Is your building consuming more than it is providing? You need to make it efficient!

Your property’s energy efficiency will not only affect your bills but will also put a huge impact on its value. But, how will you improve energy efficiency?

Retrofit!

Retrofit means incorporating new or environmentally friendly features into buildings. It’s the best way to reduce the footprints of energy from the existing building substantially.

Retrofitting not only offer benefits to the residents but will also offer positive impacts on the environment. Plus, you will be able to minimise utility costs.

Further, as per stats an average building consumes over 73% of energy and monitoring its energy usage will save money and help in increasing the value of the property.

Here are a few steps you can follow to minimise the energy consumption of your building:

1. Don't let the air from appliances go anywhere

The amount of air that your appliances need for cooling and heating usually sneaks out through doors and openings around the house. These small leakages tend to increase temperature maintenance costs.

However, by conducting the simple audits of your home, you will be able to gauge any leakages. Common areas for leakages are windows, vents, doors and attics, so seal or insulate them. You can also make some energy-efficient home improvements like covering the windows and doors through heat-shrink wraps to block air from escaping.

2. Use energy smart equipment

When purchasing equipment, look for energy star-rated products as they consume less energy than the non-star rated products.

Also, search for home energy saving tips like upgrading to LED lights rather than incandescent lights.  You can also upgrade your building to a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system, which will acknowledge that your building is completely energy-efficient and eco-friendly.

LEED buildings are constructed to offer improved sustainability in areas such as water efficiency, air quality as well as design features. They can improve water efficiency, add more atmosphere, have improved indoor environmental air quality and more.

3. Re-design with energy

If you have decided to make a large investment in energy performance upgrades, you will certainly receive more benefits, while other cost-saving methods will lead to savings of up to 15% only.  However, deep retrofitting can reduce cost by at least 45%.

Try insulating windows and glasses or perhaps consider triple-pane sealing to minimise the air escaping. You can also enhance a building’s thermal resistance by using expanded polystyrene to provide insulation from exteriors. Polystyrene is durable and has a low absorption rate. It provides complete insulation without making the wall thick and messy.

4. Use zero energy building products

Zero energy buildings are those that work by fetching energy from the natural resources (sun, wind and earth). These buildings produce as much energy as it consumes.

Retrofitting of buildings can generate energy savings up to 5-15% approximately. So, whether you want to reconstruct from scratch or you want to revamp the old building, retrofit to any extent, reduce the energy costs and improve your property’s worth. 

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