What is Sustainable Living?
What Is Sustainable Living All About?
Sustainable living has become a catchphrase for anyone looking to be hip and add followers on their favorite social media sites.
Sustainable living is more than a definition. It is a collective mind with one main goal set forth, for our world to continue to maintain a healthy existence as natural as possible for generations to come to enjoy. In other words, it’s wanting our world to be beautiful and healthy for our great-great-grandchildren’s grandchildren. There are many ways to contribute to sustainable living such as recycling, composting, growing your own produce, bicycling to work or buying a hybrid. All these methods are wonderful ways to decrease your carbon footprint, but they may not be practical for everyone.
Baker Roofing & Construction offers our clients products that will have a positive impact on the environment. We endorse the use of solar power systems, sustainable roofing options, skylights, rain harvesting systems, and other items that will help save energy consumption thereby reducing your families carbon footprint year after year. Lets quickly discuss a few of the options we recommend the most from cheapest to most expensive.
Solar Vents
Ventilation for the attic space is extremely important to maintain a healthy home. Proper ventilation deters moisture from forming and creating mold and rot to the framing of the structure. It also helps maintain proper temperatures in the attic space for the HVAC system to operate, amongst many other things.
Homes with hip roofs typically will have turbines, power vents, static box vents (basically just a covered hole in the roof) or a combination of some sort. Turbines and power vents both actively withdraw the hot air from the attic space. Turbines are wind-powered and are effective when the wind is blowing. On the other hand, power vents are like a bathroom exhaust fan that operates on a thermometer. They have a low-voltage fan that pulls the attic air out making these nearly the most effective vent for hip roofs. However, the most effective vents are solar vents. They are self-powered by small solar panels that are either attached to the top of the vent or to the roof beside the vent, depending on the manufacturer.
Radiant Barrier
Radiant barrier is a great option for blocking our radiant heat waves from passing through airspace to the inside of your home. For example, installing new radiant roof decking when having your roof replaced will help block radiant heat from transferring from your roof covering to your attic space. This can significantly reduce the amount of stress put on your air condition system, especially here in Texas. Radiant barrier can be paired with proper ventilation and insulation to really improve electric usage and decrease stress to your HVAC system that will reduce the need for costly repairs in the future.
Skylights
Skylights not only eliminate the need for electrical lighting during the day they also add beautiful natural light to the room. Even on a cloudy day the natural soft light is comforting and easy on your eyes. Skylights come with an abundance of sizes and options to fit almost any application. Your skylight can include options like shades and open to allow fresh air inside at the touch of a button and of course, solar powered. A rain sensor can even be installed saving the most forgetful person from and unplanned room washing.
Rain Harvesting Systems
One fantastic sustainable living technique is rain harvesting. Baker Roofing & Construction encourages our homeowners to consider a rain harvesting system especially when they have gardens or lots of potted plants. Using the collected rain to water your plants, flowers and even lawn can greatly reduce your water usage several months out of the year. By using a run of copper gutter to collect the rain and a rain chain to deliver the water to a decorative urn, a rain harvesting system can become an accent to your outdoor space.
Solar Power
It is very easy to see how solar power contributes to sustainable living. A solar panel system can replace any need for man-made energy consumption at home. You can also save money on your taxes with the Solar Tax Credit offered by the federal government even if you finance the system. In some cases, you may qualify for a roof replacement at the time of the solar install that can be financed with the solar system and contribute to the Solar Tax Credit savings.
Roofing Systems
Choosing a roofing system that couples well with sustainable living is a bit more complicated because there are many factors to consider. Your roofing system is one of the largest purchases you will make for your home and factors like budget and pleasing looks have a large role in the system you will choose. Baker Roofing recommends metal, natural slate, and tile roofing materials for customers who desire roofing systems that are both extremely beautiful and long-lasting. However, those options come at a large initial expense and may not be the right look for the home. For these homes, we recommend either Impact Resistant shingles or designer shingles. These shingles will be much thicker than standard 3-tab shingles or even the increasingly common laminated architectural shingle.
No matter what your budget or needs are, Baker Roofing & Construction can assist you in choosing sustainable products that will fit your home in price, style, and sustainability. Contact us today for more information.
