From Guest Blogger Brooke Chaplan: How to Build a Better, More Earth-friendly Home in 2017
Being environmentally intelligent is part of society’s psyche today as more people try to reduce their impact on the land and resources. You might be planning to build a house with eco-friendly intentions too. As 2017 moves forward, there are several ways to incorporate earth-friendly living into a new, home construction.
Choose Recycled Products
Chopping down trees to create wood for your home isn’t environmentally friendly. You have many more options in today’s marketplace because recycled products can be used. They might come from recycled paper, tires and other tough resources. Research recycled products because they’re often less expensive than unsustainable items. Recycled products may even look and function better on your home once it’s up and running. Reusing any products will reduce your impact on the land.
Focus on Solar Energy
When you’re building a home, it’s the perfect time to incorporate solar panels. Install the panels on a new roof, or create a support on the ground for paneling in large numbers. Construction crews snake the solar wiring into the structure so that it’s seamless from an exterior glance. Harnessing the sun’s energy reduces your fossil-fuel consumption while giving you the opportunity to sell back that extra fuel to the electric company. Society and the earth benefit from this one action alone.
Suggest an Environmental Assessment
Before the home is built at all, consider an environmental assessment of the plans and surrounding area. Some companies, like Geotech Testing Pty Ltd, know that certain construction materials may be toxic to the groundwater nearby, which would be caught during an assessment process. Designers use that information to create a more eco-friendly plan that works in harmony with the land and nearby resources. Endangered animals, critical bodies of water, and other natural elements need to be taken into consideration when a new home is being designed.
Building With Orientation in Mind
Build a more earth-friendly home by paying attention to the structure’s orientation to the sun. Naturally warm the home with south-facing windows that take advantage of the sun’s low angle during the winter. Opt for windows on the north side of the home if the region is hot nearly year-round, such as in desert locations. By using less electricity for comfort, the home becomes friendlier to the earth.
Select contractors who have the same goal in mind when it comes to earth-friendly building. They’ll have the training and creative concepts to improve your new home’s design. By the end of the project, you’ll have a home that can practically improve the environment with its presence.
Most of these articles on building “green” homes assume that a large lot way out from town is available. Although some people do live in such areas, most of us are urbanized and live where lot sizes are limited, building codes apply, and there may be home owners’ associations which greatly limit what can be built. Also, when living out from town like that, one would probably be beyond the reach of public transportation and more dependent on a private car. That would undo some of the environmental advantages of having a “green” house.
It would be more helpful to advise how to build “green” homes in an urban area which is already built up and where a lot size is perhaps 50 feet by 100 feet and the orientation of the house cannot be optimized to be as energy efficient as possible. Also, considering that many people live in rental apartments or condominia, it would be helpful to advise how to design them to be energy efficient.
Advising the elite how to be environmentally friendly has its place, but giving advice to us common people would be more helpful.