Building
Green |
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Green building is a structure
that is designed and built in an environmentally friendly and energy efficient
way. I break it down into two categories:
- Green building is the use of eco-friendly building
materials.
- Treating your whole house as an energy efficient
system.
They both complement each other. Clients and, some times, other builders
have told me they have gone completely green in their homes once they’ve
installed bamboo floors! I try not to laugh. That’s a great start
and step in the right direction but there’s so much more to it. You
can use all the eco-friendly products you want; but it’s counterproductive
if you are still running outdated appliances that aren’t energy star
rated.
The AC runs all night because you have it set at 68 degrees or the heater
keeps kicking on because air keeps escaping through leaky ducts, and faulty
windows! Perhaps you’re still using toilets with 3.5 gallons per water
flush. No showerheads have been converted to low-flow, you could heat the
house with heat emitting from all your incandescent bulbs, every seven years
you have to re-roof and you keep using asphalt shingles, your contractor
didn’t use a formaldehyde-free insulation for the nursery addition
–I could go on and on. So you see there’s more to green building
than a coat of low VOC paint. |
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