Tips for building a green home
As people become more and more aware of what is happening to the environment, they are looking for more and more ways to help preserve the environment and reduce their own harmful impact on the world and the atmosphere. One of the ways that you can incorporate more environementally-friendly practices and habits into your life is by building a green home that helps the environment in both construction and the way that you live your day-to-day life within that green home.
Before we get into tips about how you can build a green home, let us begin by defining exactly what building a green home means.
What is a green home?
Experts agree that there are five main characteristics that define a green building. Here are those five characteristics.
Five characteristics of a green building
1. A green home has an environmentally friendly site or "footprint"
What is an environmentally friendly site? An environmentally friendly site for you home positions your home in order to maximize its exposure to sunlight so that you have more natural heat and light, along with good shade to cool your home in the summer. Also, you should reduce your impact on the area where you build your home: don't clear cut your home lot. Only remove the trees and the foliage that is necessary for construction. Also, try to construct your home near services and shopping centers so that you don't have to drive long distances.
2. Use energy efficient materials and designs to reduce HVAC loss.
There are a number of different designs and materials that you can use in order to build a tighter home that does not let outside air inside the home. This approach to building a home helps you control your inside climate much more easily. You should also use LED lights instead of the incadescent light bulbs that most people tend to use. Ensure that you only purchase Energy Star certified appliances.
3. Use low-flow water fixtures
In the last few years, technology has stepped up to make low-flow water fixtures easy to install, easy to use, and excellent at reducing your water consumption. No longer do low-flow showers make for an unpleasant an ineffective showering experience; instead, low-flow fixtures are essentially impossible to tell from traditional high flow water fixtures.
4. Promote a healthy indoor air environment
Ensure that you install some sort of fresh air ventilation so that keeping the outside air outside doesn't have a negative effect on your indoor air quality.
5. Use sustainable products in your home design and your home construction
Ensure that your builders and your ocntractor use sustainable products in building your home. Use optimal value engineered joists and beams. Recycle job site waste and use it for mulch in your new yard. Use roofing materials that are going to last for a long time: look at metal or cement tile roofing instead of shingles.
Other tips for building a green home include looking carefully at different home construction materials, such as bamboo floors that last for a long time yet are much more sustainable and replaceable than other types of wood. There are toilets that you can purchase that use much less water than traditional toilets. Compost all of your waste instead of throwing it away. Put in skylights for more light within your home so that you don't have to use so many light bulbs. Simple changes in your every day life will help you protect the environment.
