Questions environmentally respectful homebuyers should ask
Choices made around your home are the most effective way to personally contribute to the battle against the impending climate crisis. Buying a new home allows you to make a serious environmental upgrade. However, there are many features that impact the environmental footprint of a home and it’s hard to know what to look out for and which questions to. Generally, when trying to minimise your home’s environmental impact, you are trying to reduce the energy it consumes, which conveniently translates into cost savings!
Here are some key questions to ask when you’re buying a home with the future of the planet in mind!
First, what are the EnerGuide ratings of the appliances?
Many new homes include appliances — washers and dryers, refrigerators, stoves and dishwashers. Washers and dryers are the most significant users of electricity in a home with a gas furnace and water heater. We never turn off our refrigerators, and they consume the second-largest amount of energy, followed by ovens, stoves and dishwashers. Therefore, ensuring they have a good rating is essential to living in a more sustainable home.
The EnerGuide label shows how much energy a specific appliance consumes compared to other versions or brands of the same appliance. Obviously, the lower the energy consumption, the better, but anything with an extra Energy Star label at the bottom is what you’re really looking for.
Products with the Energy Star label are considered the best in the industry for energy consumption. The label below shows an example of an EnerGuide label with Energy Star Qualification.
There are five main items displayed on the label:
Annual energy consumption of the model in kilowatt hours (kWh)
Energy consumption indicator, which positions the model compared with the most efficient and least efficient models in the same class
Type and capacity of models that make up this class
The model number
The ENERGY STAR symbol
If possible, ask your realtor for a list of the appliances that come with the house and either ask for the EnerGuide figures of each or seek them out yourself. Get an understanding of which appliances are up to your standard and which may need replacing. Doing this will give you a complete picture of the budget required to buy the property.
If you’re buying a pre-sale home, ensure appliance EnerGuide details are in the purchase agreement. Sometimes the appliance listed in the marketing material isn’t available when they finish the construction, and you’ll want to be sure they give you an equivalent replacement.
What technology is the building using to minimise its environmental impact?
A lot of technology can be used to reduce the environmental footprint of your new home. It’s important to ask what features the home has and how old they are. Toilets are a great example because water-reducing technology has improved leaps and bounds in the past ten years. An “ eco-toilet “ toilet in 2012 could be a lower standard environmentally than any regular toilet today. By showing that you are knowledgeable about something like the environmental impact of the toilets, your realtor will appreciate how serious you are about buying a home with the environment in mind.
Other technologies to ask about are the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system, rainwater harvesting, and solar panels. Until 2010 most air conditioning units used a refrigerant chemical called R-22 and Freon that attacks the ozone layer (a layer in the atmosphere responsible for filtering out harmful UV rays). Although they are banned from being installed now, an older home could have an R-22 AC unit. Again, how old is the system? 20-40% efficiency gains can be made from upgrading a 10-year-old air-con system. On average, heating is responsible for over 80% of the energy your home consumes and, therefore, should be a big focal point for any discussion about the environmental impact of your new home. The heating system will have an EnerGuide rating, so look for the ENERGY STAR symbol. The best heating systems for the environment are:
Heat pumps:
Air-source
Geothermal
‘Smart’ thermostats
Wood pellet systems
Energy Star Gas/Oil furnaces and boilers
Red flag heating systems include:
Electric boilers
Gas fireplaces
Electric heaters (Though with hydroelectricity, this option is not awful)
Source: Natural Resources Canada
Be sure to get the low down on what technology is in the house and try to understand potential upgrades you may want to do in the future. Though many government rebates can be claimed for environmental upgrades, it’s worth including upgrade costs in the overall cost of moving into a property.
Finally, what has been done to improve the building envelope?
The building envelope (the physical separation between the inside of your home and the weather outside) should be as airtight as possible to retain maximum energy but also be equipped to ventilate effectively so that the air is not stale. The envelope is made up of windows, roof, walls, doors, and flooring. Ask questions to determine how old the various parts on the envelope are and what materials were used for each aspect. Make sure to ask what quality windows the house has, and if they need upgrading, consider this in your final cost of purchasing the home. The heat retention difference between single-pane windows from the 70s to triple-paned, argon-filled windows of today is phenomenal.
The primary functions of the envelope are to insulate and ventilate the house. The ventilation is likely to be more controlled by the HVAC system discussed previously, but there are many envelope considerations that will allow for optimized ventilation. How does the basement air ‘drain’? How have additional areas of the home been sealed, a porch for instance? Good ventilation will ensure you not only feel healthy breathing in your home but also prevent a situation in which the home is uninhabitable due to mold. You can ask your home inspector to confirm the information provided by the seller.
Summary
Energy accounts for 7% of overall household spending. So, to minimize your energy consumption in your new home the key questions to ask are:
1. What are the EnerGuide ratings of the appliances and systems?
2. What technology is being used to minimize the environmental impact?
3. What has been done to improve the building envelope?
Be sure to find out about the HVAC system (the heating in particular) and find out the age of all the various parts of technology. Buying a home with the environment in mind will not only give you peace of mind when you move in, but it will give you a long run cost saving because of reduced energy bills.
The planet has finite resources, let’s all take steps to use as little as possible!
