Many homeowners today are looking for ways to improve their energy efficiency in their current homes, and home buyers have been asking architects and home builders to incorporate sustainable living into their designs.
In South Jersey, the push for a sustainable luxury home has caught the attention of many home buyers, and Nancy Kowalik and our luxury real estate team at Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty - Nancy Kowalik Group are happy to assist home buyers in getting the sustainable luxury home they want.
Key Takeaways
- A sustainable luxury home maintains a high level of comfort and luxury while significantly reducing its environmental impact through eco-friendly design and features that promote energy efficiency, use of sustainable materials, indoor environmental quality, water conservation, and waste reduction/management.
- Key principles of sustainable luxury home design include passive solar panels, high-performance insulation, renewable energy sources, use of recycled/repurposed building materials, natural ventilation, low-flow fixtures, rainwater harvesting, and waste management plans.
- Sustainability can be seamlessly incorporated into luxury home design without compromising luxury or style, and that experienced professionals can help prioritize sustainable elements for those seeking an eco-friendly yet luxurious lifestyle.
What Is a Sustainable Luxury Home?
When it comes to the concept of buying or building a luxury home, there are many aspects that will automatically pop into your mind. Things such as spa-like bathrooms, huge walk-in closets, a wine cellar, an in-home theater, extremely high vaulted ceilings, upgraded smart appliances, and many other features are commonplace in the luxury design industry.
However, another facet of luxury has become a recurring trend as well – sustainability. The eco-friendly lifestyle is an important part of luxury home construction and design, and home buyers are eagerly searching for luxury properties that have incorporated many different elements of sustainability. So, what exactly does that mean?
Essentially, a sustainable luxury home maintains the highest level of comfort and security while also drastically reducing the impact that life in the house has on the environment. Reducing the carbon footprint of the house and its residents is a primary goal for luxury homes that are built with sustainability in mind. An eco-friendly home, though, does not have to sacrifice luxury. Expert architects can incorporate these environmentally friendly features without reducing the luxuriousness that home buyers crave.
Key Principles of Sustainable Luxury Home Design
There are several common principles of sustainable luxury home design that many home buyers are looking for when investing in a high-end property in South Jersey. These elements include:
- Designs for energy efficiency
- Use of sustainable materials
- Indoor environmental quality
- Water conservation
- Waste reduction and management
When these elements are included in the design of a sustainable luxury home in South Jersey, the future homeowners can rest assured that their lifestyle will have the least impact on the surrounding environment and will be doing their part to improve the state of the world at large.
Designs for Energy Efficiency
Becoming more energy efficient will not only save money on utility bills but also reduce your overall impact on the environment. For a sustainable luxury home in South Jersey, some of the most common energy efficiency designs include:
- Passive solar panels to store energy for later use
- High-performance insulation
- LED lighting and energy efficient appliances
- Renewable sources of energy such as solar
- Improved HVAC systems, incorporating geothermal heating and cooling
If these energy efficient elements are incorporated into a luxury home, the architect does not need to compromise on luxury or chic design. They have become equivalent with luxury while also emphasizing the need for green, sustainable living.
Using Sustainable Materials
In previous decades of home building, construction materials have been imported from all over the world. Obviously, this is not the most eco-friendly manner of acquiring building materials, especially when there are renewable sources of building materials in the surrounding environment which can be used. Materials such as stone, thatch, sustainable wood (like bamboo), and clay can be utilized as sustainable alternatives to those which need to be imported.
These sustainable materials are also much more eco-friendly because many of them are recycled and/or repurposed. Rather than fill the local dump with more building materials and unused portions of other materials, they can be repurposed and utilized in other designs for luxury homes. Another important aspect of sustainable luxury homes is the use of low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) products. They are healthier and better for the environment.
Indoor Environmental Quality
For the interior design of the home, sustainable products and elements continue to be utilized for improved environmental quality. Ways to have improved air quality through the use of natural ventilation or even botanical accents are becoming increasingly more popular. With botanical accents, you can add color and vibrancy to the room while also improving the quality of the indoor air (especially with vegetation options like spider plants and rubber plants).
Lighting options have also gone green with such options as “living lamps” made from algae! Using nontoxic finishes and furnishings can also do wonders for the indoor environment, making sure that your home does not have and cannot release any toxic chemicals into the air around it.
Water Conservation
No matter where you live, water is a precious resource that cannot and should not be wasted. Conservation efforts have become a major concern for many homeowners, and there are ways to incorporate water conservation into your luxury home’s design. Such elements include:
- Low-flow fixtures
- Greywater systems
- Rainwater harvesting
- Xeriscaping and water-efficient landscaping options
Because water is such a precious commodity, it is often important for luxury home buyers to ensure that the designs of their homes are able to make accommodations for the preservation of water in all of its forms.
Waste Reduction and Management
Another major issue for home buyers is waste reduction. This starts at the building/construction phase and continues through into the lifestyle of the homeowners. Reducing the amount of waste produced and managing the waste that is created can be a challenge unless the proper steps are taken.
During the construction phase, there should be a waste management plan that ensures all materials which can be recycled or repurposed are not thrown away. “Upcycling” has become a trend that takes a bit of wasted material and repurposes it into something better and more luxurious than ever thought possible for that material. The construction plan should include forms of upcycling to ensure that no building materials are wasted.
Once the home is complete and the owners have begun to enjoy their new lifestyle, there should be ways to continue the waste management process. Such things as recycling and composting can easily be incorporated into the building plan so that it can become a natural part of the homeowner’s lifestyle and have a positive impact on the environment.
Find Out How to Prioritize Sustainability in Your Luxury Home
At Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty - Nancy Kowalik Group, Nancy Kowalik and our luxury real estate team understands the importance and benefits of sustainable living and how it can be incorporated into the luxury home lifestyle without sacrificing the chic style. Our team is happy to help you find the perfect sustainable luxury home in South Jersey or ensure that your construction team makes plans which incorporate all important elements of the sustainable lifestyle for you.
To get more information about prioritizing sustainability into your South Jersey luxury home, give our team a call at (856) 478-6562 or fill out the form below with the requested information to receive a detailed response from one of our skilled and experienced realtors.