Energy: Saving and Harnessing It with Sustainable Home Improvement

As part of the building products industry for over 40 years, we’re seeing rapid change in the direction of construction and remodeling in our country. Much of that change is focused on energy and sustainability.

The focus on energy is on how to save or create energy in the future. The focus on the sustainability or durability of the materials we use in our homes is driven partly by an environmental focus, but it is also very practical. The lack of skilled labor in our country is forcing us all to think about materials in our homes that won’t need to be replaced every few years. One answer to the skilled labor shortage is to simply use materials that last longer, reducing the demand for skilled labor.

In this post, we’ll look at how energy impacts your home roofing decisions.

For many years, we at Classic Metal Roofing Systems have said:

Residential rooftops are too plentiful and too large of a component of any home investment to not be looked at as critical to a home’s energy performance. When you consider a new roof for your home, you MUST talk about either saving energy, harnessing energy, or both.

Increasingly, this is becoming government-mandated. California passed a regulation under which, effective in 2020, all new construction homes must include a solar collection installation.  What’s more, many other states are also considering similar regulations and will undoubtedly make announcements in the coming months and years.

Eventually, you will likely have to think about saving on generated power when you buy a roof for your home. So it makes sense to think about it now and prepare.

The only questions are these:

• How will you do it?
• And what roofing material best supports the existing and future reality?

Let’s break the answers into two parts: Saving and Harnessing.

Saving Energy

While much discussion can be given to “green” energy and its benefits, there is still one bottom line:  the best way to impact the energy supply in the world is to reduce the need for energy. Every bit of demand you reduce is energy that doesn’t have to be created in any fashion. Good advice is to do all you can to reduce your home’s consumption before you even start thinking about harnessing energy through solar or other avenues. Metal roofing saves energy in many ways, and these can all be part of the “roofing and energy” thought process.

Harnessing Energy

Having examined how metal roofs help save energy – always the smartest and first thing to do – let’s move on to harnessing energy. For homeowners who also want to use their roofs to generate power, metal works well in many ways. Solar applications, now or in the future, can help you prepare your home to become your own source of electricity.

For more information on roofing and power generation, we offer this article.

Please feel free to contact us anytime to discuss your roofing or home remodeling questions.