What is green design? First, we need to address what it isn't - that is, home decor centered around the color green. No, it is that other thing - that of environmental friendliness. By being environmentally friendly, you're not just doing the world a service - you're doing one to your expenses on utilities as well! To be efficient in your design, keep reading on this post - your bank account will thank you!
The general principle of green building is to increase the efficiency of buildings' use of energy, water, and materials. This can add up to some major savings - by one account, every $4 spent per square-foot of green building can lead to $58 per square-foot in savings over 20 years. Granted, that is a decently long time span, but with a payout of over 12 times the investment, that doesn't sound too bad!
What aspects go into green design? Here are some of the more common and efficient ones:
- Optimized interior space
- Well-insulated windows that face the sun.
- Tightly sealed construction.
- Roofs sloped at an angle between 40 and 55 degrees to maximize energy absorption.
- Water heating by the sun.
- High levels of insulation.
It also includes using recycled materials in your building design. As discussed in a previous post, recycled materials are trending in kitchen design - many businesses now offer this in addition to their other services. Some of the common materials used in recycling projects are steel, drywall, glass tiles, kitchen countertops, plastic lumber, carpet and carpet padding, and insulation.
It helps to learn a bit about why these materials in particular are used in recycling projects. Materials that can be produced with some previously used materials include concrete, metals, glass, brick, and plastics. This lowers the energy requirement and emissions by up to 90% in many cases, as the materials have already been processed to a great extent, thus cutting out several stepping in the refining process.
We talked about some of the economic benefits to going green, but we should cover them in a bit more in depth so you can understand the full extent of them. There are three major groups of benefits: environmental, economic, and social. Environmental benefits include a reduction of emissions, water conservation, appropriate manage of storm water, greater temperature moderation, and a reduction of waste. Economic benefits are energy and water savings, lower utility demand, reduced building costs, increased property value, decreased strain on infrastructure, and tax benefits in many states. Finally, we have the social benefits: improved health and productivity, improved quality of life, and, of course, bragging rights to how environmentally-conscious you are.
We hope this post illustrated all the ways that green design can you benefit you and the world surrounding you. We also hope you got a few leads to that you can integrate into your home design. For more information, you can consult the infographic below.
