The R-House and TED House are two examples of homes with successfully implemented home energy saving ideas. Source: Houzz

When designing a new home, one of the things you’ll want to consider is energy efficiency. The less energy your home uses, the lower your energy bills will be – not to mention the fact that you’ll be reducing your environmental footprint as well. The following are a few designs that can provide you with some home energy saving ideas:

• The R-House – Located in Germany, this home was built to meet Germany’s passive house principles. It boasts highly insulated windows, heat-recovery ventilators and super-insulated exteriors. In fact, the home’s insulation consists of blown0in fiberglass insulation as well as foam insulation. Windows were placed to take advantage of the sun’s location.
• The TED House – This house makes use of highly insulated windows, a zip-panel air barrier, EPS insulation and closed-cell spray foam insulation. It also has a metal panel rain screen that helps keep air trapped inside the home and prevents outdoor air from leaking in.

These are a couple of homes designed to be energy efficient. Consider some of their energy saving features for your home design and be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds for more information about implementing green features into your home today.

Sustainable homes have become more and more popular over time, but their appeal cannot be understood without answering two simple but not so straightforward questions. What is sustainability and why has it become so important?

Source: Trilogy Builds

Sustainability is sometimes said to be about maintaining a balance between human interests and the well-being of the planet. However, this is too simplistic, not least because human interests are reliant on the continuing well-being of our planet. Instead, it is more accurate to describe sustainability as using natural resources to meet human needs in a manner ensuring that said resources can continue to be used for said purpose in the future.

In short, sustainable practices consider the interests of a much-expanded number of stakeholders. For example, being sustainable when it comes to building a home means considering the interests of both the homeowner and the home-builders in addition to the people whose lives will be impacted as an indirect consequence of their economic choices. That said, it is important to note that sustainable practices do not provide less value to their practitioners. In fact, such practices provide more.

If you are interested in learning more about sustainable homes, please contact us at Trilogy Builds.

A lot of things need to be considered when planning out your home design. For example, what building materials do you want to use? If you’re looking to add both warmth and texture to your home design, then we highly recommend the use of stone.

Source: Trilogy Builds

Stone can be used in so many different ways throughout your home design, whether you simply want to use it as an accent for the front of your home or if you want to use it as the main building material for your house. The great thing about stone, besides its beautiful aesthetic, is the fact that it is a sustainable and natural material. Stone will last as well and won’t be prone to some of the issues that other materials such as wood are prone to, such as rot or termites.

Stone doesn’t necessarily have to be used for your walls either. Stone can be used indoors for your floors, your countertops or even for your fireplace surround. It doesn’t necessarily have to be used in the structure of your home either – for example, you could use gravel for your driveway.

Consider using stone and contact us at Trilogy Builds for additional advice.

Creating a green home design is a not only a great way to help reduce your environmental footprint, it’s also a fantastic way to introduce a unique aesthetic to your home. The following are a few ideas for upcycling, which involves repurposing different elements for new home design features:

Source: Houzz

• Backyard bathhouse – Build a luxurious little bathhouse outside of your home using your old claw foot tub and build a small roof above it – complete with a rolling bamboo privacy screen.
• Sliding barn door – If you have multiple uses for a pair of bookcases, use a sliding barn door to cover up one side when the other is in use. This is a great way to hide your electronics in your room’s design.
• Ladder shelf – Have an old ladder out in your shed that you never use? Attach it horizontally to your wall and use the rungs as book ends for your books! You can even paint the ladder whatever color you want to fit your interior design.

Use these ideas for inspiration in order to repurpose old objects for your green home design. For additional information on green home design, contact us at Trilogy Builds today.

Home automation is something that many people are implementing into their home designs due to the fact that it makes the home more convenient and functional. However, there’s an added benefit to home automation: reducing your environmental footprint.

Source: Freshome

So how exactly is home automation a green building feature? Well, one of the features that home automation can provide is the ability to integrate smart lighting controls that allow you to turn off all your lights at once with the touch of a button, as well as power controllers that will turn off appliances automatically. This makes using electricity much more efficient and helps to ensure that you’re not wasting energy.

Another excellent home automation feature is the occupancy sensor. We’ve all forgotten to turn off the lights when leaving the house at one point or another. By installing an occupancy sensor, you’ll ensure that your lights don’t just stay on until you return. This is because an occupancy sensor can detect if no one is at home and will automatically turn off your lights in an empty house.

