Green Building Tips

Julie Starr • Jul 08, 2021



Green building
can help you to save energy, lower your operating costs, and love a more environmentally friendly life. Everyone benefits from a green building.

Use Space Efficiently

Larger spaces need more energy to heat, cool, and light. The decisions that you make when you design a building will impact the environment for years to come, so you need to pay attention to the way you use your space. Where you can, minimize the size of the building. A smaller footprint means a lower energy load, and less open space is used. Using the right materials and equipment helps too. Buy used equipment, instead of new, at FleetUpMarketplace

Invest In Insulation

An HVAC system is one of the main energy drains in a building. If you invest in high-quality insulation, you will be better able to maintain the interior temperature.

Insulation keeps cold air in, and hot air out during the summer, and the opposite in winter, reducing the workload on your HVAC system.

Use Solar Energy

The roof deflects the sun’s rays from your building. You can harness those rays to provide some power. 

Solar energy is growing fast because it’s clean and has almost no ongoing costs to collect. Solar panels can be placed strategically on your roof. Any power that you are able to produce and don’t consume can be sold back to your electric company. 

You could also choose to fit a battery that can be used to store any excess power. At night, when you can’t get solar power, the batteries can be used instead. This helps you to reduce the amount of electricity you need to pay for even more. 

Make Space For Gardens

Massive farms producing food can be very damaging to the environment. Runoff from pesticides pollutes the water table, while heavy farming equipment releases greenhouse gases. If you’re designing a green building, you should understand the importance of producing fresh produce. 

Residential and commercial properties should try to find some space for gardening to be done. At home, a food garden reduces your grocery spend and can teach children about where food comes from. Gardening has a lot of health benefits that companies can use to help stressed employees. 

The extra greenery also helps to clean the air. 

Adapt To Nature. Don’t Replace It

A new building changes the space it occupies forever. A new structure casts new shadows, changes the way that rainwater reaches rivers, lakes, and streams, and forces animals that lived on the site to move on somewhere else or be exterminated. New traffic patterns come into play, increasing road noise, and requiring new parking spaces, reducing the local tree population. 

Architects who want to build in a much greener, more sustainable way should make sure they take the time to carry out a detailed site survey. This survey should look at how water flows, and how nature is currently interacting with the land. Where possible, you should try to balance the needs of the development with the needs of any existing wildlife and plant life that is inhabiting the land at the moment. 

Over the last couple of decades, an enormous amount of the planet’s wilderness has been destroyed. We all have a responsibility to do more to reduce the impact of the ever-growing urban landscapes on nature and the planet. Including large green spaces in our developments is a good place to start, but there is more than can be done. 

For example, when constructing, it’s better to use locally sourced materials. Layouts should be adapted to the existing landscape. Build with the local landscape in mind, such as including sliding glass walls and doors that can be pushed back when the temperatures allow it to let some of nature in. Architects should try to make their buildings blend in with their surroundings, through locally sourced building materials. 

Those who advocate for green building practices are all working very hard to teach architects and construction companies how to best minimize the impact their work has on the planet. They can learn to preserve natural water flow and avoid site preparation that is expensive and excessive. 

In the construction of transportation networks, environmentally conscious design can be used to create bridges for animals. These bridges are important, as they allow migratory species to avoid having to crossroads and highways, and instead walk over them safely. This reduces the number of collisions between vehicles and animals, keeping humans and animals safer. These bridges also support the local ecosystem by allowing natural migratory patterns to continue. 

