Energy Smart Features

Why Build Energy Efficient Homes?

The answer is simple: To stay cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, and pay a lot less on our utility bills every month. Energy Smart Homes also helps reduce carbon emissions and leave a healthier environment for our families to enjoy.

Energy Efficiency Recommendations

• Vinyl Double Pane Low-E Windows
• High Efficiency 15 Seer Furnace With Programmable Thermostat
• R-50 Ceiling Insulation
• R-15 Wall Insulation
• Radiant Barrier Roof Decking
• Zip System Structural Sheathing (at owner's request)
• Foam and Seal Around All Exterior Bottom Wall Plates, Exterior Penetrations, Windows & Doors
• Energy Star Rated Light Fixtures & Appliances
• Tankless Gas Water Heater
• Excellent HERS Rating (Performed By A 3rd Party Inspector at owner's request)

What is a HERS rating?

• The HERS (Home Energy Rating Systems) rating provides a standardized evaluation of a home's energy efficiency and average energy savings.
• On the HERS scale - The lower the number the more energy efficient the home is. While a typical new code-built home merits a HERS rating of 100, our smart energy efficient homes feature much lower ratings and therefore, more energy savings.

Example:

The HERS rating found on this sticker is a 65. This is 35% more efficient than a new code built home! This will save you lots of money year after year!

What Is Radiant Barrier Roof Decking?

Radiant barrier decking consists of a thin, highly polished, Kraft paper-backed layer of aluminum foil laminated onto oriented strand board (OSB). Although an excellent conductor of heat energy, aluminum has very low emissivity. While the sun's heat travels through unprotected OSB or plywood sheathings, the foil at the bottom of the radiant panel intercepts as much as 97% of this radiation. As a result, attic temperatures are up to 30 degrees cooler, according to independent studies. Not only is HVAC load reduced, but a homeowner might even be able to do without air conditioning on certain days and evenings, even in summer. Radiant barriers costs a home buyer between 15 cents and 30 cents more per square foot than standard OSB sheathing, but by cutting energy usage up to 20%, a radiant barrier can deliver a payback that covers this extra cost in as little as two years.

What is Zip System Structural Sheathing?

A ZIP System wall combines the strength and stability of a high-performing panel with the enhanced weatherability provided by the product's water-resistive barrier. With an instant 180-day rough dry-in, we can schedule our subcontractors sooner, and you'll never have to worry about house wrap tearing off or blowing away. Because ZIP System wall panels install in fewer steps than traditional house wrap, our houses will be finished faster, saving interest costs on construction loans.

ZIP System panels are marked with a pre-printed fastening guide for ease of installation. And best of all, ZIP System wall panels are backed by a 30 year warranty.

What Are Dual Pane Low-E Windows?

When you look outside on a sunny day, you're seeing the visible part of the light spectrum. But only 38 percent of the solar energy that reaches the surface of the earth is visible. The rest of the light that lands in your yard is invisible. 59 percent is infrared and 3 percent is ultraviolet (UV rays). Even though they're invisible, infrared and UV rays do affect the interior of your home. Infrared rays can pass in through glass windows, which increase your home's heat load in the winter and cooling load in the summer. As for UV light, the same rays that burn your skin can enter through glazing to fade and degrade your fabrics and furnishings.

Low-remittance (Low-E) coating use microscopically thin, virtually invisible, metal or metallic oxide layers deposited on a window surface primarily to reduce the U-factor by suppressing radiant heat flow. The principal mechanism of heat transfer in multilayer glazing is thermal radiation from a warm pane of glass to a cooler pane. Coating a glass surface with a low-emittance material and facing that coating into the gap between the glass layers blocks a significant amount of this radiant heat transfer, thus lowering the total heat flow through the window. Designed for use in hot climates, windows with these coatings admit up to 40 percent less solar heat than ones with clear glass panes. As a result, less heat enters through the glass, so the house is easier to cool.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) breaks the country into 3 zones. To meet the standards, windows used in areas like South Carolina must have a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) rating of .40 or lower and a U-factor of .75 or lower. The series of windows we use have a SHGC rate of .27 and a U-factor of .35!

What is a High Efficiency HVAC System?

It is estimated up to 10% of heating and cooling efficiency is lost due to air loss through the system. To prevent air loss and insure an energy efficient closed loop system all ducts are sealed (gray material) to the exchange. The corners of the exchange and ducts are also taped with silver insulation tape to further prevent air loss. By sealing all the return air registers, electrical penetrations in the air handler, and insulating and sealing the supply registers the system performs like a closed loop system. Typically the ducts are suspended from the roof rafters to provide straighter more direct runs, reduce risk of crushing the ducts and provide ease of inspection.

Thermostats are the controller of the entire HVAC system. The thermostat recognizes when the temperature in the home has reached the set temperature and activates the system. Digital setback thermostats allow the convenience of setting the system to activate in accordance with four preset temperature models. These thermostats that Magnolia Custom Homes utilizes recognize each and every day the temperature in your home and changes it's time of activation each day in order to reach the desired temperature by the preset time. It is estimated that this type of setback thermostat can save up to 33% of your heating and cooling bill, as compared to a standard manual thermostat, assuming of course that all features are properly used.

Better construction at Magnolia Custom Homes creates added benefits of better air quality and efficiency. Improving indoor air quality is a goal of many new home buyers, especially for those suffering from allergies, asthma or other respiratory problems. Magnolia Custom Homes Energy Smart Program provides an extremely air tight building envelope by eliminating air leakage, the penetration of dust, allergens and pollutants can be significantly reduced. It allows you to develop a controlled indoor environment so we can design your heating and cooling equipment to maximize air quality. Fresher air should ensure a better night's sleep and you won't have to open your windows to achieve it. Humidity can be better controlled so you can eliminate the health concerns about mold and mildew.

The obvious and immediate impact to a home constructed using the Magnolia Custom Home Smart Energy Efficient Program is lower utility costs. In fact, all of our homes meet or exceed Energy Star standards for new construction. Energy Star is a government backed program that helps us all save money and protect our environment with energy efficient products and practices. More than 60 types of products, including appliances, televisions, computers, heating and cooling equipment and yes even new homes like the ones we construct can earn the government's Energy Star label. As you have read, our homes go beyond energy efficiency. It's about providing energy efficient, healthier, quieter and overall more comfort that makes our homes the choice for performance and comfort minded buyers.

What is a Tankless Water Heater?

If you have a busy family or enjoy guests extended company, you will never have to worry about running out of hot water with a Tankless Water Heater. You can load the laundry, start the dishes, bathe the kids and even relax in a hot bubble bath of your own - all without ever running out of hot water! And with an efficiency rating of up to 94%, you'll save on energy costs too.