What does it really take to make a home green? Whether you’re thinking of selling your Edmonton home for just planning to make some renovations, converting to a green home would have tons of benefits.
There are currently six broad categories that could be used to measure or see if your home is truly green. Your home must fit all these categories in order for it to be considered as green. Let us discuss it one by one.
- WATER EFFICIENCY: 260 gallons is the typical water consumption of a household every single day. Using water saving structures and landscapes at home such as containers for holding rain water properly could reduce the amount of water consumption and ultimately save you more money.
- ENERGY EFFICIENCY: The point of having an energy efficient home is to minimize the environmental impact. Advances in technology have provided improvements in building elements and construction techniques that allow energy saving equipment such as solar panels to be seamlessly integrated into the overall house design.
- BUILDING MATERIALS: The use of environmentally friendly building materials is at the core of turning regular homes into green ones.
- INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY: These category enhances the lives of the inhabitants and significantly increase the resale value of your home.
- LOCATION: Large percentage of home energy consumption is linked to the location of the family’s home. A walkable community would be a thriving and sustainable place that would give you and your neighbor’s safe transportation and improved quality of life. Although you might not change your community, keeping this in mind in some way could and would help you in future decisions if and when you’re going to buy another home.
- SUSTAINABLE SITE: Last, but not the least is the site. Complementing number 5, there’s a shift in land development and design that leans towards conservation and restoration of natural systems. This is just for you if you would be redesigning the landscape of your backyard or front porch.
There’s a wide variety of green options out in the market if you’re renovating your Edmonton home or building a new one.
As we have said in our previous posts, the value of your home could jump up a few zeroes higher if you convert your home into a green one. Check out the green homes for sale at our Edmonton MLS listings to get some inspirations. Good luck!
