Conservation At Home Makes Sense
Ecohouse is a home performance contractor. We can bring your home up to today's standards of energy efficiency, comfort, and health.
We are trained in building science and home energy use and are dedicated to helping our customers identify and make home improvements that are practical and cost-effective. In addition, we help homeowners design and build new homes that maximize comfort, durability, affordability, and minimize energy use.
The residential sector accounts for 21% of U.S. energy use and carbon emissions. There are 124 million dwellings in the United States. Existing homes simultaneously represent a tremendous investment of resources and a commitment to maintenance and operating costs for years to come. The median age of U.S. housing is 34 years, and roughly 60% of these homes will still be occupied in 2050. The majority of these homes are wasting energy.
Rapidly accelerating climate change (global warming), which is caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is now fueling dangerous regional and global environmental events. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration illustrates that buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of all GHG emissions annually. Seventy-six percent of all electricity generated by US power plants goes to supply buildings.
In 2006, $228 billion were invested in U.S. home improvements—improvements that often could have included deep energy reductions, such as sealing air leaks, adding insulation and changing lighting. We know that it is possible to reduce energy use in homes by as much as 80% in existing homes and 90% in new homes with currently available technology. The ecological strategies we use to create environmental buildings – super insulated envelopes, daylighting, non-toxic materials, design for adaptability – enhance the comfort of the building inhabitants, lower negative impacts on the natural world and its other-than-human inhabitants, extend the useful lifetime of the building, and make ownership of the building more affordable over time. Let's do something now to improve our buildings. It's a win-win situation all around.
"Why not enjoy the inevitable?"
— Amory Lovins
