Green Building – A More Sustainable Construction Solution For Modern Homes & Commercial Structures
Today, whether you admit it or not, everyone is talking about being more eco-friendly and going green – at some point. With greater and more peerless impacts on a global level, the green revolution has been found to amplify its wings to sectors including constructions and developments. This is because at the rate the globe is changing and being affected due to pollution, global warming, ice glacier melting, etc., it now has become highly essential to make the earth more and more sustainable. It also indicates an undeniable fact, i.e. over the years, we are going to run out of some specific natural resources that are indispensable for human survival. Indeed, this is an alarm for the human society which eventually has made people focus on Green Construction today.
Are you ready to contribute to global objectives like forming sustainable societies, addressing climate changes, and driving cost-effective growth? Let’s dive a bit deeper and find out what Green Construction is, how it is beneficial, and what the goals can be achieved by following this global movement!
What Is A Green Building?
A ‘green building’ is a structure where, right from the design to construction and operations, are intended to reduce or eliminate the negative impacts on ecology and to create positive, more sustainable impacts on our environment, climate, and natural resources. By reducing and recycling waste materials, preserving natural resources like sunlight, water, and wood, protecting natural air supply, and limiting the consumption of natural energy, Green Building Contractors in Palo Alto is creating extremely efficient structures to create a sustainable world.
As statistics indicate:
- Green Buildings consume nearly 40 – 50 % less energy than traditional constructions.
- Sustainable construction designs put away 20 – 30 % less water than the normal structures.
- Green buildings with sustainable designs and architectural designs reduce greenhouse effects, global warming, ozone layer depletion, etc.
- Today, 91% of owners globally prefer energy-efficient approaches for buildings, and 69% do so on most of their projects.
- 97% of construction companies and builders are following green approaches for 50% of their projects.
- The return on investment and the quality of indoor living of a green building are way higher than the traditional buildings.
Sustainable, Eco-Friendly, & Ground-Breaking Construction Designs To Trust In 2021
As we are moving into the new revolutionary eras, sustainability has become a key concern for global construction teams. The modern construction industry is firmly driven by the higher expectations of clients, regarding the sustainability of the structure and its advantageousness towards the ecology. A few years back, the topics like how to develop maintainable buildings, how to tap into natural resource conversion in the construction industry, and how to contribute to the world’s sustainability was an argumentative and forthrightly confusing issue.
But today, with the advance of competing for environmental-friendly construction methodologies, tools, and standards; it has become easier to achieve a sustainable prospect, starting with the development of Energy Efficient Homes and green buildings. Green Construction Services are especially focused on preserving precious natural resources and improving the quality of life, through sustainable practices of building development. Using the certification standards, constructions also can be easily measured if they are adhering to the green building doctrine or not.
To help simplify, let’s take a look at the importance of sustainable buildings or high-performance buildings.
Importance Of Eco-Friendly Initiative For Modern Homes And Commercial Building Development
‘Green Construction’ or also known as ‘Sustainable Design’ is a smart method of using construction resources wisely to create sustainable, biodegradable, high-quality, and more energy-efficient residential and commercial buildings – with minimal risks or vulnerabilities to the ecology, climate, and quality of human life. Green building construction is a revolutionary practice of increasing the buildings’ energy efficiency by saving water, energy, and resource materials while reducing their impacts on the environment and human health. These buildings are free from toxic chemical treatments.
It is primarily a way for resource conservation and harmonizing between high-quality building manufacture and eco-friendly construction for ensuring the near-to-the-ground environmental impacts. Architects and designers today are tapping into the existing resources and recycling them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Right from the conceptualization to manufacturing, designing, resource assembly, and operation of the structure – each bit of the project is responsible for the minimal consumption of the natural resources with greater efficiency towards energy saving, maintaining sustainability, and eco-friendliness.
Key Features Of Green Buildings
Green Construction Services come with a number of key features in order to ensure that the building is labeled as ‘GREEN’. Any building – be it’s a residential property, a commercial edifice, a school, a community center, hospital, or any other type of construction – can be called as Green Building, if it includes some specific features while designing and operating. However, talking about the features, not all green buildings are – and ought to be – the same, considering the different climatic conditions of different places.
Different regions have a whole range of different climatic characteristics like distinguishing surroundings, unique cultures, different lifestyles, diverse building types, and across-the-board environmental, social, and economic priorities. So, all these aspects, in sum simultaneously contribute to shaping the approach to green building in different states and nations. That’s why Green Building Contractor in cities like Palo Alto focuses on the development of green constructions that are best suited to their own environments and markets. However, some common features which are must be built-in in a green building are:
- Resourceful use of water, energy, and other natural resources
- Consumption of sustainable and renewable energies like solar energy for development
- Adhering to the strict measures of Pollution control and waste reduction
- Enabling of re-use and salvaging of materials used for the development
- Infusing healthy and pollution-free indoor environmental air quality
- Use of non-toxic, ethical, and sustainable materials for different structures
- Fostering the approaches for Material efficiency including minimum use of resources without compromising the quality of the building
- Use of long-lasting, natural, recyclable, and reusable resources and products for achieving optimal material efficiency
- Consideration of the eco-friendliness in conceptualization, designing, construction, and operations
- Contemplation of the quality of life while designing and developing the building
- Ensuring a sustainable design that empowers adaptation to the changing environments and ecology
- Avoiding the use of coal and other toxic greenhouse gasses to lessen climate change and global warming
Highlighting Major Benefits Of Green Construction
Almost all the urbane constructions can and are having – several adverse effects on their environment and surrounding ecology. The modern constructions habitually adopt the pathway of heavy production works which involves consumption of a large chunk of our natural resources and green space – thus further intensifying the adverse impacts of non-sustainability on the existing ecological concerns, including excessive natural resource consumptions, climate change, and environmental dilapidation. To our surprise, as a recent study stated, construction buildings are responsible for almost 40 percent of the global energy-related CO2.
