Being green no longer alludes to living in the Byron Hinterlands, smelling like compost and wearing tie-dye.

With the changing environment, it is becoming important for the everyday Australian to be environmentally aware and active. It has become even more important for homebuyers, when you consider how much money you can save by building a green home.

Green homes have come a long way in the last few decades. Previously building a green home was an enormous investment with not a great return, but now energy saving products are more affordable and have tripled the savings available to homeowners. A few simple changes can help save your planet and cut your energy bills too!

Here’s six ways to build a green home and save:

ORIENTATION OF YOUR HOME

A well-oriented house can make a huge difference to your energy bills; however, it’s not on every client’s checklist when building a new home. For the budget conscious homebuyer it should be.

The angle of the sun changes dramatically from summer to winter, so it’s valuable to use this to your advantage to maximise the entry of the low winter sun and restrict the exposure to the high summer sun. Choosing a plan that has your living areas facing north and your bedrooms facing south is a great start. In winter, your living rooms will catch maximum sun for warmth and light, while in the heat of summer your bedrooms are shielded from the sun for cooler sleeping conditions.

The Coventry 23, is a great example of a floorplan that can be oriented to make the most of the northern sun.

DON’T PENNY PINCH WITH INSULATATION

When you build a new home in Australia, there are set levels of insulation you must install, however it does pay to upgrade. Having the right insulation for the Queensland humidity allows you to make your home as comfortable as possible in those hot and sticky summer months and chilly winter days.

Moreover, the better insulation you install the smaller air conditioning or heater you will need!

GO SOLAR

There is no better time than now to invest in solar. With the rise of energy prices and improvement in cost savings from Solar Power Systems, it would be the smartest investment you ever made.

With a 5.5kW, 20 panel system you can save up to $80/month and $960/year on your energy bills. For some this means never seeing an electricity bill ever again! This technology is developing every day, and with increased demand, we will see home batteries become more affordable and all households become more self-sufficient.

Are you thinking of building a home with solar? Get in touch with DRHomes to secure your free solar system.

BIGGER HOMES, BIGGER BILLS

It makes sense, having a bigger homes means having to cool and heat a larger area, meaning a larger energy bill. When designing your home with DRHomes or any other builder for that matter have a good think about the spaces you want to include in your home and if you really need them. Can you outweigh the cost of additional energy you will need against the extra square metres?

INSTALL A RAINWATER TANK

Hose your driveway guilt free! Actually, you still should feel a little guilty – that one always stumps us. Though you may want to keep your town water, having a rainwater tank can mean making the most of those Queensland storms and keeping a bit on the side for when it gets dry and you want to top up your pool, keep your garden alive and squirt the neighbour’s dog when it barks all night.

*Please note - we do not condone doing this. DRHomes respects all animals, even those that keep us up all night.

LIGHT YOUR HOME WITH LED

DRHomes are a big supporter of ecofriendly lighting. So much so, we have LED lighting as standard throughout every home we build. Though LED lights can cost more upfront, they actually uses less energy and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Fundamentally, green homes are the way of the future and will ultimately become the norm in Australia. Green homes are cheaper to run and are already becoming cheaper to build, it is now up to homebuyers to decide if they want to prepare their home for the future or be left behind.