[SportyandMisty]

Minimizing west-facing and east-facing glass helps quite a bit with respect to summertime comfort.

[ragabnh]

I lived in two story home for 12 years around 2140 sq ft, now I live in 3000 sq ft one story home. My utility bills are lower now. Second story is always hotter and it had separate A/C unit which worked continuously during summer months, not so much for the lower story. Two story home faces North, one story faces South.

I would definitely prefer one story home and was my main criteria besides location during the purchase process.

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by ragabnh

I lived in two story home for 12 years around 2140 sq ft, now I live in 3000 sq ft one story home. My utility bills are lower now. Second story is always hotter and it had separate A/C unit which worked continuously during summer months, not so much for the lower story. Two story home faces North, one story faces South.

I would definitely prefer one story home and was my main criteria besides location during the purchase process.

putting on my engineers hat two stories are inherently cheaper to cool than one stories. The rooms on the second story of a two story are equivalent to the rooms in a single story. The rooms on the first floor of a two story are inherently better insulated than the rooms in a single story due to the story above them.
Two stories are also cheaper to build and use less land than a one story.

There are of course other factors that can make any specific two story worse than some specific one story. But the two stories are inherently more energy efficient than a one story.

Zoning of the AC in any house can have a vast impact. We virtually never run both zones in our single story. At night the bedroom half - during the day the living area half. In fact there is enough spillover between the zones that the non AC zone is only 6 or 8 degrees warmer than the cooled zone.

Being semi-crippled I would not want to live in a two story...though I did so for virtually all my life except childhood and the last 20 years.

[ragabnh]

I respect your engineering talent, could you please explain as to why my two story smaller home was less energy efficient than my one story bigger home. There is a temperature difference of around 3 degrees in favor of the one story home, however rates were less 10 years ago.

[weidner6]

Originally Posted by ragabnh

I respect your engineering talent, could you please explain as to why my two story smaller home was less energy efficient than my one story bigger home. There is a temperature difference of around 3 degrees in favor of the one story home, however rates were less 10 years ago.

Better insulated more modern home?

[Downtown Dave]

Originally Posted by Nn2036

Most roof in new Vegas house is concrete so it will be better than the cheap asphalt shingles of Dallas houses.

Concrete Roof? I have never heard of such a thing. Please elaborate.

[Danknee]

Originally Posted by Downtown Dave

Concrete Roof? I have never heard of such a thing. Please elaborate.

Concrete roof tiles. Last forever, just have to replace the tar paper underneath every few decades.

[OmegaSupreme]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

Last March I had some wind damage that forced me to replace my roof. I went with white energy star shingles because there is a $500 tax credit. White is the way to go! My electric bills were almost $100 per month cheaper than last year plus the house heats up much slower with a white roof.

That's very encouraging.

I just hope white paint has a similar effect. I am also hoping to replace the window in the master bedroom with an argon gas / energy efficient window (low noise would be nice too), but I understand window replacement isn't cheap.

[orca17]

Basically it comes down to this: Land is very expensive in the Las Vegas area. Building two story homes is a way to put more square footage on smaller plots of land.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

That's very encouraging.

I just hope white paint has a similar effect. I am also hoping to replace the window in the master bedroom with an argon gas / energy efficient window (low noise would be nice too), but I understand window replacement isn't cheap.

Take a look at krypton-filled and xenon-filled windows, as both those gases are denser than argon (and normal air) and hence provide somewhat better insulation, but at a price premium. There used to be a couple manufacturers who made a krypton/xenon blend insulated window; maybe there still are.

Depending how nerdy you want to get, you could contact the Insulating Glass Manufacturer's Alliance https://www.igmaonline.org/ to understand their certification processes for their member manufacturers. Or just contact some of their Board of Directors, each of whom works in the glass industry, to get information on their residential products. https://www.igmaonline.org/about/board-of-directors/