From Guest Blogger Meghan Belnap: Green Home Improvements for a Fabulous Facade
When most homeowners set out to green up their house, they focus on interior upgrades like tankless water heaters and HVAC overhauls. In the process, many neglect the environmentally conscious options available where exterior home improvement is concerned. You can make your home far more eco-friendly and look stunning from the curb with these excellent outdoor renovations.
Swap Synthetic Siding for Red Cedar
While vinyl siding might be a low-maintenance material, it’s not the most eco-friendly substance on the planet. Red cedar has many advantages over PVC despite its slightly more complicated maintenance requirements. For instance, stain-coated red cedar has a unique ability to handily repel pests like termites and mosquitoes.
Go with Double or Triple-Pane Windows
If you want to seriously reduce your heating and cooling bills, the latest high-tech windows are the way to go. Even the cheapest models on the market are double-paned with a pocket of argon or another noble gas sandwiched in between for superior thermal performance. Triple-paned windows up the ante considerably.
Rain Drains and Water Barrels
One of the hottest trends in exterior home design is the adoption of rain drains. A rain drain is basically a hanging series of cups joined together by a wire that channels runoff from the roof. You can pair them with cisterns or water barrels to save precious H20 in arid climates for gardening purposes. Learn more about the environmental benefits of rain drains at Rain Chains World.
Install a High-Quality Metal Roof
Putting new asphalt shingles in every 20 years might seem like the cheapest upfront roofing option. However, it’ll cost you in the long run when it comes to financial and ecological repercussions. A metal roof will last up to 100 years when cared for properly and won’t leak petroleum byproducts onto the lawn every time it rains.
Switch to CFL or LED Outdoor Lights
As convenient as standard incandescent outdoor lights can be, they’re vastly outdated and inefficient. CFLs are far better since they produce the same amount of lumens per fixture while drawing far fewer watts. LEDs are an even better option since they can produce any sort of light warmth or intensity.
The great thing about green exterior upgrades is that they’re usually pretty cheap if you plan ahead. There are often tax rebates available to homeowners investing in energy efficiency that sweeten the pot. Any of the upgrades referenced above will definitely increase curb appeal and help Mother Earth at the same time.
From the article:
“When most homeowners set out to green up their house, they focus on interior upgrades like tankless water heaters and HVAC overhauls.”
There is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is the “one type fits all” approach which is far too common and tends to favor tankless water heaters even when a storage type water heater would be more efficient.
Whether or not to instal a tankless water heater is not a simple matter. If gas is not available and there is sufficient electrical power available, then a tankless water heater may be best. But if gas is available, whether a tankless water heater or a traditional storage water heater is best becomes more complicated.
A storage water heater wastes energy because of imperfect insulation. However, it more efficiently transfers heat from the gas flame to the water than a tankless water heater does.
To produce hot water with an adequate volume, a tankless water heater has to burn gas extremely rapidly. That means that the heat will be transferred to the water less efficiently.
If only small amounts of hot water are used, a tankless water heater is more efficient because it has no storage losses. If large amounts of hot water are used, a storage water heater is more efficient because it transfers heat to the water more efficiently.
One problem with a tankless water heater is that it is incompatible with a hot water recirculation system. Thus, when you open the faucet, you will waste water while waiting for the heated water to reach the faucet. A storage water heater can be used with a hot water recirculation pump so that when you open the faucet, you will have hot water very quickly and will waste very little water while waiting for heated water to reach the faucet.
There is another type of water heater that is not well known, i.e., the hybrid water heater. It is a storage type water heater but with a very very small tank. Because the tank is so small, storage losses are very small. And, because it does have a tank, the water in the tank can be kept hot which makes it compatible with a hot water recirculation pump.
Ideally, a hot water recirculation pump will circulate hot water from the water heater to the faucets and a return pipe will convey the water back to the water heater, i.e., there is a loop. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to have a loop in an already existing house, a problem which I shall cover later.
When there is a hot water recirculation loop, there are basically three ways to control the recirculation pump, as follows:
1. Leave the recirculation pump running at all times. That works and, like the following methods, it will save water. However, there will be a continuous loss of heat in the pipes and the pump will draw power (perhaps about 60 watts) continuously.
2. Have the recirculation pump controlled with a timer. The problem with that is that the pump will be running even when hot water is not needed and there may be times when the pump is not running when hot water is needed. Even so, it is a common method.
3. The demand system. There is a button, similar to a door bell button, near every place where hot water is available. Before opening the tap, you press the button to turn on the pump and wait for perhaps 15 to 45 seconds depending on obvious factors. Usually you can anticipate the need for hot water and press the button just before starting another task; use your imagination. The pump will turn off automatically. The following link provides more information:
https://www.taco-hvac.com/archives/102-153.pdf
If it is not practical to have a hot water return line, i.e., impractical to have a loop, there is another method which is included in the above link. Basically, hot water is drawn from the tank, to the elbow leading to the faucet, then fed into the cold water pipe. As soon as the water at the elbow begins to get warm, the pump is shut off. That method doesn’t work as well as the loop method, but it greatly reduces the amount of water which would be wasted down the drain while waiting for the hot water to arrive at the faucet.
Consider also the reverse refrigeration type of water heater if gas is not available. They use less energy than the more usual type of water heater but are more expensive.