Green Construction the Current Trend

Green Construction

The current trend to "go green" is observable almost everywhere one looks. Cities are considering ordinances that ban the use of plastic shopping bags, consumers are searching for products made from recyclable materials, and many individuals are becoming more conscious of the amount of fossil fuels they use. New innovations for increasing the benefits we can derive from our environment while reducing our impact on it at the same time arrive almost daily, it seems, and this trend only appears to be getting larger.

There are several identifiable areas into which green innovations can be grouped. Many projects touch on several of these aspects, but they can still be assessed independently. Sustainability refers to the use of resources that can be drawn on indefinitely without environmental loss; bamboo products are a good example. General efficiency, both in the use of energy and the reduction of waste, is also an important green concept (BEST 2009).

Nowhere is the green drive more apparent than in the construction industry, where not only can building green save consumers money over the long-term and minimize environmental impact, but it also provides a way for construction companies to set themselves apart in a market saturated with competition (ADPSR 2009). The aim of green building is to minimize the impact that a home has on the environment without sacrificing expectations of comfort and cost to consumers, which can often be a complicated and difficult task (ADPSR 2009). Luckily there are many innovations in building materials, basic utility infrastructure, and other areas of construction that ease the task (BEST 2009).

In the area of sustainability, the choice of building materials is one of the most essential. The use of renewable materials is excellent when possible as it ensures that the environmental costs of building the house will be paid off in months instead of decades (BEST 2009). The use of reclaimed materials is even better, however, as there is absolutely no additional environmental involved in using, for instance, a century-old dance floor as the hardwood covering in a new living room. Reclaimed resources can be difficult to locate, but are often worth the price in addition to the environmental savings (BEST 2009).

Technological innovations also allow for much greater efficiency. Inert-gas windows and better insulation materials and techniques can improve the envelope of a house, drastically reducing the amount of energy needed to heat or cool a home or building (ADPSR 2009). Heating and cooling units themselves have also greatly improved in efficiency in recent years, with additional improvements still ongoing (BEST 2009).