Energy-Efficient Building Materials For Your Home

From Associated Content, by Eric Brennan

Using the right materials in your home can help preserve the environment and save you money in the long run.

Whether you're building a new home from the ground up, or remodeling an existing structure, using energy-efficient building materials can save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars, not only in energy savings, but also in tax incentives, grants and rebates.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, more than $2.6 billion in grants is available to state and local governments under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) program. Because of this $2.6 billion cash injection, many people are now able to afford energy-efficient building materials for new homes and existing structures.

With so many energy-efficient building materials on the market, where do you begin? Just as a home is built, you start from the ground up with the foundation. At SouthFace.org, you will find links to federal grants, LEED certifications and an energy-efficient checklist for your home that can give you a great starting point for installing energy-efficient building materials in your home.

Foundation. If you have a crawl space under your home, energy loss through outside air vents can really add up. By installing a crawl space vapor barrier, you can close off your crawl space, allowing your heating and cooling ducts to work more efficiently. This plastic vapor barrier installed with a crawlspace door and dehumidifier can also stop mold, mildew, rodents and energy loss. Find out more about sealing your crawl space at SealCrawlSpace.com.

Sheathing. Plywood, OSB and paneled siding are typical structural coverings used for roofs, walls and floors. These products are made from veneers of wood, oriented strand and pressed pulp. Thermostat OSB Radiant Barrier Sheathing is a radiant barrier roof sheathing that takes a conventional piece of plywood and adds a layer of aluminum foil/craft paper laminate to the underside. This can reflect up to 97 percent of the sun's radiant energy, which prevents it from entering your attic, and keeps the attic cooler in the process.

Insulation and penetration. Insulation provides your home with a thermal blanket that keeps it warm and cool, depending on the season. Penetrations are the exact opposite. Penetrations in your home's walls, ceilings, roof and floors cause significant air loss. Air leakage can account for nearly 50 percent of a home's heating and cooling system's energy loss. Sealing any penetrations in your home can be easily accomplished using an insulating foam product to seal large and small penetrations around ventilation. Using a sprayed foam insulation to insulate attic space is a great alternative to using conventional fiberglass insulation. Sprayed foam consists of a modified urethane polymer and a foaming agent. As the foam is sprayed onto the stud walls, trussed roofs and attic floors, it expands and hardens. It is then covered with conventional drywall. At SprayFoam.com, you'll find links to coating contractors, spray foam products and technical data for spray foam insulation products.

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Shingles. When you install shingles with the Energy Star label, you are eligible for a 30 percent rebate on the costs of installation up to $1,500 from the federal government. This is good news for homeowners who want to offset the cost of their re-roofs and new home construction. Many shingle manufacturers have Energy Star-rated products that qualify for a government rebate. GAF and Owens Corning both have some of the best Energy Star-rated shingles on the market.

With all of the energy-efficient building materials that are out there today, it should be no problem finding affordable and quality materials for your next building project.

Sources:

www.eecbg.energy.gov

http://southface.org/

http://sealcrawlspace.com/

www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pid=5857

www.sprayfoam.com

www.gaf.com/Content/GAF/RES1/ROOF/cool_color.asp

http://roofing.owenscorning.com/homeowner/shingles/duration-premium-cool.aspx

Comments

[electrojosh]

Everyone should include this in the building of their new houses! You can save so much money on your home energy bills by providing renewable energy. Fantastic!

http://www.generate-free-electricity.info

[lmpub]

Interesting tips.

[Doug Flight]

Consider Hemp!!

http://www.hempsearch.com/Directory/INDUSTRIAL-HEMP-PRODUCTS/Building-Materials/1-5-0.html

http://www.hemp.org/news/hempcrete-hemp-building-materials

http://www.irelandgreenbuilding.com/about.html

http://www.hempcompany.ie/node/186

[mydwyf]

Thank you ! I am so waiting for the day we can rejuvenate our worn out hayfield
by putting it in hemp. The ground is so compacted from being driven on and hemp
is a great subsoiler which sends down deep roots. Without needing a lot of fertilizers.

