Energy consumption has seen a drastic high over the past few decades and the graph is only going upwards. This is ultimately leaving a bad impact on our environment and on our finances. Many measures are being taken to implement efficiency to reduce energy consumption in industries and in homes. This has led to the creation of energy efficient products and processes. Energy Ratings were created to define how efficient a certain product or process is – this includes homes and buildings as well.
WHAT ARE ENERGY RATINGS?
Energy ratings have become common in the appliances industry and are now being adopted by builders to rate a house according to its energy consumption. Getting a higher rating is fast becoming a major goal for housing developers.
Energy ratings are being used as markers by potential home buyers to compare the energy performances of the homes they view. People are becoming aware of the importance of saving energy by searching housing schemes that align with their eco-friendly lifestyle. Furthermore, most building codes now have a certain level of energy rating that needs to be met by developers if they want their homes to be stamped as energy efficient.
HOW DO ENERGY RATINGS POSITIVELY IMPACT EFFICIENCY?
Energy ratings are known to have a positive impact on the efficient use of energy in housing schemes in the following ways:
- Energy Ratings Increase Options For Building Codes
Most building codes generally specify efficiency requirements of specific instruments, like the amount of water gushing out of the showerhead per minute or the type of insulation inside the walls. Such restrictions slow down creative minds of the developers and increase the total cost of a house. Energy ratings are a helpful alternative to such precise requirements and act as overall energy criteria that must be met by the housing schemes.
There are various factors that affect the performance of a building, like the number of windows, the size and shape of the house, its alignment and the prevailing climate. Being required to only meet an overall energy rating target, house developers are free to optimize the features of their designs. The energy calculations and changes builders will have to conduct while building a house will streamline production costs and energy consumption rates as the housing standards change to be more biased towards energy-efficient lifestyles.
- Energy Ratings Influence the Demand Market
Energy ratings give potential homeowners a clear idea of the cost they will be incurring if they buy a specific home. Buying an energy-efficient home will reduce their costs of living and will hold more appeal as compared to homes that do not offer such long-term savings.
While it is true that not every client interested in buying a home will be concerned about efficiency, a significant portion of the market is still more inclined towards saving up on energy consumption. A majority of buyers are interested in lower energy bills. This need for energy-efficiency in homes is causing builders to build housing schemes that are greener.
- Energy Improvement Financing Is the New In
Ratings are very important for buyers who want to make sure that their new home is efficient and up to their expectations before they move in. When buying a home, customers can ask for an energy assessment of the property they have their eyes on. There are loans that have been introduced for the sole purpose of improving homes to become more energy-efficient.
The ratings assist the evaluators in getting an idea of the energy efficiency rate that is prevalent in the home they are inspecting. The loans that are given out tend to be less than the amount homeowners can save up on energy bills, so they are not a significant burden.
The introduction of energy ratings has helped increase energy efficiency levels of housing schemes to a considerable extent. The implementation of these ratings all across the world will help lower energy consumption on a larger scale and assist in making the world a more eco-friendly and healthier place to live in.
