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Green building (or sustainable building) is a design and construction practice that enables you to be more responsible with energy and natural resources. Whether you're building or remodeling a home, green building is a logical and economical choice. The more time you spend in the initial planning of your sustainable home building or home remodeling project, the more time and money you'll save during construction.
Consider the following issues at the beginning of the green design process:
- Go for a smaller home instead of a large one. Many people have a tendency to build the largest home they can afford, only to find the large home a waste of space and expensive to heat and cool. Create multipurpose spaces — such as a home office that doubles as a guest room.
- Make the structure adaptable to other uses; choose materials and components that can be reused or recycled. Avoid putting anything painted outside; it will have to be repainted every three to five years. Use unfinished, natural materials instead.
- Add to your existing home instead of building new. Remodeling your home is a form of recycling. Before assuming you need to build something entirely new, consider putting an addition on your home instead. Alternatively, going up is usually cheaper than spreading out; a multistory home reduces the impact on the landscape. Take the money you save and put it into more important things, like solar panels.
- Work with green professionals. Building or remodeling a green home is much easier when you work with sympathetic professionals. Choose people already familiar with green building practices. From green financing to green contractors, everyone on your team can find ways to protect the environment and save you money at the same time.
- Make it easy to recycle. Early on, make provisions for storing recyclables. For example, install recycling and compost bins in the kitchen.
- Choose healthy and low-toxic materials. Commit to using only healthy materials in your new home.
- Select recycled and sustainably harvested products. In the early parts of design, you probably already have ideas for finishes. (For example, you may already know what kind of floor you want in your living room.) Order samples early so you're ready to choose the right one.
- Design for alternative construction techniques. Don't just assume you'll build your new house out of wood. Several alternative construction methods may be better choices.
- Design an energy-efficient building. Making an efficient building is the easiest thing you can do to save energy. Use high levels of insulation, high-performance windows, and tight construction. Consider solar water heating and solar cells, or design the roof for future solar panel installation.
- Consider a graywater system. Save soapy water from bathing, dishwashing, or clothes washing and reuse it for flushing toilets or irrigating the garden.
- Design water-efficient, low-maintenance landscaping. Lawns require a great deal of maintenance, pesticides, and mowing. Avoid this high impact with native and natural landscaping. Collect rainwater for watering your garden.
- Avoid potential health hazards, including radon, mold, and pesticides. The issues of mold and radon are important concerns. Protect your home by designing to reduce their risk. Design insect-resistant detailing to reduce the use of pesticides.
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