Ecological Construction
How does green construction help protect the environment?
The general public now has increased awareness to ecological changes, global warming processes and air pollution. If formerly ecological construction mainly concerned green organizations, today it is a popular, well-accepted construction method even in the eyes of those who have no connection to such organizations.
Awareness to environmental damage has been engrained deeply into the minds of many, and this is what has been leading entrepreneurs and contractors to prefer green construction over conventional building methods, as well as encouragement from government and public entities. Stringent planning of every step of the building process – including future environmental and economic implications – is an important part of the advanced methods used in green construction.
Green construction does not only involve quiet construction or avoidance of environmental damage. It also views the correct planning of the house’s location as an important contribution to environmental preservation.
Green construction is measured in two main areas:
Firstly, its implications on the environment where the house is constructed, and secondly – its implications on the house itself.
The implications on the house itself are reflected in the type of materials from which the house is made, the types of energy used in its construction, reuse of water, waste recycling, sealing and insulation with the purpose of maintaining room temperature, and the ways in which the ecological home can maximize natural lighting from the environment.
What are the implications of green construction on the environment?
The environmental implications have to do with the amount of destruction and contamintion caused by the building process. It is well known that conventional construction generates large amounts of environmental waste. The noise created by the machines and workers is immense. Dust and gasoline fumes are a constant part of the view, as well as additional interferences. When green construction is used at the construction site, interference to the neighbors is minimal.
A major part of the green construction process takes place in factories where large parts of the building are produced, and therefore construction time is considerably reduced. Additionally, the number of workers is very small, and only professional workers can be seen at the site. When there is no need to build walls or floors or to work with plaster and other building materials, the amount of fumes and waste is very small. Dust, which is a constant side effect of conventional construction methods, is almost never seen at the construction site, and the gasoline fumes which are emitted from plaster production machines are nonexistent, because there is no need to produce plaster when the walls and floors are made at the factory and shipped to the construction site.
How does green construction contribute to reduced air pollution?
Green construction assists to reducing air pollution in many ways. In addition to the ways specified earlier – minimal production of dust and waste at the construction site – there are other ways such as use of recycled water, use of perishable raw materials, and increased use of the natural resources that can be found in the surrounding area. In green construction, it is customary to use priming and finishing materials (plaster and paint) that are considered to be friendly to the environment. These materials are produced in a process that is free of toxins, and they do not generate environmental pollution when they are produced.
An important principle of green construction is the use of recycled or environment friendly raw materials. These materials have been tested and found to be non-toxic and have no negative effect on the environment or the user. The extensive use of solar energy during construction reduces the need to use energy types that are produced from electricity or gasoline, which are some of the best known causes of air pollution.