Green Building is the process whereby all the normal materials, techniques and products used to build a house are exchanged for safer, environmentally friendly alternatives. This is meant not only to protect the environment and conserve resources like water and energy, but also to provide a much safer area for humans to live in. When you decide to build an environmentally friendly home, you will have to put together a team of experts who are certified in the Green Building industry and can ensure that every aspect of your structure is Green.
This means that from the architect who is designing your home to the interior designer who is adding the finishing touches to your home, everyone must be on the same page about the Green Building aspect. A project like this must include these very important features to make it Green: It must promote sustainability in every way, it must conserve energy and water in the construction process as well as in the actual design. It will need to protect the surrounding environment, and it must provide a healthy place to live in, free from toxins and chemical compounds that you can find in many paints, varnishes, sealants and even in carpets.
Your architect must make sure that the design of the house conserves as much energy as possible with the use of many windows to allow a lot of light, including solar panels or other interesting features into the design. Green Building starts with the planning and then moves onto the construction. The company that you use must understand how to construct a Green Building and they will have to conserve water during the process, eliminate as much waste as possible from going to the landfill by reusing old wood, chips or cement for other features like a fountain, garden fence or chairs.
For Green Building all of the products that are used must be safe and environmentally friendly, even the insect poison. You can use natural boride to repel insects and there are natural products that can be used for waterproofing and insulating your home. Insulating is very important because this prevents you from needing too many heaters in winter or an air conditioner in summer, thus saving energy. The building is also all about sustainability and you can get wood only from places that are certified to use trees from sustainable forests.
For the interior, use paints that are toxin free or that have low volatile compounds (VOC) in them. This applies to all surface finishes as well as the carpets, rugs, tiles and fixtures that you use. For accessories you can cut down on energy (transport) costs dramatically just by buying local for your Green Building project.