Environmental Impact On Building New Homes
The building of a new home will require many personal undertakings, which means that you can easily forget about the environmental impacts. When dealing with your budgets, crew coordination and the building permits, you are more likely to focus on the effects of the building on your body and mind. But after taking one step outside the busy mind, the effects of the construction on the environment will be clear. Even though the effects are never positive, you should take several steps to reduce the impacts of your home on the environment..
– The materials and energy usage
Statistics show that the United States renders around 160 million tons of demolition and construction debris. That alone accounts for around two-thirds of the non-industrial waste generated in the country. The available data shows that around 20-30 per cent of the rubbish skips in Melbourne includes concrete, asphalt, wood and metals that is collectable and recyclable.
If not recycled, the waste can occupy landfill spaces and consume energy for transportation to the waste site and storage. Apart from the construction energy expenditure, including fuel during transportation in addition to gas and electricity during the construction, homes account for around 39 per cent of energy consumption within the US. That includes the water consumption of the country, nearly 68 per cent of the electricity consumption and around 38 per cent of the carbon dioxide emissions.
The standards
Environmental Protection Agency has proposed numerous guidelines restricting effects of buildings on the environment. A quick example, Effluent Limitation Guidelines have been limiting stormwater discharge from the construction sites and require builders to get the right permit when disturbing a large portion of land. The Endangered Species Act forbids contractors from building houses in environmental areas such as endangered species habitats and wetlands. The organization along with the local governments has been offering many assistance programs to assist homebuilders to use materials that minimize energy usage and environmental impacts. The state, federal and city governments have imposed eco-friendly building codes to encourage energy-efficient heating systems, water-efficient plumbing and indoor pollution control.
Go green
To reduce the impacts of your homebuilding on the environment, you should adopt the green sustainable building methods. The methods include post-consumer or recycled content and renewable resources like certified wood and the locally available components. Any non-toxic material and product that emit volatile organic compounds minimize harmful chemical emissions while water conserving fixtures and solar panels reduce the use of energy use in the long term.
Buildings are responsible for a very large percentage of water use and a large percentage of the wasted water. The construction site uses around 13.6 per cent of potable water that is roughly 15 trillion gallons each year.
To conclude, green construction methods will help you meet all the homebuilding codes and regulations in addition to making your home energy efficient. The process affects the surrounding environment positively. Green building will encourage biodiversity and protect the local eco-systems in addition to minimizing waste streams and improving the local water and air quality. Lastly, the practice will reduce your operating costs and maximize the home’s life-cycle economic performance. In other words, you will benefit economically when selling the home.
