Low Carbon

Many homeowners are increasingly focused on how to live a lower carbon lifestyle. Transportation and home energy are a large part of most people’s carbon footprint. There are many potential opportunities to lower the carbon footprint of your home.  For those interested in moving towards a net zero carbon home, we can help you create a plan.

Efficiency First

Many homeowners can quickly reduce their carbon footprint by undertaking relatively inexpensive efficiency measures first (that’s a critical part of how this tool can help)! In almost every home, there is a range of efficiency measures that deliver savings. Figure out what those measures are, and do them first – it'll likely deliver you hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year.

Moving to Net Zero

Solar is a key part of moving to a lower carbon footprint. For homeowners that wish to move towards net zero, the step before solar is to change all gas or propane fueled items to be run by electricity, which may include your heating system, dryer, and water heater. But if you are not planning on installing solar, this could be very costly since the cost of electricity energy is higher than the cost of gas or propane energy. For those interested in creating a net zero home, convert all your equipment to electricity and then size solar panels based on the increased usage. Make sure that if you are planning on purchasing an electric vehicle, you take that into consideration when sizing your solar system.

Solar electricity production occurs only during daylight hours. When sized correctly, you will over-produce solar in the peak summer months and then likely use more than you produce during the winter months. Obviously during the night, you will either still use electricity from your utility or you can install a storage solution that saves the electricity produced during the day. In either case, you should work with a contractor to make sure you have accurately calculated your usage requirements to achieve net zero.