BluHomes Maya Achieved EDGE ADVANCED Green Building Certificate

Our homes need to be built with nature in mind. This is our belief in BluHomes, a brand of homes that are certified eco-friendly, developed by Aztala Corporation.
 
Upon its inception, Aztala Corporation believes that a business must not be just a profit-generating machine. A business must also push the society forward and make the world better in its own capacity. With this mindset, the company shifted its focus on developing homes that are green and eco-friendly with minimal impact to the natural environment. In October 2018, the name BluHomes was trademarked in the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines as the brand of homes that are green and eco-friendly.​
 
BluHomes Maya, Aztala’s second BluHomes development, is a testament to that. It has achieved its EDGE Advanced Certificate with 53% energy savings, 40% water savings, and 74% savings on embodied energy in materials. Each home will be able to save 0.51 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year in its operation because of its green features. That is equivalent to planting 8.3 tree seedlings per year grown for 10 years, according to the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator of the US Environment Protection Agency website. To achieve this, each home in BluHomes Maya is designed and built using 3 strategies: passive design, energy efficiency and water efficiency.

Passive Design Strategies

The roof overhang of BluHomes Maya is 0.8 meters deep, almost double the conventional, to provide more shadow and reduce direct sunlight from hitting the external walls. Reflective paints were used for the façade and roof to reduce heat being absorbed into the home. Under the roof is a 2” thick glass wool insulation to reduce the heat transfer from the roof.
 
A native tree, endemic to the Philippines, called Gakakan Tree is planted on the front yard of each home in BluHomes Maya to promote our own native forestry. The front yard is semi-landscaped with full grass to encourage the future homeowner to plant on their yard and not to convert it into a concrete garage. Perforated pavers with grass were used for sidewalk inside BluHomes instead of pure concrete. These are all to make the surroundings cooler, provide oxygen to the homeowners, and contribute in lessening the heat island effect.
 
100% operable casement windows were used, instead of the conventional sliding windows, to maximize the entry of fresh air from the outside. Insect screens were provided to encourage the homeowner to open their windows and not worry about insects coming in. Ceiling height inside BluHomes Maya is 2.5 meters high, and based on that ceiling height and the size of each room, the size of windows were calculated to balance the natural ventilation, natural light, and excess heat from the windows. Exterior ceiling eaves were provided with vents to allow the trapped heat inside the attic to escape instead of penetrating into the home.

Energy Efficiency Strategies

All these passive design strategies will be able to reduce the energy demand, most especially from cooling. To top it off, each home in BluHomes Maya is provided with 540 Watt-peak grid-tied solar panels to provide clean energy to the home. LED light bulbs were used to also reduce the energy demand and to lessen the induced heat brought about by other conventional bulbs.

Water Efficiency Strategies

​Dual-flush water closets were used in the toilets of BluHomes Maya with a low-water consumption of 3 liters and 6 liters per flush for the small button and the big button, respectively. Low-flow faucets with a flow rate of only 6 liters per minute were used for the lavatory and kitchen sink. Low-flow shower heads were also used. These water-saving strategies will be able to save 69 cubic meters of clean water per year per home.
 
BluHomes Maya is composed of 8 single-attached homes, each with 2 stories, 3 bedrooms, 2 toilets & baths, 1 car garage, 62sqm floor area and 52.5sqm lot area. Each home is fully-finished complete with tiles, ceilings, partitions and final paint. It is located in Kamagong Street, Amparo Village, Barangay 179, North Caloocan City.
 
BluHomes envisions a nation where all homes are green and eco-friendly, powered solely by clean energy. How will we make this happen? By continuous learning, improvement and innovation, we envision future BluHomes developments to achieve zero carbon.