How Much Energy Efficiency Do You Need?

Conserving energy—electricity, water, gas—not only helps the environment, but also your utility bills and even the comfort level in your home. But how much energy efficiency do you need to be really efficient? Homes By Taber wants you to understand what goes into building a home that truly performs for you—and saves as much as $1,509 per year in energy costs.

As a homebuilder, Homes By Taber takes our responsibility for energy efficiency very seriously. We look at every aspect of building and maintaining a home to evaluate the long-term savings for our homeowners. Some builders might increase the insulation and install some energy-saving systems, but are they really going far enough?

One of the important steps we take is to have our homes certified by an independent inspector, using the Home Energy Rating System (HERS). This index reflects an in-depth measurement of a home, inside and out, and top to bottom. The builder pays to have this done, but we think it’s a smart investment. How else can you be sure you’re doing as much as possible to build a safe, comfortable, and eco-friendly home?

Once the comprehensive inspection is completed, the home is certified with a HERS rating, from 0 to 150. The lower the number, the greater the home’s energy efficiency. For comparison, the U.S. Department of Energy has established a typical resale home to have a 130 HERS rating and a typical new construction home earns a 100. The 30-point difference between the resale home and the new construction home means the newer one is 30% more energy-efficient than the older one.

Our homes typically score as low as 46 on the HERS scale. Your new home would be 54% MORE efficient than other homes being built right now and 84% more efficient than older homes. To put the difference in perspective, your Taber home provides an average savings of $1,509 per year in energy bills over a resale. With energy bills going up every year, your savings will only increase over time.

Here’s how Homes By Taber ensures that your home minimizes your carbon footprint and still provides the comfort you deserve.

The tankless water heater–a standard feature in every home we build—rather than pre-heating and keeping it in a storage tank until you need it. With the tankless system, you don’t run out of water, EVER, which not only saves on your heating costs but provides the steady flow you need. The tankless water heater also lasts up to 20 years, far longer than a conventional tank system.

We also include a 96% AFUE (Annualized Fuel Utilization Efficiency) furnace. This system converts 96% of the fuel into usable energy. Other furnaces run as low as 80%, so they’re wasting 20% of the fuel you’re paying for. 

Another standard feature is the 16 SEER air conditioning unit. It runs more efficiently, using less electricity to maintain a comfortable temperature. On average, a new 16 SEER air conditioner is about 13% more energy efficient than a 14 SEER, the minimum that is mandated for Oklahoma’s HVAC systems.

We apply mastic to all of the ducts in our homes to prevent air leaks. This step is critical to ensure that you’re not wasting energy by letting it slip through cracks that have gone unnoticed. One of the inspections we pay for is the blower door test, which identifies any drafts in the home. It’s the best way to detect leakage, so we insist on going to this extent.

It’s also essential to protect your home from the outside elements. Insulation, when done correctly, contributes to the comfort and energy efficiency. We use R-44 insulation in the attic and R-15 in the walls. The R-value measures the thermal resistance—the ability for heat to transfer from one side of an object to the other. In Oklahoma, the recommended minimum R-value for attic insulation is 30 and for the walls, it’s 13. We never go for the minimum. We aim for results.

In addition to the insulation, Homes By Taber installs LP TechShield radiant barrier sheathing in the attic so that the heat from the roof doesn’t impact the interior temperature. This step blocks up to 97% of the radiant heat. If you want to experience the difference this makes in our homes, just step in the attic on a hot July day in Oklahoma and feel the cooler temperature inside. If your attic is this cool, imagine the difference it makes throughout the rest of your home.

Your new home is also protected with an insulated garage door because we want every space to be as comfortable and quiet as possible.

Low-E (Low Emissivity) vinyl windows keep the exterior temperatures outside. You can enjoy the sunshine streaming into your home without feeling the heat. We choose vinyl windows with the low-E coating and argon-insulating gas between the layers of glass. The argon provides added insulation and keeps the harmful UV rays from filtering into your home.

All of these efforts are part of our “Proudly Overbuilt” commitment to our homebuyers. Homes By Taber puts more into a home so our homeowners get more out of it. In fact, when we added it all up, we include standard features that are considered “upgrades” by other builders. 

You hear about “carbon footprint”, but what does that mean? Carbon dioxide is emitted when fuels—like gasoline, coal and heating oil—are burned. The carbon footprint reflects the measurement of how much a person’s activity contributes to the amount of emissions in the atmosphere over a specific period. Driving a car, heating your home, and even using electricity factor into your impact. Power plants that generate electricity burn fuels to create that power. In 2017, about 64% of the electricity that was generated in the United States came from fossil fuels. 

So, does every person and every home matter? Absolutely!

Think about the value that comes with a Homes By Taber home. In addition to energy efficiency, we build with Healthy Home Technology. Reduce your carbon footprint and increase the quality of your life! Talk to us about raising your expectations.