There’s more power in a new home

When you’re living, learning, working and playing from home, you expend not only more human energy, but more electric and gas. That’s why now more than ever is a good time to gain more power at home.

According to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), residential electric usage increased 15% to 20% just in the first three weeks of California’s stay-at-home pandemic order, compared to the same period in 2019. With the summer well underway, that number is likely to increase.

Additionally, in June, PG&E explained that cooling systems account for more than half of the energy usage in the average home or business.

Put into perspective for new-home buyers, the natural increase in energy consumption may not be all bad news. To understand why, let’s review some terminology used in the California Energy Commission’s 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards.

The latest standards add more efficiency to building requirements than those that took effect this past January. Introduced in 2019, the standards are expected to be adopted by 2021 and effective January 1, 2023.

The building envelope

A new single-family or multifamily residential unit’s “envelope” is defined by the CPUC’S standards as “the ensemble of exterior and demising partitions of a building that enclose conditioned space.”

That ensemble includes the walls, the roof, the ceilings, the floors and related insulation.

Walls and ceilings naturally include windows. Not only have builders already improved their ceiling insulation and radiant barrier insulation, they provide extra value through Low-e, dualpane windows.

The E in Low-e refers to emissivity, or the ability of an object to radiate energy. By reflecting, rather than radiating, the sun’s heat during warm months, these windows lighten the load on the HVAC system and help keep heat from escaping to the outside during the cooler months.

As part of its Everything’s Included practice, Lennar Homes provides an energy-efficient green building package at its new single-family and multifamily residential communities in the Bay Area and the Sacramento area.

The package incorporates built-in, energyefficient features to enhance the quality of the home and decrease the owner’s carbon footprint.

As a result, Lennar Homes explains, “your HVAC unit may spend less time and energy cooling/heating your home.”

Solar

With a new home comes a new roof, which is quite the incentive for anyone who is thinking of going solar. That’s because, to install solar on an existing home, the roof would need to be replaced if more than seven years old.

In addition to the new roof, as of this year all new homes in California must be solar-ready. Solarpowered energy is among the easiest ways for builders to create a zero-net energy (ZNE) environment. Ask your builder about their relationships with solar vendors; many have arrangements for purchase or lease packages that will save you money.

The only decision needed by the buyer, therefore, is whether to purchase or lease the solar energy system.