Going green the right way

Industry must set new standards, help homeowners from the outset

Earth Day is April 22, and it’s a good reminder for all of us to make greener choices to help save energy — which means more money in your pocket — reduce waste and have better, healthier homes. Because that’s what it’s about — going green but being smart.

I’ve seen many so-called “green” products that end up creating all this extra waste because they don’t work. But I’ve also seen many great, durable products that protect our homes, so we don’t waste materials and increase our comfort.

One example is Schluter’s DITRA-HEAT floor-warming system. It protects the integrity of your tiles, so they don’t crack and need to be replaced, protects your floor against moisture and mould, and has heating cables so your feet feel warm and toasty in the morning using minimal energy — all pluses.

Better construction is green. When we improve the building envelope — windows, insulation, roof, foundation and exterior siding — we make our homes more weather resistant and energy efficient. When things last longer and we don’t have to throw them away and replace them with new materials, we keep garbage out of landfills and use minimal energy.

There are plenty of changes that most homeowners can do to make their homes more green, for example switching to LEDs and using solarpowered outdoor lights.

If you’re replacing your roof you can get old asphalt shingles recycled and then go for metal, if you can afford it. A metal roof will last a minimum of 50 years; it’s fire-resistant, helps you save loads in heating costs and looks good too. (Some metal-roof products look like regular asphalt shingles.)

You can also use landscaping to help block out heat in the summer and cold in the winter. You can install awnings, which act like visors for your home. In some environments they can reduce heat gain by about 55 to 77 per cent and save homeowners as much as 25 per cent on energy bills.

Then there’s the big stuff all homes are eventually moving toward, such as using geothermal energy — or the earth’s natural temperature — to help heat our homes and domestic water. We could also use greywater or rainwater to wash cars and water lawns, use solar energy to power our homes and solar lights to light them, or add a green roof to help manage stormwater and increase insulation.

But these bigger changes that affect structure and the mechanics of the home and require incorporating new innovative systems are more difficult for homeowners, either because it’s beyond their budget or too difficult to modify their homes to accommodate those changes.

That’s why for bigger, greener changes we need it to come from the top down — from the industry (whether it’s a builder, renovator, architect or contractor) to the homeowner.

That might mean more builders offering “green” home packages, where everything that makes the house more durable and energy efficient is planned out and developed before the first shovel hits the dirt. Renovators can specialize in “green” renovations, where they take a house that might have been built 30 or 50 years ago and update it with all the latest systems.

This is where energy-efficiency home inspections can also really make a difference, because they can help identify all the spots in your home that are losing energy — and money.

Most homeowners I talk to want a home that’s energy efficient and healthy. If you told them they could power their home with a reliable and clean source of energy for just a fraction of what it costs them now, they would be on board.

But these changes have to make sense, financially, environmentally and construction wise. They also need to be accessible to the average homeowner if we want to really make a change, make it right and make it count. Watch Mike Holmes on Holmes Makes It Right on HGTV. For more information visit makeitright.ca. For