44 Ways #10: Reduce Your Energy Use Through Your Selections

Hello! This is Episode 410. This is Way #10 of the 44 Ways to Create Your Sustainable Home series. And with this episode, we also begin Section Three: Sustainable Services and Infrastructure.

If you’ve been following the series from the start, you’ll know that Section One was about designing for climate and site: orientation, breezes, passive heating and cooling, and climate zone.

Section Two was about sustainable design strategies: home size, your team, structural efficiency, accessibility, and indoor air quality.

We’re beginning Section Three with Way #10: Reduce Your Energy Use Through Your Selections.

[For all resources mentioned in this podcast and a free, downloadable PDF transcript, head to www.undercoverarchitect.com/410]

In the first 9 episodes of the ‘44 Ways’ series, I’ve stepped you through some key decisions that will shape the sustainability of your new home or renovation before any system is installed in it. Section Three is where we look at the services and infrastructure inside your home. Think energy, water, hot water, and renewable supply.

Interestingly, these areas are often where people start their sustainability conversations, as they can feel much more tangible than the project initiation and design decisions we’ve been discussing up to this point. They’re the actual systems that determine how your home runs day to day, how much it uses in resources, and what it costs to run.

In this episode, I take you through where your home’s energy is actually being spent, how to approach appliance and system selection for efficiency, how to correctly size your mechanical heating and cooling systems, and the hierarchy that I think every homeowner should have in mind when making these decisions.

As always, if you'd like to access a full transcript of this episode and links to any resources I mention, head to www.undercoverarchitect.com/410.

Now, let's dive in!

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

For links, images and resources mentioned in this podcast, head to >>> www.undercoverarchitect.com/410