EARTH FRIENDLY CONSTRUCTION
Environmentally Responsible Building
Earth Friendly Construction acknowledges the depletion of the world's natural resources and accepts responsibility to mitigate this depletion.. Earth Friendly Construction also accepts responsibility to educate owners and clients as to the best building strategies that lessen the pressures on the natural environment. Environmentally responsible building practices are also called "green building" and "sustainable building" practices. Please see the below paragraphs for more details.
In the next 12 months in United States, there will be over a million new single family homes built. Added to already 76 million residential buildings and nearly 5 million commercial buildings in the U.S.
These buildings together use one-third of all the energy consumed in the U.S., and two-thirds of all electricity. They emit 35% of all carbon dioxide emitted – the chief pollutant blamed for climate change. In the past 100 years, world levels of carbon dioxide risen 27% - 1/4 of that from fossil fuels just to provide energy for buildings. During this same period, the world lost 20% of its forest. Building consumes 16% of total water, 40% of all material flow and 15% to 40% of waste in landfills.
Each year $13 billion dollars of energy leaks out of cracks and holes in houses.
World wide, new home construction uses 1/4 of the wood harvest.
A standard wood frame house consumes over an acre of forest and the waste generated during construction average 3 to 7 tons.
There are approximately 500 square miles of composition roofing installed every year in the United States and more than 200 square miles of torn off roofing going to landfills! In a few decades, it may very well be hard to find a landfill that will accept it.
(In case you were ever wondering, composition roofing material is made of cellulose and fiberglas fibers that are first soaked in a runny saturating asphalt and then stabilizers and a heavier asphalt coatings are added. Finally a surface coat of ceramic coated crushed rock and/or crushed mineral granules is applied to the top side to protect the asphalt from weathering and UV radiation from the sun. Asphalt is the last remaining product in the distillation of petroleum crude oil.)
Here’s another little fact to think about, petroleum crude oil is being used up 100,000 times faster than it was made!
Everyday the Earth must provide for 250,000 more people.
Globally, in the next 50 years, the number of houses that will be considered "modern " will be 4 times that of today. This exponential explosion is fueled by population growth, steady rise in standard of living, cheaper and more accessible building materials due to mass production and efficient transportation systems and easy access to information via TV, internet and telephones.
The math is simple and clear – at the rate people are consuming natural resources – and that rate is increasing – our civilization as we know it can not be sustained forever. Certainly not for the next 1,000 years, or maybe not for the next 200 years. Let’s think - if the forest shrunk by 20% in the past 100 years and there is estimated to be 4 times the number of modern houses in the next 50 years – well go figure! It not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. It’s a matter of time.
So that is why Earth Friendly Construction takes seriously green and sustainable building practices.
Green building is a loosely defined collection of land-use, building design, and construction strategies that reduces negative environmental impacts.
Sustainability means meeting the needs of people today without destroying the resources that will be needed by people in the future; It is based on long range planning and the recognition of the finite nature of natural resources.
The following extended definition of green building is given by an architect (edited from a chapter in "Green Building" by Alexis Karolides, AIA):
Green building is not an assemblage of "environmental" components nor a piecemeal modification of a standard building. True green building is a holistic approach to planning, designing, and constructing (or renovating) buildings and sites. It involves analyzing interconnected issues as site, climate, orientation, lighting, thermal comfort, materials, and optimizing all those aspects in an integrated design.
To capture the multiple benefits, the "whole system" design process must occur early in the building’s conception and must involve teamwork.
Working together can also produce a "big picture" vision that can leverage one solution to a problem to create many more solutions – often at no additional costs.
It is precisely the integrated approach that allows many green buildings to cost no more than standard buildings, even though some of their components may cost more. Green design elements may each serve several functions and allow other building components to be downsized. For example, better windows and insulation can allow for smaller heating systems.
The one number strategy for green building is design. This is where you can design in green features and design out environmental nightmares.
When designing buildings strategize for -
Energy efficiency - Save energy. Use high levels of insulation. Insulation materials varies from about R-3 to R-7 per inch of thickness. Wood is about R-1 per inch. Install energy-efficient appliances, mechanical equipment, lighting
Reducing material use - Reduce overall size of building and use space more efficiently. – Smaller is better relative to the environment no matter what materials are used. Smaller buildings loose less heat. Design on 4 ft. units of dimensions, use 24 " on center wall studs.
Longevity & Durability – the longer a building lasts, the longer period of time for which the environmental impacts can be amortized. Use durable materials – this is usually more important than selecting low-embodied energy materials. Design for easy maintenance and replacement of less durable components.
Health – Proper fresh air ventilation. Control moisture. Avoid VOC off-gassing material such as carpeting, particle board and certain adhesives. Introduce daylight to as many places as possible. Direct vent or power vent gas appliances.
Save Water – water efficient plumbing fixtures, Collect and use rainwater, Xeriscaping, Gray water usage. Storm water infiltration.
Use low impact materials – Avoid materials that create a lot a pollutant during manufacture or use. Use low embodied energy materials which includes shipping energy. Use salvaged, recycled or recycle content material. Avoid toxic material. Avoid limited supply material such as old-growth timber
Good workmanship – avoid leaks in roofs, flashing, windows, etc. Avoid cracks and openings in walls and floors. Proper detail work.
Minimize excessive use of materials – don’t go overboard with framing, driveways, walkways, etc.
Protect vegetation and topsoil – reintroduce native species on damaged areas. Avoid pesticides . Protect topsoil.
Recycle C & D waste – return, reuse and recycle
Wood Furniture– solid wood tables and exposed furniture parts - can be sanded and refinished many times. Avoid rare tropical hardwoods.
Fabric on furniture - sofas and chairs with fabric covers that can come off and be laundered. This furniture is more likely to remain in the house must longer.
Furniture material to avoid – plastics and particle board because of outgassing
Fabric, wool, cotton – wool is naturally resistant to fire, mold, and dust mites. Organic wool and cotton have no chemicals and are excellent choices for chemically sensitive people.
Flooring – good choices are hardwood, bamboo, linoleum, ceramic tiles because of durability and ease of cleaning.
Walk-off mats outside of house entrances can greatly reduce dust and dirt inside..
Also consider vestibules at entrances, arctic door entrances, mud rooms. These control the rush of cold air into the house and loss of warm air to the outside as well as a place for dirty footwear. Removing shoes at the door is definitely a health plus.
Horizontal axis washing machines – 60% less energy, 40% less water, cloth are washed better with less wear and tear. Spin faster, dry quicker.
Number one rule -
"Pick the low-hanging fruit first"
There is a very good article on this subject called "Building Green on a Budget".
From "Environmental Building News", Volume 8, No. 5 -- May 1999
Available at http://www.buildinggreen.com/about/whatsgb.html
If nothing else, please read this informative article.