One of the great unseen costs when you buy a home is the energy bill. You might choose one home over another because it’s a few thousand dollars less expensive. Yet, if you pay that much in energy bills the first few years, have you really saved anything? This is why savvy buyers are looking for better options. But are energy-efficient homes the same as eco-friendly or green homes?
The Green Home
Green homes, or eco-friendly homes, are not necessarily energy-efficient homes. A green home means that the home is built from environmentally friendly materials. The building of the home is performed with a minimized impact on the environment.
At the same time, it doesn’t mean that the operation of the home is built with the same minimized impact. A green home won’t necessarily lower your energy bill, although it can if it’s also energy efficient.
The Energy Efficient Home
Energy-efficient homes aren’t necessarily built out of materials or built using processes that minimize environmental impact. However, energy-efficient homes are built so that living in the homes use less energy, and therefore minimize environmental impact once the homes are constructed – and for decades to come.
Energy-efficient homes will lower your energy bill. While they aren’t necessarily constructed as green homes, they can be.
The Best Solutions
In other words, a green home has to do with environmental responsibility in the home’s construction process, and an energy-efficient home has to do with environmental responsibility once the home is occupied.
At Synergy Homes, we focus on energy-efficient homes, but we also exercise awareness when building our homes. We’ll make green choices when they’re the best option for the owner and the entire life cycle of the home. Sometimes a green construction choice isn’t the best solution for energy efficiency.
If a choice maintains energy efficiency over years, then it is often the greener choice in the long run. We believe in making choices that conserve natural resources and lower your energy bill – choices that minimize the impact on both the environment and your wallet, and not just today, but for years to come.
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