Hempcrete is such a game changer. Its time is coming.

[atexasdem]

Having many friends who live "off grid" or nearly off grid maybe I can help. Rather than looking to government for help look to yourself. I recently helped a friend build a very efficient house and it didn't cost as much as a "conventional" house. First off he did a lot of reading and educating himself about house direction, insulation, designs, all the things he needed to know before he started his project. The house has about 900 Sq. Feet. Most of his water comes from rain barrels under his eves though he does also have a well. All gray water is used for non potable purposes. Black water is septic treated. Electricaly he is off grid and when needed does use a generator. Hot water comes from home made solar panels. Winter heating comes from the same system. Cooling is by a "swamp cooler". Insulation sandwich is vapor barrier, R-26 plus aluminized foam panels. siding is brick. Over half his materials came from Craigslist or was scrap from other projects. Almost all labor was done by him or me. The house cost around $15K. Admittedly he does live in the boonies so we didn't have to deal with officials and permits. You too can do this though.

[Spiky Kitten]

USGBC's LEED system is defunct

50 year old buildings out perform their "Gold" and "Platinum" rated buildings.

Proof: http://www.buildinggreen.com/live/index.cfm/2008/9/2/Lies-Damn-Lies-and-Are-LEED-Buildings-iLessi-Efficient-Than-Regular-Buildings

They should be charged with Greenwashing.

[Spiky Kitten]

What would be nice is: If all the "concerned" citizens paid for these upgrades themselves.

[anothervoice]

...and your comments would be "green" how?

[themainpoint]

Thanks for the tips!

[KingBatguano]

Billions in Grant money is available to the State and Local GOVERNMENTS who will siphon it off to cronies . That doesn't mean the People will see a dime . Don't waste your time considering Green Materials unless you own a multi-million dollar Construction Company .

[DMSmith]

Bat guano indeed! Your attitude of defeatism is astounding and actually perpetuates what you object to. It is precisely when we, as individuals, begin to access our opportunities that they stay ours and grow. If we let it go and 'don't waste (our) time' then your assumption will, indeed, be true.

[anothervoice]

Green buildings make our economy and our environment more efficient, cleaner, and mitigate the drain on shared resources. This benefits everyone on the planet in one way or the other.

Take off the tinfoil hat and let that sink in.

[sheila]

Since, unlike buying windows or air conditioners, homeowners are NEVER in contact with roofing manufacturers, why does the government force us to contact roofing manufacturers and get a certificate from them that a particular product is compliant, rather than simply listing approved roofing, like it does every other product? How would we even know who to call and what to ask for? Then how would we figure out the pricing and try to put it all together? And no, installers are not going to do that for us in most places - their business is hurting and they are hardly going to add 6 hours of office work to save me $500. Never mind that I will not actually know if it is a savings because I will not know the various comparable prices on products. Because I don't buy roofing materials directly, and prices are never online...

I have found that if you have a low-slope roof and are looking for rolled, "cool" or other appropriate roofing (non-shingle), it is basically impossible to comply with their convoluted requirements, so it is an incredibly ineffective incentive program. You gotta make it make sense or even well-intentioned, well-informed people cannot do the right thing.

Oh, and rigid foam insulation, one of the best kinds, is not covered as "insulation" because of some odd quirk in the regulations, which are not Energy Star, but rather some other third party with an extremely confusing website. It's really disheartening.

[katooom]

Wow and agree 100%. This stuff should not be rocket science. We should all WANT to build this way, and the government could AT LEAST help by making consistent, reliable information readily available.

And though in general I am not for gov subsidies, this is one area where we would all be better off adopting conservation principles. If it does cost more in the short term, the gov could at least give us back some of the money they take from us to offset our good decision.

[mydwyf]

My brother is a building contractor who refuses to build shingled roofs.
He says they are expensive, high maintenance, and low life.
He uses the type of metal sheathing which is crimped together so that no holes
go through the sheathing into the roof underlayment.

This is for VERY high end homes which sell for millions of dollars.
He says it is the best way to protect the homeowner's investment in their home and its contents.
These roofs last a very long time.