What Is Green Construction
Many industries have tried to start “going green” as we realize how important our environment is, and how much of an impact each industry can have on our earth.
The construction industry especially is one of the industries that can be very damaging to the environment.
The construction industry’s proposed solution to this is something that is called green construction You may have heard of it! Below, we will go over green construction, including what it is, by definition, and some of the key components or principles of this school of construction thought.
What Is Green Construction?
Green construction is a school of thought and construction method that concerns itself not only with the building of a structure but then how the structure will operate after completion, too.
Green construction refers to the philosophy and processes that make the building’s construction and later future operations as environmentally friendly as possible. We will go over some of the main principles of this kind of construction further in this article.
Principles of Green Construction
Green construction is made up of a few different tenets, or approaches that help to ensure a building is constructed and will operate in an eco-friendly way. Read on to learn more about the 5 main principles of green construction.
Liveable Communities
First up is liveable communities. What this means is that the community or building has features such as mobility options, affordable housing, and supportive community features.
Livability also refers to all of the factors that add up to the quality of life for a community within a development or structure. In green construction, the designers and builders will look to the features that they are including to ensure that the finished project will be properly liveable after construction is over.
Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality is also very important in green construction. This tenet is one of the ones that looks to the future operations of the building, rather than how the building is actually constructed.
It can be considered in conjunction with the liveable communities principle, which we went over above, as it can contribute to how liveable the space is.
For indoor air quality, some of the things that will be examined are proper ventilation methods and proper insulation.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is something that we have taken into consideration in our own homes and offices, too, for a long time.
Not only does it make your space more eco-friendly, it can also save you money, too! Ebery efficiency can look like installing energy-efficient appliances or making sure that all of the lights are using energy-efficient bulbs.
Energy efficiency can be something that you look at when you are constructing the building, too— making building processes more energy efficient.
Water Conservation
The construction industry uses a lot of energy and materials in everyday operations, which means that it is also responsible for a lot of waste. This is why water conservation is the fourth principle of green construction.
Green construction aims to be smart about water consumption during building and utilizes smart, water-saving technologies. A lot of it comes down to the implementation of tech and strategy!
Resource Conservation
Just as we discussed above with water conservation, resource conservation is an important principle of green construction, too.
Of course, the construction industry can be very wasteful, which has an adverse effect on our environment.
Conserving materials or resources during the construction process is a crucial way to keep your building eco-friendly and to keep your environmental impact or the carbon footprint of your company as low as possible. Resource conservation can refer to materials but also to energy sources as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the meaning of green construction?
Have you ever heard of the term green construction?
If so, you are probably wondering what this means. Green construction is a term that refers to the processes, as well as the philosophy, that makes the usage and building, or creation, of a building as friendly to the natural environment as possible.
Green construction focuses on eco-friendly and environmentally conscious design.
What is green material construction?
Green material construction is when a building is put together and built using green materials. Green materials are eco-friendly materials that are typically made of eco-friendly components, or are constructed with eco-friendly and environmentally conscious methods.
It is also important to note that green materials are renewable, rather than non-renewable as many other building or construction materials can be.
Construction can be a very damaging industry to the environment, with lots of waste, so the more eco-friendly practices a company is able to incorporate, the better off we will be!
What are the 5 principles of green building?
The practice of green building is made up of 5 main principles.
These 5 principles are
- building durability and quality structures
- insulating well and ventilating properly
- reducing as well as recycling construction and demolition waste
- incorporating green materials and salvaged materials
- using resources like water efficiently during the process.
These are only 5 of the main points that are considered or discussed when it comes to green building. They are the approaches that are taken when a green building project begins.
In simple terms, the 5 main principles of green building are
- livable communities
- indoor air quality
- energy efficiency
- water conservation
- resource conservation.
What is the difference between green building and green construction?
You may assume that green building and green construction are the same, but, however, the two terms are not interchangeable— though they still are similar!
The green building focuses on the operations of the finished building, as well as the construction and design.
On the other hand, green construction focuses more on the actual construction of the structure in question. Green construction looks at how the building is being constructed in an environmentally friendly way but does not look at the operations of the building once complete, as the green building does.