Cost Of Construction: Financial Benefits of greening your home

Building your dream home is one of the biggest investments your make in your live, so before you begin it is important to think about the cost of construction and how much it will cost to complete. For example if you look at the table of the cost of a new build you will see that heating costs will be on average 6% of your building cost. If you use renewable energy systems to heat your home you will see the long-term financial benefits as you be saving on heating costs, which will long-term payback the initial costs of going green. Unfortunately you cannot say the same for your kitchen which will cost on average 5% and probably be replaced as interor deco fashion changes.

 

 

 

 

2: House construction: What do you really want to build?

 

When you are thinking about your dream home you usually can imagine the size and shape, but have you consider your green options? For example have you looked at the possibility of building a low energy or passive home?   Below are some links of where you can find further information on this type of house Building, and information about NuTech Passive House

 

•  Definition of Low Energy Homes
•  Information on NuTech Renewables Solar Passive House

 

3: Design Options: Structure of your Home

 

There is heated discussions regarding what is better to build with brick and block or timeframe, and this is a decision that you and your architect will have to make. Generally speaking if you are planning to build a low energy house than it is recommended that you build with a timber frame house structure as block is not as green as timber frame. For example changes to thermal efficiency that were introduced in the uk in April 2002, toughen up the building regulation requirements, and this is an area where timber frame excels. When designing your house it is important to discuss this with your architect and perhaps contact some timber frame manufactures for further information.

 

4.Renewable Energy Products

 

The type of house you design will affect the renewable energy system that you will install, here are a few examples of some products options that you may chose.

 

 

Type of House	NuTech Product Options
Passive House	Solar and HRV Underfloor
Building Regulations Only	Solar Panels
Home that uses Renewables to reduce heating cost	Air to Water Heat pump

 

 

5: Site Considerations:

When designing your new home, it is important to remember site orientation can help to reduce your heating bills by utilizing the suns energy through solar panels and passive solar heating. In general all you need to do is make sure that the longer axis of the design faces more or less south, but your architect will be able to discuss this with you further.

 

 

6: Building Regulations

 

When designing your new home please ask your architect to explain how current and new building regulations will affect your build. Building Regulations are requirements that must be met for construction. Each local authority has a building control department which who independently assess your self build plans.

 

In todays current climate building low carbon homes are being actively encouraged by the government and this has lead them to encourage new builds to be built with renewable energy technology. Below are some examples of building regulations which may affect your build

 

Uk

•  Code for Sustainable Homes
• Part L Building Regulations

 

Part F1 building regulations state "provide an adequate supply of fresh air for using an area or building; achieve occasional rapid ventilation for dilution of pollutants and of moisture likely to produce condensation in habitable rooms, kitchens and rooms containing sanitary appliances; and extract moisture from areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, where it is produced in significant quantities' The most efficient solution may be a Heat Recovery Ventilation unit.

 

Ireland

 

        Part L

 

7.Funding

 

The government is keen to promote the use of renewable energy in the construction of your new home, and from time to time offer financial incentives through the use of grants. Currently NuTech Renewables Ltd is a registered installer on the sei better homes scheme (roi) and themicro-generation scheme (NI).

 

 

8: Energy performance Certificate

 

Recent changes to the building regulations now require a energy performance certificate for your new house. These are called aBuilding Energy Rating (BER) in the Republic of Ireland and in the UK an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) . Further details can be found at the following link

 

Information on Building Energy Rating (BER)

 

Information on Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)