What Makes a Custom Home Energy Efficient?

If you have the opportunity to have a custom home built, take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to create the dream home you’ve always wanted.  The “building envelope” is the base for the principle of energy-efficient home construction.  Find a builder who includes the philosophy of sustainability and environmentally friendly concepts to plan your home for the best of everything.  

You will get an energy-efficient building design that is also cost-friendly and environment friendly, and it can also be a beautiful and aesthetically pleasing home at the same time.  Energy-efficient home construction is a win-win scenario.

Energy Efficient Building Design 

The building envelope is perhaps the single most important aspect of energy-efficient home construction because it helps keep the temperatures in the home in check, by design.  Being able to help regulate the home’s temperatures through the smart and efficient use of the building envelope allows for less reliance on heating and cooling systems, thereby reducing energy needs and usage and providing you with better comfort and cost savings.

Increase Home Comfort 

Not only does an energy-efficient building design envelope help save money by reducing energy costs, as well as doing the environment a favor, it also allows for the utmost control in homeowner comfort.  

For spaces in the home that might not be the most resilient to temperature changes on the thermostat, by having an efficient thermal building envelope in place, those spaces can still be well-controlled nonetheless.  A well-designed building envelope will help ensure the home has the best of all possible worlds.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint 

We’ve no doubt all heard that to be environmentally friendly to our planet, the one we call home, is to help “reduce your carbon footprint” wherever you go.  What is your carbon footprint?  It is the number of greenhouse gases that you help produce as you live your life.  Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, fluorinated gases, nitrous oxide, and methane, among others.  A thermal building envelope that is efficient helps reduce your carbon footprint on the planet.  That is something we should all strive for.

R-Value Insulation

With energy-efficient home construction in mind, the R-value represents how well a layer of insulation, a wall, a window, or a ceiling resists the flow of heat.  It takes into account many things, including the type of material used and its thickness.  In general, the higher the R-value, the more resistant to heat the product is.  Insulation with a high R-value in the roof and walls will prevent too much heat from entering during hot weather or from escaping during colder weather.

Green Roof 

A green roof also contributes to the overall success of the building envelope because it acts as an insulator, thereby reducing energy consumption.  During hot weather when the sun is beating down, a green roof also protects the building structure from solar radiation.  This, in turn, requires less air conditioning to keep the structure cool.

Energy-Efficient Home Construction 

Synergy Homes uses Icynene spray foam insulation in attics and on ceilings.  It is the number one brand preferred by architects.  It is the global leader in providing superior insulation solutions.  By using seals above and beyond what is required by the standard building code, Synergy Homes goes yet another step further to give homeowners the best building envelope for their home construction.  

They also use R-13 Icynene spray foam insulation on the separation wall between the house and the garage.  Synergy Homes uses double-pane, hurricane-impact vinyl windows, especially prudent in Florida.  They use an R-6 vinyl rigid board for wall assembly.

Gold and Platinum Series Model Homes 

Synergy Homes employs what they call the Gold and Platinum Series building techniques during their energy efficient building design process.  Their processes ensure that your new home will be 75 percent more efficient than an existing home.  Homes that have been newly constructed as part of their Gold and Platinum series are 50 percent more energy-efficient than average new construction.  

As well, newly built homes take advantage of the latest in technology and building materials to give new homeowners what they want – more environmentally friendly options for their homes, with more efficient built-ins, and greater energy savings, both for the planet and for their budget.

All new home construction is not created equal.  It is not all automatically built to encourage energy-efficient processes.  Choose wisely when you choose a home builder and make the best choice for your dream home.  Remember: a tight, secure thermal building envelope places extreme importance on the foundation, outer walls, roof, doors, and windows.

When you utilize all that a thermal building envelope has to offer from the start of the energy-efficient home construction, your heating and cooling systems don’t have to work as hard.  Running an HVAC system every day can get expensive, so the more help you can give those systems, the better for the environment – and for you.  Not only will it be better for your budget, but a better building envelope will permit a more comfortable and healthier indoor air quality for you and your loved ones.

Call Synergy Homes today at 1-561-617-8671 to schedule a walkthrough of one of their model homes.  Synergy Homes Palm Beach Model Home Center, located at 4568 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., West Palm Beach, FL  33411.  They are open 7 days a week: Monday-Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm and on Sunday from 12 pm to 5 pm.