Building a home is a pivotal undertaking. Just as any house needs to be built from the foundations, so does a sustainable home need to be built with the principles of sustainability in mind. Energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and the use of sustainable materials are a few of those principles.
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The Framework Of Sustainable Homes
The emerging principles of sustainability are widely becoming supported around the world. People are voting on their feet in a very important and personal way by incorporating principles of sustainability in the ways they are building their homes.
One principle of Sustainability is efficiency. Efficient heating and cooling systems incorporate a passive design for the air quality inside the home to be good as well as the light to come in naturally for most of the day. This could mean skylights and more windows facing the sun’s side. This also means that these homes have proper insulation so that the family does not need to spend so much on heating the house.
Both in the creation and maintenance of the new home, sustainability can be expressed by lowering the carbon footprint of the project even as low as zero. The use and application of renewable resources are imperative in this framework.
Dreaming Up Your Sustainable Home
Even before any physical groundwork can commence, the planning out stage wherein the dream home is placed on the drawing board for translation into the correct gathering and placement of materials is key. An excellent image source for the cutting edge of sustainable homes is necessary for envisioning the new abode. There are many examples on the internet now of different ways to build sustainably. Hobbit houses, earthbag homes, straw bale homes, as well as more modern architectural plans are being shared for others to be inspired by.
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Gathering Sustainable Materials For Your Home
Researching about locally sourced and renewable building materials is easier now because many companies have stepped into this niche to fill the growing demand for sustainable building materials. Sustainable flooring materials may be reused or repurposed materials as well as renewable materials such as bamboo and straw. One tip about bamboo flooring is that most of them are produced in China or Indonesia, so if you live far from these places then these materials traveled a long way by container ship to get to you, which means that the carbon footprint of those bamboo floor panels may be high.
Making use of eco paints instead of conventional toxic paints will prevent health problems in the future. Peruse the labels of the paints you are sourcing. If they contain VOC or Volatile Organic Compounds then you may consider looking for alternatives.
Groundwork And Building Of Your Sustainable Home
Having developed a solid design and sourced sustainable building materials from companies like Irvine Materials Inc. (IMI), the next step is to execute your plan effectively. This execution will involve foundational work, such as digging and other conventional construction processes. However, you can significantly lower the carbon footprint of the project by avoiding machines that run on fossil fuels. Instead, consider harnessing human power by hiring additional workers or enlisting community support.
Building water tanks to collect rainwater as well as installing low flow showers and toilets will go a long way towards a home’s long term sustainability. Installing double glazed windows help your home stay cool during the day. Alternative sources of energy like solar panels and wind turbines can greatly lower your energy consumption, and should the grid fail for any reason, provide you with a stand-alone source of renewable energy.
Finishing touches for your Sustainable Home include buying energy-efficient appliances and monitor sensing lights. There are many steps and guidelines for building a sustainable home but what is important is that you take this project as a learning process and become intimately involved in the actualization of your dream home.
