Ten Cost-Effective Green Building Steps You Can Take Right Now
I mentioned last week that I learned a lot both from the instructor as well as from my classmates during my "Green Building for Building Professionals" course. The instructor of the course, John Barrows, literally wrote the text book for the class and he skillfully led us through many practical discussions on how to put our new residential green building knowledge to work in the field. Admittedly, I don't have much experience implementing actual construction best practices, but a lot of what we discussed makes sense on a basic level. With that being said, here's our* (*thanks again to my classmates and the instructor) top ten list of suggested measures that a builder can take right now to implement potentially cost-effective green measures:
- Upfront planning will save you time and money in the long run. This applies to all aspects of a successful project. One example is to address the HVAC installation during the planning and design stage to ensure that ducts are placed inside the building envelope to avoid having to make framing modifications during installation.
- Solar orient your homes to take advantage of natural light and radiated heat from the sun.
- Manage waste on-site by recycling it. If building to a certification standard, remember that you can usually get points for recycling on-site waste (this is the case both for LEED and for Howard County's Green Neighborhood Program).
- Use local and readily available resources where possible to reduce transit costs and associated energy consumption.
- Develop detailed cut-lists based on engineering drawings to save yourself money wasted on unnecessary resources.
- Practice "optimum value engineering" to reduce the amount of lumber used. Proponents of optimum value engineering suggest that hundreds of dollars per house can be saved by minimizing material useage (while at the same time meeting building codes' structural load-bearing requirements). Consult with an engineer to learn more.
- Install weatherization shields properly around windows and seal around holes made for outlets and light fixtures. Holes in the interior air barrier contribute to moisture movement and energy loss.
- Use refurbished materials like wooden doors, staircases, and antique door knobs to give new life to these elements and add character to your homes.
- Design your plumbing systems so that less hot water is stored in the system and is delivered more efficiently to the point of use.
- Educate your construction team members on your project's green goals and how to achieve them - remember that providing upfront education is more cost effective than fixing problems after the fact. Consider developing a mission statement or statement of goals and posting that mission conspicuously on the site. If you are building to a green performance standard (whether it be LEED, NGBS, or others), incorporate those standards in the scope of work or project specification.
These are just a few ideas that we came up with - can you think of others?
(Typical lawyer disclaimer: Yada, yada, yada...remember that these are ideas and not guarantees. Consult with your building professional team members to assess feasibility for your specific project. Not all ideas will work in every situation. Of course, feel free to talk to me about #10 - my firm would be happy to work with you to revise the text of your various contracts to specifically address green building performance standards.)
