If you are looking to remodel your home in 2022, why not consider investing in energy efficiency? You’ll save energy and money, and your home will be more comfortable and durable. The planning process is also an excellent time to look into a renewable energy system that can provide electricity, water heating, or space heating and cooling. You may also want to explore your options for financing an energy-efficient home.

The first step is to conduct a home energy assessment (sometimes referred to as an energy audit) to determine how your home uses energy and determine the best ways to cut energy use and costs. For example, to learn more about home energy assessments and find free tools and calculators, go to Your Home’s Energy Use, the Residential Services Network, and the Building Performance Institute.

Whole-House Systems Approach

Optimizing home energy efficiency requires a whole-house systems approach to ensure that you and your team of building professionals consider all the variables, details, and interactions that affect energy use in your home. 

Before making upgrades, you may also want to work with an energy assessor to use the Home Energy Score. The Home Energy Score is a national rating system developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, which provides a rating of your home’s current efficiency, as well as a list of improvements and potential savings. The Score reflects the energy efficiency of the home’s structure and heating, cooling, and hot water systems. In addition, the Home Facts provide details about the current design and systems. Finally, recommendations show how to improve the home’s energy efficiency to achieve a higher score and save money.

Ultra-Efficient Homes

Ultra-efficient homes combine state-of-the-art energy-efficient construction, appliances, and lighting with commercially available renewable energy systems, such as solar water heating and solar electricity. 

By taking advantage of local climate and site conditions, homeowners can often incorporate passive solar heating and cooling and energy-efficient landscaping strategies. The intent is to reduce home energy use as cost-effectively as possible and then meet the reduced load with on-site renewable energy systems.

Cool Roofs

Cool roofs use highly reflective materials to reflect more light and absorb less heat from sunlight, which keeps homes cooler during hot weather.

Passive Solar Home Design

Passive solar home design utilizes climatic and site conditions to provide heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

Earth-Sheltered, Straw Bale, Log, and Manufactured Homes

If you live in an earth-sheltered, straw bale, log, or manufactured home, below is more information and links with suggestions to help improve your home’s energy efficiency:

Efficient Earth-Sheltered Homes

Earth-sheltered homes can be built underground or bermed and can be comfortable, durable, and energy-efficient when well designed and built.

Straw Bale Home Design

Strawbale buildings were reasonably common in the United States between 1895 and 1940, but it wasn’t until the mid-to-late-1990s that building codes began to acknowledge them as a viable approach. Two current straw bale construction methods include non-load-bearing or post-and-beam, which uses a structural framework with straw bale in-fill, and load-bearing or “Nebraska style,” which uses the bearing capacity of the stacked bales to support roof loads.

Proposed straw bale structures face considerable barriers, including:

• Local building code approvals
• Building loans
• Mortgages
• Homeowner’s insurance
• Community acceptance.

To learn about the building code standards for your state, contact your city or county building code officials. For example, your state energy office may be able to provide information on energy codes recommended or enforced in your state.

Energy Efficiency in Log Homes

Log homes use solid wood logs for wall structure and insulation and require care in design, construction, and maintenance to achieve and maintain energy efficiency.

Efficient Manufactured Homes

Manufactured homes (formerly known as mobile homes) are built to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Code and are constructed on a permanent chassis so they can be moved. Owners can improve the energy efficiency of these homes by caulking and weather stripping, air sealing, and choosing energy-efficient lighting and appliances.

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It may seem like a huge undertaking to make your home energy efficient but try to think of the long-term benefits – your home will be a lean, mean energy-conserving machine, and the environment and your wallet will thank you.