Energy Efficient Ideas to Discuss With Your Home Builder

If you live in Dallas Texas are you planning on buying a new home? What energy efficient items should you talk with the builder about?

There are lots of options that you can have installed in your new home. One of the biggest money savers is your windows. Heat gets into or out of your house through the windows. Talk with your builder about the different types of windows that are available; if they have low-E coating; are Argon filled; are double, triple, or quadruple paned. The more panes the window has, the better it is at blocking heat or cold transfer. When you buy the windows, you need to have them tinted. You can also purchase drapes and close them during the day. Doing these steps will put you on your way towards keeping the heat out (or in).

The next thing you should do is to install solar panels. If you pay to have it done, you will need to come up with about $30,000. To save money I recommend a do it yourself home solar approach. Basically this approach is to build one solar panel at a time and gradually get your home using more and more electricity from the sun. This is a great, cost effective approach. Each solar panel, deep cycle battery, controller, and inverter will cost you about $200. So when you have an extra $200, you say okay, I'm going to make my wash machine run on solar power this month.

The next thing you need to do is to make a wind power generator. There are good winds in Dallas Texas. You can build a wind turbine for your home for about $150.

Next, a properly insulated attic will save you big money on your electric bill. Ask the builder how many inches of insulation were put in the attic and in the walls. The number you want to hear is at least 6 inches. If it is not too late, have the builder put 10 - 12 inches in the attic. Also, ask for roof fans installed to vent the hot air from the attic to the outside. These roof fans are really cheap and easy to install and will make a huge difference in cooling off your house.

Finally, get a thermostat that is programmable. This will help save you money off your monthly electricity bill. For example, you will be able to tell it to turn the air off at 7:30 am when you go to work, and turn the air on around 4:30 pm just prior to getting home. The same thing can be done at night when you sleep so that it turns the temperature down to 72 degrees at 1:00 am.