What is a Low Energy Home?

Every year, self-builders become increasingly aware of the benefits gained from investing in building an energy efficient house. With ever growing energy bills and strict energy efficiency regulations for new builds, it is no surprise why people are pursuing the path of building an eco home. Your motivation to do this may be to build an environmentally friendly dwelling or you may want to save money on energy bills.

Whatever the reason, as a self-builder you have the unique opportunity to build your home as low energy as possible and if done correctly, it does not have to cost you a fortune.

So what is a low energy house? Simply, it is a house that through design, technology and construction applied, uses less energy than a traditional or average new house.

The fact that you are building an energy efficient house does not determine the visual look of the building. You can build both contemporary and traditional houses that will be equally energy efficient. The problem is that the majority of houses that are built by mass house builders in the UK are built to the minimum energy performance standard in an attempt to minimise build costs.

We know from practice that the more knowledgeable self-builders are, the greater priority and focus they can place on the energy efficiency of their future homes.

 The Benefits Of Building A Low Energy Home

The two main reasons for building a low energy home are financial savings and reducing your building’s impact on the environment. Fewer carbon emissions are produced during the construction stage of building an energy efficient home and the use of energy in the day-to-day running of the house is also lower which in turn helps the planet.

If your home is designed correctly and incorporates an appropriate construction system such as SIPS, there is potential for zero energy bills which in conjunction with appropriate renewables, may even allow you to earn money back from your energy provider.

If you decide to build an eco home in the UK, you can achieve between 30%-60% improved energy performance than that of homes built to their current building regulations. However, we always encourage our clients to exceed building regulations which is possible without a significant increase to their budget. 

Modern living increasingly encourages self-builder to construct eco-friendly, energy-efficient, future-proofed houses. SIPS construction provides this on every occasion, often cheaper than other forms of construction.