Green Building: What is it and why should you do it?
“Going green” is starting to become a mainstream activity in daily life and it’s no different when it comes to the building industry. Making “greener” and more sustainable choices when doing your weekly shop isn’t very different from selecting materials to build a home.
We’ve put together some reasons why building green is the way to go.
1. What is a “Green Building”?
It’s all about being responsible with your choices. The ideal green building would be a building project that allows you to preserve most of the natural environment around the project site, while still being able to produce a building that is going to serve a purpose. The construction and operation will promote a healthy environment for all involved, and it will not disrupt the land, water, resources and energy in and around the building. This is the actual definition of a green building.
2. Why go Green?
By going green you can reduce your carbon footprint an make a positive impact on the environment. You can go green in a variety of different ways, but builders and construction workers must do their part as well. Green buildings are designed in such a way to reduce the overall impact on the environment and human health by:
A. Reducing waste, pollution and degradation of the environment.
B. Efficiently using energy, water and other resources.
C. Protecting occupant health and improving productivity.
3. How to build green?
Start by Integrating renewable and low-carbon technologies to supply buildings’ energy needs, once their design has maximised inbuilt and natural efficiencies.
Use fewer, more durable materials and generating less waste, as well as accounting for a building’s end of life stage by designing for demolition waste recovery and reuse.
Explore ways to improve drinking and wastewater efficiency and management, harvesting water for safe indoor use in innovative ways, and generally minimising water use in buildings.
Bring the fresh air inside, this will deliver good indoor air quality through ventilation, and avoiding materials and chemicals that create harmful or toxic emissions.
Incorporate natural light and views to ensure comfort and enjoyment of the surroundings, and reduce lighting energy needs in the process.
Ensure your making choices that will be resilient to unforeseen environmental events such as flooding, earthquakes or fires so that our buildings stand the test of time and keep people and their belongings safe.
Make design and structure choices that will last over time. This means you avoid the need to demolish, rebuild or significantly renovate buildings to prevent them from becoming obsolete.
Above Building is a Sydney-based residential building company specialising in home renovations and extensions. They’re passionate about choosing building processes and materials that reduce waste and are energy efficient.
This not only helps the environment, but it also saves their clients money – both in the short and long term. Reach out to the Above Building team today on 0402 626 288.