By Julie Starr 07 Oct, 2024
Becoming more eco-friendly and running a greener business is a responsibility that business owners really need to think more about. The good news is that if you spend a lot of time in your office, there are plenty of ways to make it more eco-friendly without having to overhaul everything and start again (which isn’t just disruptive, but expensive too). So, if you’re ready to get started, here are some simple steps to make your office space more eco-friendly; read on to find out more. Use Energy-Efficient Lighting This idea is a simple one that you can do no matter what else might be on your list of tasks - it’s quick, easy, and really makes a difference; change your light bulbs to something more energy efficient. If you’re still using traditional fluorescent bulbs, it’s time to upgrade to LED which doesn’t just last longer, but also uses a lot less energy. They’re easy to install and they’ll help you cut down on your office’s energy usage almost instantly. If possible, you should make the most of natural light too, so think about rearranging your workspace to let in more sunlight, which saves energy and can boost your mood - it’s a win-win that you can do right away. Prioritize Air Quality The air you breathe matters, and keeping it clean can do wonders for your health and the planet. One way to improve air quality is by adding plants to your workspace because plants are natural air purifiers, and as a bonus, they’ll make your office feel more inviting. Another great idea is to make sure your office’s HVAC system is working efficiently, and having air duct cleaning done by professionals is an easy step you can take to improve air quality and ensure your heating and cooling systems aren’t wasting energy. Clean air ducts mean cleaner air, less strain on your system, and even lower energy bills, so it’s a simple but really effective thing to do. Switch To Reusable Products If your office is still stocking up on single-use plastic items, it’s time for a change - swap your disposable cups, utensils, and plates for reusable ones and you’ll be surprised at how much waste to eliminate. And what about encouraging people to bring their own mugs and water bottles to work? Give them tea, coffee, and water to refill everything with, and you’ll be doing your bit to help the planet and have less waste to deal with as well. And don’t stop with these things either - there are loads of reusable products that could be useful in your office. You could have refillable pens and ink cartridges for your printer, for example. Go Paperless Speaking of your printer, is that an office machine you actually need? If you were to go digital and aim for a paperless office , you might be able to do away with the printer, which means less money spent on ink and paper, and less energy used altogether. You should be able to set up a system where documents can be shared online and stored electronically, and there are plenty of tools around to help you do exactly that (and much more). If you don’t need to print something and you don’t need a physical copy of a document, don’t make one - just use the digital version instead and you’ll be a lot more eco-friendly.
By Julie Starr 04 Oct, 2024
Sustainability often gets pushed on the common person. Joe Public is told to be more sustainable with their daily habits as the government pushes for more eco-friendly measures. This is all well and good - but does it really matter when 71% of greenhouse gas emissions come from just 100 companies around the world? Small business owners are desperate to prove their sustainability, but what are bigger companies in some of the most polluting industries doing to help? We’ve taken three of the least sustainable sectors on the planet and explored the unique ways they’re trying to cut down on emissions and be more eco-friendly. Mining Any industry revolving around drilling underground will not be very environmentally friendly! Mining causes a lot of pollution, but its unsustainability often comes from the way it damages local environments and ecosystems. So, what is this industry doing to change things? It’s largely focusing on more responsible mining practices to reduce waste and mitigate the impact on local environments. This is done through mining dust suppression systems to prevent airborne pollution, reforesting mining sites when they’re no longer in use, and recycling as many materials as possible. Is it perfect? No, but it’s a step in the right direction. Fossil Fuels Shock horror; the fossil fuels industry is the most damaging to our environment. Finding ways to change the scope of this sector is the key to ensuring a better future for all. Some companies in this industry are trying to do this through carbon capture and storage. This is a technique where CO2 emissions are captured before they’re released into the atmosphere and stored underground. Realistically, the main thing fossil fuel companies should be doing is pushing for more renewable energy sources. Many are doing this - though reports suggest they’re not investing as much as they should. If fossil fuel companies dumped more money into developing biofuels and other renewable sources, pollution from this industry would drop dramatically. Fashion The most unbelievable stat to take from this post is that the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of our global carbon footprint . That’s remarkable (and worrying), considering how most of us don’t view it as a “dangerous” industry. Fast fashion is the main problem; poorly-made goods are pumped out at a rapid rate, and consumers constantly buy new things. Fashion companies are trying their best to resolve this. Most big brands will now have sustainable lines using recyclable materials. Consumers also hold the key to solving this problem: stop buying new clothes all the time and wear yours for longer. Or buy pre-owned clothes to slow down the fashion production line. Companies can still do more as well: they are trying to adopt more eco-friendly production processes that use less water and energy. The moral of this post is that everyone can do their bit to fight for a more sustainable future. Keep this in mind for your small business . It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in; there will always be ways to promote eco-friendly practices.
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