Sustainable Building Practices And Procedures

June 30th, 2010 by Steve Evans

The construction industry is one of the main areas impacted by the increasing popularity of the green movement. Home building, sustainable design, green building materials and green architecture principles present exciting challenges in the area of sustainable building.

Sustainable building is also known as green building or green construction. Sustainable building involves practices and procedures ranging from choosing a site to designing, building, maintaining, and renovating. These practices and procedures concern themselves with efficient energy, water, and resource use, and the reduction of waste and environmental degradation, among others.

Sustainable building aims to lessen the environmental impact of construction. Since buildings contribute to a great deal of our land use, water and resource consumption and atmospheric alteration, reducing this influence is vital to maintaining the health of our population and planet. Sustainable building brings a wide array of materials, practices, and products to the development and design of eco-friendly construction. These projects often highlight solar and/or wind elements for the conversion and creation of energy, alternative building materials, and green building concepts to achieve the goal of low-impact construction.

Some of the main objectives of sustainable building include:

Siting and structure design efficiency (minimizing the total environmental impact associated with all life-cycle stages of the building project.)
Materials efficiency (using green materials such as renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw, lumber from sustainably managed forests, and a range of non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and recyclable products.)
Operations and maintenance optimization (applying green practices such as recycling and air quality enhancement.)
Indoor environmental quality enhancement (reducing volatile organic compounds and other air impurities such as microbial contaminants.)
Water efficiency (using “greywater”, or wastewater from sources such as dishwashing or washing machines, for irrigation and non-potable purposes like flushing toilets and washing cars.)

While techniques and products in the green building industry are constantly evolving, the aims remain the same. That is to create buildings with an awareness of efficient design, efficient energy, efficient water and natural resources, enhancement of indoor environment quality, and toxin and waste reduction. Optimizing one or more of these standards is the essence of sustainable building.

The aesthetics involved in sustainable building is the principle to incorporate a design that is harmonious with the natural surroundings and resources. Some key processes in designing green construction are the utilization of green products from local suppliers, reducing loads, optimizing systems, and generating renewable energy on-site.

Sustainable building must include measures to reduce the building’s energy use. This ranges from solar design to energy conserving window treatments and highly efficient insulation. Designers may orient windows, walls, awnings, and porches to create shade in summer and maximize solar effect during winter months. Window and glass placement can also maximize the natural light, reducing energy use for illumination.

A building’s environmental impact is significantly reduced by the introduction of on-site renewable energy generation such as solar power, wind energy, or biomass. The most expensive item to add to any building is power generation.

Another key element in sustainable building is water conservation. This may be achieved using various methods. The use of low-flow toilets and low-flow showerheads greatly reduces water consumption. In sustainable building, it is a good idea to consider replacing toilets with bidets because the elimination of toilet paper reduces sewer traffic and increases the possibility of re-using water on-site.

The use of green materials is vital in sustainable building. Many green alternative building materials are available for all aspects of construction. The building market is one of the fastest growing green-aware wholesale and retail concerns. The building industry appears to have very quickly grasped the consumer and contractor demand for sustainable construction products. Because of this, it is relatively simple to find eco-friendly construction materials for green building. There are practically thousands of green alternative products available to builders everywhere.

Through the above examples, you can easily see that sustainable building is a thorough and devoted construction process that achieves eco-friendly, low-impact, environmentally conscious results.

To learn more about ways to go green, save money and help the planet, go here to receive a FREE green living tip delivered to your email inbox daily: Sustainable Living Tips