From Guest Blogger Taylor Tomita: The Top 10 Emerging Technologies That Will Shape Green Remodeling in 2018
Designing an eco-friendly or passive house from the bottom up may tickle your fancy, but it’s not your only option for living in a healthier home that makes a smaller impact on the environment. In fact, renovating and remodeling an older house is often the most environmentally friendly approach because it minimizes the waste generated by demolition and new construction.
Demolishing just one single family home generates over 50 tons of waste for the landfill, even after efforts to recycle and reclaim materials. Embracing what you already have and making the most of every square foot can transform the oldest and least energy-efficient spaces into modern wonders of comfort and design. But some of the most popular and trendy green technologies for the home are best integrated during initial construction and difficult or impossible to integrate during a remodel.
Each year brings plenty of exciting new technological developments to explore for your green remodeling goals, and 2018 will be no exception. Keep an eye on these 10 developing technologies you’ll see reaching the residential market this year that are particularly helpful for remodeling, as well as new construction.
HVAC Modeling and Load Calculations
Understanding how air moves around your home takes more than just a simple blower test or some calculations based on the general cubic footage of air inside the space. Today’s advanced calculating software allows a home inspector who is focused on energy efficiency to determine where heat is lost, where heat enters in the summer, and how each wall and section of the roof affects climate control efforts. Combining thermal imaging, software for modeling the exact layout and construction of your home, and hands-on inspection gives you the best results for creating an airtight home envelope. Improving air barriers and sealing unexpected leaks, such as gaps between floors lacking enclosures and insulation, is one of the most useful green remodeling projects. A green house starts with making efficient use of every effort to heat or cool it, and it’s impossible to fine-tune your systems for maximum efficiency without complex modeling and measurements.
Cold-Climate Heat Pumps
Heat pumps are the most efficient form of both heating and cooling equipment available for residential use today, but they were originally limited to use in relatively mild climates. Homeowners that chose to install them in areas where temperatures reached the 30s or below found they needed a backup source of heat, such as a gas or electric furnace, to switch on during the coldest days.
The industry’s leaders in heat pump technology, including Mitsubishi and LG, are releasing heat pumps designed to work in cold climates without needing backup or emergency heat. Some of the models being marketed for a 2018 release boast heat pumping capacity when outdoor temperatures drop as low as -13 degrees F. Compared to the temperatures former heat pumps were capped at (in the 30s and 20s), this innovation expands the year-round use of these efficient heating and cooling appliances into most of the continental United States. Heat pumps are particularly smart for green remodeling projects because they’re available in ductless configurations that eliminate the need to run new ducts or update damaged and outdated ones. Thin tubing is easily snaked through your floors, ceilings, and walls for cooling and heating in every zone without a lengthy or wasteful installation process.
Reactive Glazing
New windows are considered to offer a relatively low return on your investment, unless you have very old and leaky windows damaging the structure with moisture. However, some of the advanced features emerging this year may make new windows far more valuable than before. Electrochromic glazing, one of the newest technologies, will finally make it to the residential market, and it’s being featured in high-end windows from multiple manufacturers in 2018.
The technology integrates a low voltage circuit into the glass itself that reacts when the sunlight falling on the window reaches its highest temperatures. This subtly darkens the glass with an overall tint, reducing the amount of heat traveling through each window during the hottest parts of the day. The majority of visible light still reaches your interiors while you enjoy a noticeable reduction in heat. Both automation and custom controls are available through the major home systems for sale today, resulting in energy savings that you can tailor as necessary with the press of a button or a single voice command.
Compact Energy Storage
Tiny houses and reuse of compact older homes are two of today’s hottest eco-friendly housing trends. But where do you fit the equipment needed for the most environmentally conscious pieces of home equipment, such as battery systems for your solar panels or composting toilet storage tanks? At least for solar storage equipment, 2018 is the year of compact and space-saving advancements. Compact and complete power systems from companies like Adara are ideal for remodeling smaller homes where there’s no space set aside for extra utility equipment. They can fit in the space of a cupboard or a water heater, making it easier to find a corner where you can locate the battery unit.
