Green Home Remodeling Tips

The Scottsdale Green Building Program offers a wealth of tips for homeowners, whether you're remodeling, building or looking for a green home. Even if you're just trying to reduce your energy costs, these tips can really help:


• Lighting – use compact fluorescent bulbs. Newer fluorescent bulbs offer a soft white light that mimics a regular light bulb, yet uses 75% less energy. The best targets are 60-100W bulbs used several hours a day.


• Appliances – The energy cost to run appliances over its lifetime is much greater than the purchasing cost. It makes good economic sense to buy energy efficient appliances. Your refrigerator is likely the largest energy consumer in the house, so think about replacing your refrigerator if it is old. Look for Energy Star labeled appliances.


• Water heaters – If you don’t have an insulating blanket on your water heater, consider getting one. It will pay for itself in less than a year. If you need to replace a water heater, think about an on-demand tank less water heater. A tank less water heater does not hold any water, so it does not need to be turned down for vacations, there is no risk of failure like that of a tanked heater that can spill many gallons of water and ruin your floor. They use less overall energy, since no water is kept hot in a tank. Gas tank less water heaters are generally more efficient. You will need to have your house checked to ensure your gas lines are sized properly. Whole house tank less heaters start at about twice as much in cost as a normal tanked water heater. Other possible disadvantages include limited hot water flow when there are multiple fixtures running at one time. As another alternative, consider a recirculating hot water system. This involves installing a pump to circulate hot water on a loop between the most remote plumbing fixture and the water tank. In order to conserve energy, the circulation pump only operates when hot water is required by means of an activation button or timer.


• Windows – South-facing windows offer a great opportunity to absorb free energy (winter sunlight) while north-facing windows provide uniform lighting throughout the year. East- and west-facing windows are subjected to intense morning and afternoon sunlight causing significant summer heat gain. Consider installing low-e double pane windows for at least the east and west windows. Look for a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of 0.40 or less. As a least-cost alternative, consider exterior shading devices such as an overhang (at least 10 feet), trellis, vertical/horizontal louvers, screen wall, or vegetation such a trees.


• Day lighting – Consider adding natural light sources to reduce the need for artificial light. Light tubes appropriately placed and exterior shaded windows are good ways to enhance natural light with minimum heat gain in existing homes. I have 4 of these in my home and the kight is amazing.

Today’s Green Home Buyers

Market Your Property To Today’s ‘Green’ Home Buyers
Green Tag your HOME!!!




Increasingly, today’s buyers are actively looking for “green” homes — those designed, built or upgraded using environmentally conscious products and practices, including energy-efficient utilities. In fact, the market for true “green” homes is expected to rise from $2 billion to $20 billion over the next five years. That’s a lot of “green” for home sellers who can show conscientious buyers their homes are environmentally friendly.
Green Features That Sell
Here is a “greenprint” of key selling features that make a home truly green:
High energy-efficiency; low heating, cooling, electricity bills
Low-flow water fixtures; water-conserving appliances
Construction with sustainable or recycled materials
Clean indoor air quality
Low-maintenance, drought-resistant landscaping
Easy access to mass transit and pedestrian amenities
Get An ‘Energy Audit’
Consider having an energy audit done on your home (ask your utility company or state energy office) and follow the expert’s advice.

If your home meets the standards for an Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) or Energy Improvement Mortgage (EIM), tell buyers the good news. The buyer can get a larger loan with the same income because an EEM or EIM allows more lenient qualifying rules. (We can put you in touch with a local lender for more details.)

While you may be able to show potential buyers that your energy bills reflect before-and-after dollar savings, you’d be wise to spell out why that is. Have you replaced your existing heating and cooling equipment with a more energy-efficient system? Upgraded exterior windows and doors? Improved insulation in key locations? You can show buyers the money with a “green” handout.

Buyers will also appreciate getting the schedules and locations of services such as curbside recycling pickups, landfills and special pickups for yard debris and solid waste.

Every Drop Counts
The average household spends as much as $500 per year on its water and sewer bill, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By making a few simple changes to use water more efficiently, you could save about $170 annually and help reduce the energy required to supply and treat public water supplies.

Thanks to the EPA’s WaterSense program, homeowners can easily identify products such as toilets, sinks, showers and landscape irrigation systems that meet EPA standards for water efficiency.

Enviroscaping Your Yard
Green Living Ideas advocates “enviroscaping” — using your landscape as a way to reduce energy use outside the home. Here are some tips:

Plant deciduous trees on the south and east sides of the house to provide summer shade.
Consider installing a drip irrigation system in some or all of your yard to provide water only where it is needed.
Use organic fertilizers and natural pesticides.
Buy a rain barrel to store runoff water from your downspouts to be used later to water plants.
Use native plants in your garden, which are perfectly adapted to your climate and important as food and habitat for local wildlife.

To find homes for sale in Phoenix AZ, please contact Linda Wieczorek at azhomes4u@Gmail.com or click here

Green Renovations Will Help You Sell Your Home

With the challenges of selling a home in a declining market, a seller needs every advantage. Also, for those of you who are thinking you might sell in the next few years, here is some news you will want to take note of: Buyers are more attracted to “green homes”. Here are several survey results to prove the trend is real and here to stay.

1. In a recent survey by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and McGraw-Hill Construction, the results show that interest in green-friendly renovations and building strategies are on the rise. Some of the findings:

Builders are finding it much easier to sell green homes than traditional homes in a down economy.
70% of buyers surveyed are more inclined to buy a green home.
Making homes greener is now the number one reason for home improvement (42 percent) over remodeling for comfort reasons (34 percent) or to improve appearance (24 percent).
2. A Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate survey found that consumers are well-informed about green homes (82%) and that 48% of homeowners would spend $2500 on green renovations, while about 1/3 would spend as much as $5000.

3. The American Institute of Architects Home Design Survey shows that business for residential architects has declined sharply, with the exception being home improvement architects. The emphasis is on home insulation technologies, while interest in alternative energy generation techniques and energy management systems is growing.

What are Green Homes? Green homes are defined by McGraw-Hill as those containing energy-efficient, indoor air quality, water-efficient, resource-efficient and site management features. To read more go to the Survey of Green Home Builders. If your home is on the market or you plan to put it on the market soon, check out some of the Green Homes websites, before you undergo any major renovations. You’ll find that often making some minor changes will make a big difference. If you are not thinking of selling anytime soon, then you have lots of time to do your research. Any time you need a new appliance, or need to make a repair, check out the green alternatives and give them serious consideration. When it is time to sell, no matter how many years from now, you won’t find yourself light years behind the latest money-saving technologies. Great places to start your search: The New American Dream, Green Home Swicki, (a swicki is a custom social search, on a topic of your choice), and the National Association of Home Builders.
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