Building a new home - What energy saving features to include?

Lucas_Bergman

Hi guys and gals, I'm new to this forum and I'm looking for advice. Hope you can help me.

So, my wife and I decided to build a new home. We are in the early phases and there's still a long road ahead. Since the energy bills in our current house are monstrously high, we definitely want to include some energy saving features in our new home. I do have have a check list, but some of ES features are a bit pricey and I also have a nagging feeling that I forgot some of them.

Any advice would be helpful.

Robin9

OP - can we see your list please

Lucas_Bergman

Sure thing: Insulation, skylights, smart thermostat, solar panels, solar boiler, low-flow showerhead.

Andy_WSM

INSULATION, INSULATION & MORE INSULATION.


As much insualtion as you can reasonably fit. It will always pay for itself.


Maybe look into a heat pump if it saves the cost of having gas installed? A correctly sized heat pump will be at least as economical to run as a gas boiler and lower ongoing maintenance costs (no annual service for example).


Rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing & garden use? A large tank in the ground connected to the downspouts and pumped back into the house for any toilets and garden use.

Lucas_Bergman

OK then, so, insulation. :T

Btw, this is the first time I heard of such rainwater harvesting system.

Owain_Moneysaver

And then even more insulation still :-)

Passivhaus standard and then a bit extra.

Quadruple glazing is now standard in Korea, I'm told.

No single outside doors. All outside doors to a glazed porch for solar gain, then a air-lock lobby inside.

A circular floor plan encloses the most inside space with the least outside wall.

Cluster boiler/kitchen/bathrooms together to avoid long hot water pipe runs.

Robin9

You will have to balance capital cost with running / maintenance costs. You might end up with a house that is expensive to sell - purchases do not look much beyond initial cost.

If you have a super insulated home then the amount of heat required might well be quite small.

I would replace the skylight by a light tube. Yes to rainwater harvesting.

I seem to recall some trials with houses with lots of energy saving devices.

Skools_Out

Lucas_Bergman wrote: »

Hi guys and gals, I'm new to this forum and I'm looking for advice. Hope you can help me.

So, my wife and I decided to build a new home. We are in the early phases and there's still a long road ahead. Since the energy bills in our current house are monstrously high, we definitely want to include some energy saving features in our new home. I do have have a check list, but some of ES features are a bit pricey and I also have a nagging feeling that I forgot some of them.

Any advice would be helpful.

Get a good architect who can advise you on what you should consider; what is mandatory and what is optional.

Get a good financier who specialises in energy cost/saving to advise you on the cost/reward of each option.

matelodave

As suggested above try to ensure that you concentrate on stuff that give the most benefit first. - mainly insulation and then say renewable heating, solar panels etc. The more insulation you have then you'll require less heating.

As you work your way down the list then the costs of energy saving measures can seriously outweigh the benefit.

Eg if your heating bill gets reduced to say £250 a year, then spending £500 to get a 10% saving will take you 20 years to recover and spending another £500 for another 10% reduction will take even longer to payback as the laws of diminishing returns come into play.

Check out the costs & benefits of rainwater harvesting because it wont have done you much good this year with the prolonged period of no rain. The costs may well be significantly higher than the savings although you may feel nice and warm and fuzzy because you are "saving the planet"

Lorian

Even more insulation, and learn about avoiding cold bridges.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_bridge

Smiley_Dan

Insulation, insulation, insulation... and then air tightness and controlled ventilation.

Look into the "fabric first" approach to building, most well known in the Passivhaus standard.

I would not build a house another way.