “low-e” coatings. These windows can reduce energy loss by 30%. U-factor is a measure for the rate of heat passing through windows, and you’d better consider it when buying a home.
Envelope insulation
Walls are the other key factor in the thermal performance of buildings and need to be looked out for when buying a new apartment.
Apart from the strength of the material, walls need to have proper insulation to keep the building from losing thermal energy.
R-value is a measure of thermal resistance of a wall, and you have to look out for as low R-value insulation as possible.
Inspection and testing
Energy audit and inspection by a third party can provide all of the data you need on energy efficiency.
Ideally, you can look for LEED certification which is really sought after in today’s real estate industry. These buildings have been inspected by a professional energy rating system.
Renewable energy
Many manufacturers are starting to use rooftop PV panels to generate extra energy and reduce utility bills.
You can also consider this option when buying a new home. Remember that the initial costs of PV panels might be really high, but they can compensate for that soon.
Conclusion
Comfort and cost are two critical factors in every home. Energy-efficient buildings are the best solution for addressing this issue. Of course, the initial cost of an efficient building might be a bit high. But you can be sure about its return after a while.