Green construction is on the rise. In spite off all the odds against them in the past green buildings are now the focus of construction companies and architects, and the trend seems is gaining momentum. Green buildings are the direction we are heading as we charge forth into the future.
The world is changing, and buildings are changing with it. Not since the industrial revolution have we seen such a stark revolution in the way architects design and construction workers build our homes, schools, offices, and factories.
Government Green is on the Way
Even though green housing is still fairly pricey compared to conventional stick and brick, it is becoming more popular.
Mostly, the movement was forged by a few pioneers that opted for cob walls and hobbit houses for their personal use. It could easily have died right there.
But behold, architects, engineers, and even interior decorators are jumping on board. While the typical homeowner is slowly reverting back to keeping a garden in the yard, tycoons are ramping up production for what is seen as the next major trend in architecture.
There’s something surreal about seeing a grassy field on a rooftop, or smooth walls inside of a building, and the look is incredibly catchy, even without the Earth-saving endeavors that go into its construction. Now government organizations like schools are starting to see these same aesthetic choices in their buildings.
The UK has even introduced the Green Homes Grant, and other countries are sure to follow their lead. The movement looks to become as popular as cookie-cutter houses were in the 50’s.
Green Building Materials
Going a step further. The U.S. Green Building Council has introduced a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification to encourage everyone – corporate, government, or private – to design, built, and operate new construction projects with lower operating costs and fewer resources.
There are several materials that are already LEED certified, including:
- Wood
- Bamboo
- Steel
- Natural fibers
- Earthbags
- Stone
- Cellulose
- Fiber cement
- Composites
Living Construction Materials
It is becoming much more common to see biological elements added to modern designs.
It’s easy to think of grassy rooftops and koi ponds when this subject is brought up, but these tend to be more decorative than structural.
Surprisingly, the biggest advancements in this field include bacteria and fungi. There are development plans being nursed along right now to use bacteria and other micro-flora to create a self-healing type of concrete. The tiny bugs plug holes and fill cracks to make them impermeable again.
Another popular product, known as Greensulate, is based on mycelium (a type of fungus). Similar products have been created for sound absorbing boards, packaging (think packing peanuts), and even bricks.
There are literally thousands of living things out there that naturally produce all sorts of materials. Bees make wax. Coral make a stoney reef material. Nearly everything in nature is making something, and some of those processes can be cleverly used for all kinds of purposes.
The future of this science will surely show us many more surprises.
Green buildings are Smart Buildings
The Internet of Things (IOT) technology has drastically improved the efficiency of modern homes, which means less natural resources are being used to make homes more comfortable than before.
By installing sensors, servos, electrical switches, and other neat devices around the home, your house can run almost automatically.
In the now dated cartoon, The Jetsons, we caught a glimpse of this technology. Now it’s becoming a reality. Still no flying cars, but from robots that sweep the floors to automated climate controls that anticipate your living routines, homes are becoming more integrated than ever before.
You can literally control your entire house from your phone. This includes automated alerts from your security system, monitoring cameras remotely, feeding the cat, setting the air conditioner, watering the garden, and much, much more.
If you can dream it up, there’s probably a gadget out there that will do it. This trend is likely to continue well into the future.
Prefabrication
The idea of assembling homes in a warehouse and then shipping them to a building site for final construction isn’t totally new, but new developments are continuing to make this building technique better and better.
Houses of the next decade are being assembled not with studs and drywall, or with bricks and cinder blocks, but new high-tech blocks that go together like Legos, and are retrofitted with hollows for piping and cables built right into the framework.
The “blocks” come in all shapes and sizes, including cut-out pieces for doors and windows. They can vary in thickness dramatically. Building a foot-thick exterior wall used to be an expensive proposition, but with modern techniques, very solid houses can be constructed with super-insulated materials and the turnaround time on building your dream home is dropping sharply.
New Standards in Energy Saving
With a constant push from governments around the world, construction companies are getting smarter about how they build appliances. The ENERGY STAR ratings of yesterday can’t even keep up with the technology being developed today.
Boxy air conditioners are being replaced with split units that do twice the work with half the energy. LEDs have all but replaced incandescent and fluorescent lighting. Better insulating materials have made refrigerators and deep freezes more lean than they used to be.
Everything is becoming more efficient, faster, and safer than ever before. More often, customers can’t get enough, and keep demanding better and better ratings, which means producers need to constantly refine their products to keep up with demand. It’s a buyer’s market for energy savings.
More Alternative Energy
Hydro power is on the rise, nearly doubling its usage from the last decade. Combined with more wind power being established and solar farms popping up everywhere you look, clean energy is on the rise, and the costs are going down.
Consumers can take part in this revolution, using some of the lowest cost solar setups ever devised to reduce or eliminate their own energy bills, while at the same time becoming more responsible about their individual environmental footprint.
Conclusion
It’s a brave new world, and green buildings have grown from their scrappy startups into a modern trend in the construction industry, turning an entire market sector on its head in a very short amount of time. Prices are dropping to the point where higher quality Earth-friendly products are out-competing traditional building practices that have been around for hundreds of years.
The best part is, the trend is likely to continue. With the strides taken so far and the shape of the marketplace, green buildings and the green construction movement overall have been proven to be far more than a fad, and we will continue to see high-tech and Earth-friendly solutions evolve into the new normal.
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