This is part of our Materials Matters blog post series. Be sure to check out the previous entries: Green Materials, Plumbing, Appliances, and Lighting.

If you're currently suffering from the heat and humidity outside, like us, then you'll understand just how important the systems are in your home.  We often focus on how warm our homes can be during a frigid New England winter, but did you know that they function just as well in summer? A BrightBuilt Home keeps you cool and free from the oppressive humidity!

There are three main components, sun-shading, insulation and air-sealing, and mechanical systems, that work together to give you a break from the summer heat.

Sun-shading: Our homes are "solar-tuned", often facing due South, which means the sun can come streaming in through those large windows in the wintertime, to take advantage of the passive heat.  This is, of course, not ideal for summer, so a BrightBuilt Home, when needed, is equipped with awnings, shading trellises, or deep overhangs to keep that summer sun from beating down on you while inside.  You'll still have that nice bright daylight, just without the heat. How can you beat that?

Insulation/Draft-free construction: Similar to how insulation and air-tightness helps keep you warm in winter, it also keeps you cool in summer, by limiting the transfer of heat though your walls, floors, and ceilings.  As a function of the high-performance envelope of the home, in summer time the cool will stay in, and the heat and humidity will stay out!

Mechanical Systems: The benefit of using Air-source heat pumps to heat your home is that they also have a cooling function - Perfect for getting a blast of cold air when you need it.  Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV) also play a large part in mitigating that humidity - when the air exchange happens (bringing fresh air in, and taking stale air out) the ERV core does not allow humidity to transfer.  Pretty cool!

Of course, all of this to say, you can feel comfortable in your home no matter what's going on outside, AND it doesn't have to cost you much (or anything)!

(Our Mackworth, shown in the pictures above, serves as a perfect model to illustrate some of those cool features we speak of.  Take a peak at the design!)

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