Successful Cost-Effective Green Implementations

Abstract

Concerns of rising temperatures are growing due to climate change, pushing us to find alternative strategies to mitigate it. This paper focuses on cost-effective green implementation design strategies to combat rising temperatures for homeowners who cannot afford the newest technologies. With increasing temperatures, this paper aims to answer which strategies will best optimize comfort levels to avoid a crisis event where temperatures are unbearable and air conditioning and heating units or the power stops working, making the home indoor climate uncomfortable and unsafe. Our current residential building stock accounts for 21% of energy consumption, and a majority of that energy is to create indoor comfort conditions (Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), n.d.). This study uses Tucson, Arizona, climate data gathered as a case study. Data collected included sample population habits of making their indoor home climate comfortable, climate data and design strategies gathered by Climate Consultant, a computer software, and an interview. The data was used to find the most successful, cost-effective green design implementations. This paper will assert financially friendly green design implementations, such as cost-effective overhangs or trees to maximize shading in the summer but allow sunlight in the winter, weatherstrips, and double-pane windows for those with financial constraints to help them avoid rising temperatures with no working mechanical systems.