Consider home automation as part of your green building design and contact us at Trilogy Builds for more green building techniques.

Using green building materials is a great way to lower your environmental impact. Here are 3 energy-efficient building materials that we recommend for every home project. Source: Pixabay

If you’re concerned about the impact you’ll have on the environment when building your home, then you should strongly consider using energy-efficient building materials. The following are three energy-efficient building materials that we highly recommend for every home project:

1. Recycled steel – Wood is not a very environmentally-friendly option, and a house that’s 2,000 square feet large would require between 40 and 50 trees to build. Instead, use customized recycled steel beams and panels, which also happen to be incredibly durable and resistant to high winds.
2. Cool roofing – Cool roofing materials tend to be a little more expensive, but they help reflect heat during the summers, helping to keep your home cool and efficient. This helps cut down on that expensive electricity bill.
3. Insulating concrete forms – These are basically concrete walls that are cast in place and that are inserted between two layers of insulation. Insulated concrete forms can end up cut down your energy usage by 20 percent.

These are just a few of the green home building materials that we recommend you use for your home building project. For all of your home building needs, be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds today.

When designing a new home you should strive to create a passive house. A passive house is basically a home that is incredibly energy efficient, thereby helping you to reduce your environmental footprint as well as save up to 90 percent of your space heating costs.

Passive homes are houses that are insulated extremely well and practically air-tight. They are primarily heated through passive solar gain in addition to internal gains from electrical equipment and people, thereby helping to minimize the loss of energy. Whatever additional heat demand exists is provided through a very small source.

The layout of the home, such as the window orientation and the shading of the building, also helps to limit the home’s cooling load. Not to mention that passive homes also contain energy recovery ventilators to provide a balanced and constant fresh air supply. Other features of a passive home include triple-glazed high performance windows and high quality insulation.

To save as much energy as possible and to make sure your home is as efficient as possible, you should consider designing your home with a passive home system in mind. Be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds for additional information and advice.

If you’re planning a green home design, then odds are you have some idea about a few of the green home building materials that you can use. However, there are a few surprising materials out there that we can incorporate  for a green home design. Here are a few of those materials:

• Tires and other trash – Believe it or not, you can use tires, cans, old appliance parts, and more to build your interior walls as well as your roof.
• Straw bales – Straw bales are a fantastic option for insulating your home, whether you’re planning a standard wood-framed house or a steel-framed one. When stacked above one another, they’re even strong enough to be load-bearing.
• Shipping containers – You won’t believe how many shipping containers are being used everyday around the world. There are plenty of empty ones that just sit around. And guess what? They are a fantastic building material as they are fireproof, waterproof, durable and insulated!

These are just a few of the materials that you may not have realized can be used for your green home project. Find out more by contacting us at Trilogy Builds today.

Making sure that you limit your environmental footprint as much as possible is an important consideration to make when designing a new home. There are a lot of green building techniques that you can implement in order to achieve this. One that we highly recommend that you look into is superinsulation.

Source: Shutterstock.com

The main idea behind superinsulation is to reduce heat loss and heat gain by creating a much more airtight building design than what is normal while also using much higher levels of insulation. Homes that make use of superinsulation tend to incorporate details that ensure the continuity of insulation where the walls meet the foundations, roofs, and other walls. Although the insulation levels are usually quite high, the house has to be airtight, especially around the windows and doors, in order for the insulation to be as effective as possible. To complement a superinsulation system, a very small conventional heating system is often used in addition to a heat recovery ventilation system, which helps to provide fresh air to the home.

Superinsulation is definitely something that you should consider when designing your home. For additional information and advice, be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds today.

Are you looking for some ideas for your interior design? If you are, consider a natural interior. Using natural elements in your home’s design is a great way to create a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere and can be done no matter what type of interior design you have. The following are some tips for designing a natural interior:

• Flooring – Wood floors provide a warmth that other materials just don’t have. However, if you want more eco-friendly options, then consider cork, bamboo, or reclaimed wood, all of which provide that same warmth.
• Furniture – Be sure to keep an eye out for furniture pieces that make use of natural materials and fibers as well as textiles with more subtle and organic prints. Be sure to look for wood furniture pieces as well, such as end tables, trunks, and more.
• Area rugs – Area rugs are a great way to provide a little bit of warmth underfoot as well as tie the design of a room together. Look for area rugs that have botanical designs on them.

These are some ideas that you can use to create a more natural interior. For home building advice, contact us at Trilogy Builds today.