At SCS Construction, we focus on sustainability and aim to provide environmentally friendly commercial construction options. Our experts pay special attention to green projects to create a long-lasting concept in harmony with the environment.
What Does Environmentally Friendly Construction Actually Mean?
In environmentally friendly construction, the impact on the environment is taken into account in every phase of a building’s life. Attention is paid to energy-saving and sustainable measures both in the production and in the use and demolition of a building. Defined indicators can be used to measure how successful the result is.
Here’s a handy example to illustrate this:
If you optimally align a building to the sun, you have more daylight, and the heating requirement is lower. But you may also have to use a lot more energy for cooling. That means, depending on the surrounding factors, every building must be planned with individual ecological measures.
The Principles of Ecological Building
There are two major guidelines for sustainable building.
- Preserving the natural environment as a protected asset.
- Conserving natural resources with a focus on maintaining our ecosystem.
Protection of Natural Resources
In general, the fewer resources used in construction, the more environmentally friendly a building is. That sounds very plausible at first. However, you must also consider that this motto applies to the use and demolition of the building, as well.
Since a building cannot be built entirely without resources, protecting them includes many other criteria. How important these are and to what extent they are implemented always depends on your construction project.
Environmentally Friendly Materials
Environmentally friendly building materials are those that can then be reused, recycled, and safely returned to the material cycle. Without toxic and artificial substances, they also enable you to live in a healthy, sustainable way. You should also ensure that the building materials consume as little energy as possible and emit hardly any pollutants during manufacture, transport, use, and disposal.
A stable and durable construction extends the useful life of a building. These should also support the materials and therefore be as durable and environmentally friendly as possible.
Sustainable Raw Materials
Natural building materials mostly meet the criteria of sustainable materials and are therefore often used. For example, clay, brick, natural stone, cork, or wood are used for walls, plaster, insulation, paint, or floors, among other things. The trend towards sustainability is now even being picked up on in interior design. Sustainable natural building materials are not only trendy but also durable and health friendly. Nevertheless, this resource is also limited and must therefore always be cultivated and mined in such a way that our forests are preserved.
Renewable Energy Sources
Sustainability means that your building uses as little energy as possible, even when in use. You have to take this point into account when planning. Renewable energy sources from the sun, water, wind, biomass, and geothermal energy are particularly suitable. They are independent of fossil raw materials and counteract global warming and environmental pollution through fewer emissions.
Solar panels harness the sun’s power, and small wind turbines work with the natural resource of wind without emitting pollutants. Another option is a geothermal system that converts stored geothermal energy into energy.
Protecting the Ecosystem
To counteract the ongoing climate crisis, our professional builders at SCS Construction make sure at every step that as few pollutants as possible are emitted, both during construction and when the building is being used. Individual measures are necessary for each building.
We work hard to create environmentally friendly construction plans for schools, industrial and manufacturing projects, retail spaces, hospitals, and more. Call us at 317-272-0129 to see what our professionals can do for you.
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