The average Canadian household uses 11,135 kWh of electricity per year. At the current average price of $0.174, that means that the average household spends nearly $2,000 a year on electricity!
On top of that, 1 kWh of electricity produces a little over 1 pound of CO2 pollution.
Is there a better way? Is there a way to save on your energy bills and help to save the planet at the same time?
We’re so glad you asked. We’d like to introduce you to a Net Zero Home and show you how prefabricated homes are key to the future of homebuilding!
What Is a Net Zero Home?
Put simply, a Net Zero Home produces at least as much energy as it consumes.
Building methods, materials, and technology are typically used to reduce the amount of wasted energy in the home as much as possible. This is called sealing the building’s envelope.
For example, builders can use double or triple-paned windows with insulating argon or krypton gases inside to boost the R-value (a measure of a material’s ability to resist heat flow.)
In addition to lowering the home’s overall energy usage, net zero homes typically employ some method of producing their own renewable energy. Solar and wind energy are common.
Benefits of a Net Zero Home
For you as a homeowner, Net Zero Homes offer several benefits.
1. Energy Bill Savings
Most notably, you get to enjoy saving money on your energy bills. If you succeed in producing as much energy as you consume, that’s $2,000 dollars a year you get to spend on something else!
2. Price Protection
Not only that, but people connected to the grid are subject to the whims of the market. Energy prices fluctuate, and that $2,000 can easily morph into a higher number in a few years. With your own source of renewable energy, you don’t have to worry about what happens to the price of energy.
On top of that, if you are still connected to the grid, many areas offer buyback programs. This means that if you contribute any excess energy you produce, you can get paid for it.
3. High-Quality Construction
To help reduce energy loss, builders naturally tend to use higher quality materials as these typically have a higher R-value. To that end, you get a more durable home and enjoy less maintenance.
Components of a Net Zero Home
To make a home Net Zero, you need to seal the building’s envelope as much as possible. You do this by adding extra insulation to the walls and the foundation and choosing multiple-paned windows with insulating gases and insulated doors.
Once you’ve got the home buttoned up tight, you need to think about ventilation. Heat recovery ventilators (HRV) and energy recovery ventilators (ERV) are both excellent options. The HRV captures the heat in outbound air and uses it to heat incoming air. The ERV does the same but also regulates humidity.
All appliances need to be electric so they can be run by your solar or wind energy system. Plus, you’ll need a battery bank to store electricity for days that aren’t sunny or windy enough.
Finally, you can reduce your energy needs significantly by relying on a geothermal heating and cooling system. This system uses the temperature of the earth to regulate the temperature inside your home, requiring far less energy.
Why Prefabricated Homes Are Ideal for Net Zero Building
If your goal is to build a Net Zero Home, then being environmentally friendly is important to you.
Unfortunately, traditional home building is a wasteful process. Just walk around a construction site before they finish cleaning up and you’ll see!
Prefabricated home building, on the other hand, is much more efficient and eco-friendlier. The bulk of the construction is done in our Wingham, Ontario factory, where unused materials are used in other projects or recycled. Plus, there’s no need for builders and contractors to drive back and forth from the building site day after day for months on end. The process reduces waste and pollution!
The home is built faster and the whole approach is more streamlined.
Additionally, since the pieces are being built in the factory, it is easier to inspect them and ensure that everything fits together well for the tight seal needed to avoid losing energy!
Want to learn more about building a Net Zero Home? Reach out to a Royal Homes Design Centre now and talk to a Design Expert!