Natural Insulation Materials
Wool is one of the oldest home insulation materials, but today’s pest-proof and moisture-resistant pellets are nothing like their fluffy old-fashioned ancestors. Rolling the natural and sustainable wool into small pellets allows for blow-in installation, which makes it a great fit for remodeling projects where you don’t want to open up the walls and attic spaces in every room. It’s also naturally fire retardant and can resist pests with only natural additives like diatomaceous earth. Plenty of new low-VOC spray foam products are also being rolled out in 2018, along with new and improved variations of blown-in cellulose and recycled denim insulation.
Better Tankless Water Heaters
Tankless heaters have been the focus of green remodeling efforts for years now because they’re adaptable for difficult retrofitting applications and they give immediate savings on energy bills. Yet the localized water heaters of the past were known for their limitations in volumes heated, resulting in cold water halfway through a shower if you didn’t invest in the largest model.
2018 will forever be known as the year that tankless water heaters overcame their last few drawbacks and expanded to fit the needs of every family. States like California made the units mandatory for new construction starting in 2017, so it’s a good practice to start including them in green remodeling projects as well—even if you like your current centralized water heater.
100% Recycled Flooring
There are dozens of different options for recycled materials in every part of a home, but most of them feature far less than 100% recycled waste. Cosentino is releasing one of the world’s first completely recycled flooring products this year, and its competitors are sure to follow up with similar materials for their own lines. The sinterized materials work equally well as flooring or countertops, allowing you to experiment with the bold and patterned materials throughout the home. Flooring and counter tops are two of the easiest remodeling projects to complete within an existing home, and choosing a 100% recycled product will make it a guilt-free investment.
Exterior Insulation
With passive houses and LEED certification requirements setting the bar high for insulation installation, many homeowners are dismayed at the idea of fitting over a dozen inches of insulation into a home with shallow cavity walls. Turning to the exterior and increasing insulation values under and inside the siding materials can save living space and simplify the remodeling process.
If you’re already planning to replace your siding, choosing an environmentally friendly material and pairing it with a moisture-resistant exterior insulation only costs a little more at the outset and saves you money for years to come. It’s easy to find siding products that throw in a few extra R-value numbers as well, contributing to a higher total value for the entire wall assembly.
Biowalls
Whether you love green roofs or hate them, consider the biowall idea on its own merits. This installation of indoor plants is built into a sealed environment through which air is pumped as part of your HVAC system. Running air returning to your furnace, air conditioner, or heat pump over a set of plants and filters reduces both physical and gaseous contaminants. You get cleaner, fresher air without investing in electricity using equipment. Lights and watering systems used inside these biowalls are solar powered thanks to efficient LEDs that require little electricity to run, making them more efficient than powered filter counterparts like electrostatic systems.
Advanced Modeling for Waste Reduction
Finally, getting an accurate 3D model created of your existing home is the best way to envision and plan every addition and change involved in your green remodel. From finding the best pathways for ducts to checking how much light you would gain by adding skylights, 3D models also allow you to plan each material needed for the project so you can minimize waste and plan for reuse and recycling as well.
It’s easier than ever to have a 3D model developed without hiring a designer or paying high fees. Take the right photos with your smart phone, enter them into the right app, and you receive a complete model ready to use for green remodeling planning. HOVER is constantly integrating the latest technologies into their user-friendly modeling app, so check out their website to learn more.
Sources:
http://theconversation.com/when-a-house-is-demolished-more-than-the-home-is-lost-42579
https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/what-load-calculation-does-not-tell-you
https://www.buildinggreen.com/product-review/innovative-new-products-greenbuild-2017
http://www.remodeling.hw.net/business/design/tiny-homes-head-off-grid-with-adara-power_o
https://citizensgeneral.com/business-insurance-news/postid/111/2017-green-building-trends
http://www.remodeling.hw.net/products/ibs-2017-day-2-product-picks_s
