HBD has tools to calculate the rate of energy output from your new home based on differing building materials.
By changing those materials, we can calculate the advantages in energy costs over a period of time, compared to any additional costs for the materials. This cost - benefit analysis is done for every home we design, to ensure that you, the owner, have the best opportunity to build an asset, not a liability.
For example, we favour triple glazing and high-performance claddings such as hemp-lime plaster. However, these products do come, unfortunately, at a higher cost, so doing the analysis of various scenarios can determine the pay-back period for each option and thus enable much easier decision making on which materials to use.
It is becoming increasingly common overseas, and will be the same here before too long, for banks lending mortgage funds to have some interest in the energy efficiency of your new home, as that determines, because of the lower energy bills, how well the debt can be repaid without risk.