A ‘green building’, being a ground-breaking construction undertaking, plays a major role in the sustainable transformations of the world. It ensures more eco-friendliness and sustainability in its designs, constructions, and operation; by using Green materials like recycled decking materials and eco-friendly roofing. Green buildings, which are LEED licensed, are specially designed to reduce the overall deleterious impacts on the ecosystem, surroundings, and human health by following different measures and standards. The major perks associated with green building constructions are:
Living A Green Standard Of Living
With the rising concerns for the conservation of ecosystem and environment; Sustainable Design continues to grow in popularity across Palo Alto. Sustainable architectural designs are discovering new approaches to preserve the ecosystem and to reduce the carbon footprint. With Green Home Improvement designs; you can be live a more sustainable lifestyle while protecting tomorrow’s generations.
Improved Quality Of Life
We all know how important our surroundings are for ensuring us a good quality of life. With sustainable architectural designs for your building, you can easily make your lifestyle more sustainable and enjoy improved natural lighting sources, healthy thermal conditions, effective ergonomic features, upgraded air quality, and a better-quality indoor environment.
Saving Water Resources
One of the greatest benefits of green buildings is that they are resourceful for water-saving. Green buildings come with advanced plumbing fixtures to ensure the highest energy adeptness, water competence, and natural resource efficiency. Green architecture auto purifies water and decreases water wastage by recycling it and preserve clean water sources for a sustainable future.
Shared Resources & Better Efficiency
With more and more construction projects are taking place; the shared resources are being endangered. With advanced and sustainable mechanisms being used in Energy Efficient Homes, we can easily preserve vital resources like water and energy. Sustainable technologies ensure the resources to be recycled and no-waste practice can be ensured.
Low Operational & Maintenance Cost
Another tangible benefit of green buildings is their low operating and maintenance costs. These structures are specially engineered with fixtures that reduce energy expenditures and water bills, thus saving you millions on your annual utility outlays. Though the upfront cost of green building can be a little higher, in the long-run, it saves you loads.
Reduction Of Carbon Footprint
Green initiatives always help you reduce the emission of carbon dioxide in many forms; thus dropping the carbon footprint. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), construction buildings are accountable for the emission of 30% greenhouse gases. With green building concepts; the greenhouse gas emission can be condensed and natural resources can be saved.
Green Construction Goals To Achieve
- One of the major goals of promoting green construction is to avoid the negative impacts of the built environment on vegetation, topsoil, animal behavior, water cycles, and biodiversity. Green building ensures the healthy functioning of the ecology and planetary systems that are needed for the world’s survival.
- Utilizing and recycling natural resources through sustainable timber harvesting, recyclable cultivation, and quarrying and processing, manufacturing, and using them in the most eco-friendly and recyclable ways possible. Using sustainable building materials will help to preserve the environment in long run.
- Instead of generating energy from non-renewable sources like coal, gas, and oil, energy-efficient or green buildings will focus more on using recyclable and eco-friendly energy sources which in turn reduce the carbon footprint of the construction sector.
- Appropriate water usage, harvesting, recycling, and conservation are a few major goals of the green building movement. It can make a significant impact on preserving water. The water used for cooking, cleaning, sanitation, and industrial processes can be recycled and reused time and again.
- Normal buildings generate trillions of waste during their lifetimes. But green buildings recycle the waste – in their entire forms, i.e. liquid, solid, and gas and make them suitable for reuse in different other sectors, thus ensuring better waste management.
- Fostering better economic, social, and financial sustainability is another tangible goal of the green construction movement. By recycling the energy, water, and operational materials; the green building can significantly contribute towards the social, economic, and financial sustainability of the owner and help reducing dearth and monetary hardships.
Closing Note
In standard buildings, where the levels of energy consumption and wastage of water are higher and high-cost bills are generated every month; sustainable buildings have turned out to be a revolutionary concept for homeowners. With minimal usage of energy, materials, and water; and more focused designs for optimized energy consumption, conservation of natural resources, and recycled methods for waste; Green Building Contractors are crafting greener, healthier, and more sustainable living and working spaces for occupants in Palo Alto.
Infusing energy-efficient appliances, LED lighting, and highly efficient HVAC systems are few common approaches followed by most homeowners while the majority of them want high-performance ventilation systems for their entire building. And as per statistical figures, the market for green buildings is predicted to hit $150.95 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 9.03%. Homeowners and growing customers’ demands are unstoppably driving the green-home movement and soon there will be a time, where all buildings in Palo Alto will be labeled as “Green Building”.