The trend toward sustainability and lower emissions has created the possibility to have buildings that have a positive impact on the environment and on the people.
Green Building Definition
Green building refers to a building that through design, construction and operation can reduce or even eliminate its negative effect on nature, and creates a positive impact on the climate and the environment.
To have a positive impact on the environment and the people living inside, a green home will always have a reduced carbon footprint, will use less resources to operate (energy and water), and will create a healthier and comfier environment for all the people that live or only visit the house.
What is a Green Building?
To become ‘green’, a building must meet certain conditions such as:
1. Use energy, water and other resources in an efficient way.
2. Generate renewable energy such as solar or wind power.
3. Reduce its carbon footprint, and implement waste management measures: reduce, reuse and recycle.
4. Ensure good indoor air quality through proper ventilation.
5. Use materials that are sustainable, ethical and non-toxic to construct the building.
6. Consider environmental protection implemented through design, construction and operation of the building.
7. Improve the quality of life for those living in the building through design, construction and operation.
8. A design that can adapt to a changing environment.
Any building can become a green building despite the fact that is your home, a school, an office, a hospital or even a community centre, the only condition being to meet the above conditions.
What Are The Principles Of Green Building?
A green building uses principles taken from passive houses combined with ideas specific to smart homes.
The passive house concept is a building standard used to design and build homes to be more energy efficient than a conventional building.
To achieve this goal, the building is enhanced with extra insulation in its walls, a sealed layer is created around the building to prevent any heat from escaping outside the building, etc.
A smart building is empowered by technology and data. Such a building uses real-time information technology during the building operation to connect systems that usually operate independently.
The user can read and analyze the information provided by the smart systems to optimize the whole building’s performance to improve the comfort of all the occupants of the building.
How To Turn A Home Into A Green Building?
To be sure that you get a green building that meets the standards, you should always use the services provided by a green building company.
1. Highly Insulated Building Envelope
In order to make your home green, you have to be sure that your building envelope (the walls, the roof, the floor, the doors and the windows) is very well insulated.
This means better insulation of the walls (even if they continue to breathe) and better performing windows.
2. House Gets Sealed
In order to properly seal the house from the elements, every window and door opening will be sealed at every seam and at every penetration.
3. Advanced Framing Techniques
Better framing means less ‘heat bridges’ in the house, so heat will no longer be lost in the outside air.
4. More Efficient Appliances
Once the house is well insulated and you are no longer losing heat through the walls, doors, windows or the roof, you can start replacing the older appliances with new and greener ones that will reduce your electricity bill even more.
Besides appliances, the light bulbs used inside the house will also be replaced with LED bulbs that are more efficient and live much longer compared to the conventional light bulbs.
5. Third Party Testing
An independent company will be hired to test the airtightness of your green home.
This will include a “blower door” test to verify if the insulation was properly made.
Conclusion
A green building can reduce your energy consumption for heating demand, which will lower the energy bills, and because is a healthy building, the comfort of the people living in the house will be improved.
Protecting the environment while saving money is everything you need to live in harmony with nature.
