Carmel Building and Design Explains : What Makes a Building Green?

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
Sustainable Building | What Makes a Building Green? | Smart Design | Site Use and Landscaping | Materials
Plumbing & Electricity | Heating, Ventilation, & AC | Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) | Rebates and Incentives

So, what makes a building "green" or sustainable?

Green building is all about saving resources and money, preserving human health and the environment, and creating an enjoyable living space and community. Green doesn’t have to be difficult, or complicated, or expensive. Anything that makes your home more efficient, economical, healthful, and environmentally sound is considered green relative to a conventionally built and operated home. It can be as simple as insulating your hot water pipes, or choosing non-toxic cleaning products.

Carmel Building & Design’s Certified Green Building Professionals* can build or remodel your home to meet or exceed various green building standards. Depending on where you live, you may be required to follow specific green guidelines during the planning and building process, or you may be able to participate in green building at a more informal level. Either way, the following general concepts are considered during the design, build, and maintenance stages of a green home project:

Site Selection and Use
Make the best use of land given its soil type, elevation, topography, zoning. Choose landscape designs and practices that eliminate erosion and pollution. Consider proximity to work, community services, public transportation, and infrastructure.

Materials and Resources
Maximize the use of reused/reusable and recycled-content/recyclable materials. Minimize the use of scarce resources and materials that create environmental or health problems during mining, production, transportation, building, use, or disposal. Use material-saving building practices. Build a durable home that will require less money and fewer resources to maintain.

Energy and Atmosphere
Maximize the use of renewable energy sources, energy-efficient systems, and passive solar design. Minimize the use of fossil fuels and refrigerants. Create an effective building envelope for temperature and moisture control.

Water Conservation
Install water-saving fixtures, appliances, circulation systems, and landscaping. Reuse and retain water onsite.

Indoor Air Quality
Minimize or eliminate toxic emissions from synthetic and treated building materials, finishes, furnishings, and cleaning products. Control dust, mold and allergens.

*Certification is maintained through Build It Green.

Some of the information presented on this and the following pages has been summarized and elaborated upon from the following sources:

1) “LEED for Homes Rating System” (2008)
2) Build It Green 2007 “New Home Construction Green Building Guidelines”
3) Build It Green 2007 “Home Remodeling Green Building ”
(see www.usgbc.org and www.builditgreen.org)

Continue on through our website to learn more about how Carmel Building & Design can build your green project!

Busted! Eight Green-Building Myths

Green building has come a very long way in the past few years, yet some myths still persist. Read complete article at HGTVpro.com

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