Terms You Need to Know for Your Green Home Search

At Garbett Homes building high quality, better for the environment homes is not a buzzword, it’s a way of life. Which is why we wanted to help you the consumer understand what actually makes a green new home actually green. Here is a list of terms to look out for and keep in mind during your search.  
 
Net Zero – Term for amount of energy consumed/greenhouse gases emitted over a period of time. Usually the course of a year. Calculated based on the total amount of energy consumed against amount of energy put back into the grid by a renewable source. (Usually solar for a residential home.) 
 
Building Envelope – Exterior walls of a home that separate the outside from the inside. Tight building envelopes increase energy efficiency by reducing the amount of air transfer between outdoor air and indoor air. Allowing your Heating and Air Conditioning to keep your home at a desired temperature with less work. 
 
Energy Efficiency – How effectively the energy of any device within your home is used. (Ex. 93% Energy Efficient means that 93% of the energy a device consumes goes towards the goal the device is supposed to achieve, while 7% of the energy does nothing.) 
 
HERS Index Score – HERS stands for Home Energy Rating System. This is a standard grading system for homes constructed in North America to determine how efficient the overall home is. It uses a scale of 0 – 150, with 0 being maximum energy efficiency. A typical new construction home scores 100.  
 
Localscapes/Xeriscapes - Landscaping that uses climate adapted plants for a region. Localscapes is the branded program for homes within Utah as defined by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. Xeriscapes is the term for the nationwide practice. The goal of Xeriscaping is to create beautiful and usable home landscapes that use the least amount of water possible among other purposes. 
 
Energy Recovery Ventilator – Or ERV for short. A filtration device many green homebuilders add to their homes to increase their HVAC systems energy efficiency. ERVs passively clean or “treat” air entering and leaving the home at the same time. By the two streams of air crossing over the incoming air also heats or cools allowing the HVAC to use less energy because the air is closer to the desired temperature. Also increases indoor air quality. 
 
Insulation – Insulation is the materials used to maintain and regulate temperature. Denser insulation allows for better temperature control. 
 
RESNET -  Residential Energy Services Network. A 3rd party organization that evaluates homebuilders and equipment to help ensure homes are as energy efficient as homebuilders claim.  
 
R-Value – Measures the quality and effectiveness of how barriers like windows, insulation, and walls resist conducting heat. The higher the R-Value the better the quality of the material. 
 
VOC – Volatile Organic Chemicals. These are carcinogens or air pollutants in your home that can come from paint, household cleaning chemicals and the like. Affects your indoor air quality throughout the lifetime of your home. 
 
We hope that this helps you, and always if you want to learn more please reach out to our new home specialist to schedule an appointment today. With communities in Murray, Midvale, Salt Lake City, Millcreek, Wasatch County and West Jordan we build the kinds of homes you want where you want to live. We look forward to seeing you soon.