High-performance, super-energy-efficient homes are becoming more and more popular throughout North America. As the demand from your customers grows, is your team equipped to meet the challenge?
According to the Department of Energy’s website, high-performance homes are…
“Not just the wave of the future. They are here and now and will continue to grow in demand with home-buyers. As Americans are becoming increasingly informed buyers, the urgency for residential architects to communicate knowledgeably to consumers about high performance homes is also growing.”
Offering high-performance options for home designing and building is a great strategy for creating new architecture, building, and contracting opportunities. Many high-performance homes have similar innovative features, including the following:
Passive Energy Gain: Using the Sun For No-Cost Energy
Many high-performance homes are designed to harness the power of the sun. These houses take advantage of sunlight to provide passive solar heat gains in the winter; in the summer, they typically feature shading from roof overhangs, awnings, and other features to prevent overheating when the sun is higher in the sky.
Virtually Airtight Construction: Stop Energy-Wasting Leaks!
To keep homes energy efficient and minimize their carbon footprint, newly constructed homes are designed to allow very little air leakage. Often, this is done by adding cost-effective and high-performance thermal insulation (and air sealing) to strengthen the building enclosure and reduce heating/cooling loads. While it’s true that airtight construction is helpful from an energy efficiency standpoint, it does increase the need for ventilation to keep air fresh, clean, and healthy.
Heat & Energy Recovery Ventilation Systems: Keep Air Fresh & Safe
As part of ensuring healthy indoor air and efficiency, many green builders of high-performance homes are installing balanced mechanical ventilation systems. HRVs and ERVs exhaust stale, contaminated air and supply a constant stream of fresh, filtered air. HRVS also transfer heat from the exhaust air to the intake air, which saves even more energy for occupants.
Zehnder HRVs are the most efficient on the market, capturing up to 95 percent of the heat from exhaust air. The Zehnder team is dedicated to quality and performance, so we commission all of our systems to ensure proper airflow to all rooms of the home.
High-performance homes have advanced significantly in recent decades. Are you ready to use an ERV or HRV for your next green building or design project? Zehnder’s quality systems have helped make tightly constructed homes both green AND healthy for occupants.
Want to learn more about offering Zehnder ventilation systems for your next home project, or need help sizing an ERV/HRV system? Contact Zehnder today!