This week long blog series is to help you understand how your choices effect the efficiency of your home. It will take a look at a breakdown of annual energy use in an average home and offer suggestions about how you can reduce your overall use in each category. Today we discuss appliance use, and how you can save money and energy even with older appliances.
This week long blog series is to help you understand how your choices effect the efficiency of your home. It will take a look at a breakdown of annual energy use in an average home and offer suggestions about how you can reduce your overall use in each category. Today we start by looking at plug loads.
Home addition in Bryan / College Station, by Stearns Design Build. Light shelves are an option for windows like these to diffuse sunlight. A light shelf is a horizontal shelf-like light reflector, which can be mounted inside or outside of a window. It helps reflect daylight into areas that are farther away from
Another way to bring more natural light into a space is through skylights located in the roof of your home. If you have rooms with vaulted ceilings or no attic space, you can have skylights that light the rooms directly from the roof. If this is not the case, you can also have part of
Whole home remodel in Bryan / College Station, by Stearns Design Build. This home features two sets of clerestories. Windows are normally placed low on walls so that their views can be seen when you are standing and sitting. After all, windows are just for looking out of… right? While this is true,
Windows on the East, West, and South side of your home receive direct sunlight throughout the day and can cause your home to gain unwanted heat. During the colder winter, some of this heat might be welcome, but you definitely want to keep it out during the hot summer. Overhangs and awnings are green building solutions that achieve this result. Plus, nature has another solution that utilizes trees and plants to shade windows. What are the benefits of each of these ideas?
As more and more green products develop, it becomes harder to compare them and choose between them. What does it even mean when a product is “green”? And what qualities should you look for when selecting products for your home? The following are some green product criteria that we felt would help clarify what really makes a product green.
Our temperatures have already been in the upper 90's in the Brazos Valley. Make sure that your AC is running well. We recommend these three steps:1. Change your air filters every month. 2. Have your AC equipment checked and serviced in the spring. 3. Check your ducts for leaks. This is a huge source of energy loss in most homes. Unfortunately this is not part of most new home inspections.
And, of course, if you are building a custom home or remodeling an existing home, there is a great deal that you can do to insure efficiency.
Did you know that If every American household replaced just one light with an ENERGY STAR light, we would save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to the emissions of about 800,000 cars.
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Stearns Design Build
College Station Custom Home Builders
2151 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy S #219
College Station, TX 77840
Phone: 979-696-0524
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