Terms like “sustainable building” and “energy efficient walls” are thrown about a lot in today’s modern home landscape. But these words—although they may sometimes feel like it—are more than just fashionable architectural techniques that people use to keep up with a trendy style in building. Energy efficiency isn’t that complicated or mysterious a term, the combination of words says it all. This idea is focused on the most efficient way to user energy.
But then it’s natural to ask, so what? What, as a homeowner does energy efficiency mean? In the context of owning a home, it can be summed up in one easy benefit; saving money.
More Energy=More Money
This is simple mathematics. Every homeowner is painfully aware that when it gets very hot in the summer, or very cold in the winter, a house can become uncomfortable—even uninhabitable—unless some kind of climate control intervenes to keep temperatures comfortable.
In the summer, this means an air conditioner, usually some kind of central air system in most modern homes. In the winter, this means a furnace kicking in and distributing warmed air throughout that same central system that kept the home cool in the summer. The more you need to cool or warm your house, the more your air conditioner and furnace work, the more they work the higher your utility bills. It’s just math.
Where energy efficiency comes in is finding ways to RETAIN the heat or the cold your climate control systems use, so that your furnace or air conditioner doesn’t have to work as long or as hard. And if it does that, your utility bills are lower. Sometimes a LOT lower.
How It Works
A system like the Terraform Structures WallPanel™ system insulates a home. This means that it has a significant impact on the way warm or cool air stays in the home, and conversely, acts as protective layer to prevent that same warm or cool air outside from “bleeding” into the home. In fact, because this kind of insulated wall system can be so effective at preventing heat loss, it’s actually possible to install smaller, less energy hungry HVAC systems into a building, which means even less energy is being consumed to maintain the environment. Even the amount of ductwork required for a home can be reduced thanks to the efficiency of the walls.
All of this means that you, as a homeowner, enjoy lower utility bills, and even a lower cost on what you paid for the climate control in your home, because the home itself could retain both heat and cold in ways that older, traditionally constructed homes never could.
And that’s the benefit of energy efficiency.