Green Building Methods

Our homes are big polluters: they consume electricity and water, they produce trash and they probably occupy areas that used to be covered with trees. In short, they are little factories spewing out dirt on a daily basis. For that reason a lot of people are switching to green building methods when they build their homes in an attempt to make their dwellings more sustainable.

Green building methods, sometimes known as sustainable building or even green building, is an approach to building and architecture that favors environmentally sound and resource-efficient methods that last through a building�s lifecycle. Every aspect is taken into account: siting, design, maintenance, renovation, deconstruction, use of water, energy and materials, waste and pollution, indoor environmental quality, among others. One popular concept is natural building, more often applied to smaller scale projects and focused on the use of natural materials available locally.

Considering that green building methods strive for closer harmony with nature, such methods will be various and regionally-specific. But some of them are quite general. These include passive solar design to maximize natural heating and cooling and reducing water needs by landscaping according to local rainfall rates and installing rainwater catchment systems.

An aspect of green building methods that should be highlighted is the type of materials used in the construction. These should be low-impact, recycled as well as recyclable, sourced locally and sustainably and free of toxic materials. Many architectural offices these days specialize in green building methods. Since you will probably need professional help when building a new home, you may as well hire a company that will help turn your eco-house dream into a reality.