Education for green building and design becomes more important as we confront environmental issues that we are not sure how to resolve and we don’t necessarily know what positive changes we can make.
Our planet has experienced generations of careless resource usage and abuse.
Impacts of green building design would be extremely positive for the environment. This concept simply means that we would have to build houses and buildings with renewable materials and use non-toxic products in all homes, for example.
With education for green building and design, you must not just use green materials, but you can also reuse previously made materials.
You can buy home furnishing materials from companies that use certified environmentally responsible woods and materials used that are non-toxic.
Engineered lumber, in most cases, is very toxic and should not be used if you remodel or build your home from scratch. Most of these contain synthetic formaldehyde. This is released into your home for years to come.
If you use toxic products and materials during the remodeling process, these end up in your environment, in your home, in your water and certainly in your own air. The air quality inside your home will not be healthy.
In fact, indoor air pollution is a major problem for some homeowners who have multiple chemical sensitivities.
This may be a cause of chemical sensitivities, but this can also cause headaches, cancer, asthma, nausea, chronic fatigue, memory loss, bronchitis and many other health problems.
The impacts of green design do not have these problems. The above issues can be related to toxic chemicals and petrochemicals that are used in non-green materials.
These can also include cleaning products you use in your home, such as de-greasers, synthetic fragrances, bleaches and oven cleaners.
And of course, the building materials themselves can contain toxic chemicals in sofas, furniture, carpet, paint, stains, solvents, glues and finishes. It’s no wonder, then, that we are sick.
You also contribute to environmental problems with the use of such things as nail polish, hairspray and polish remover. Instead, use ecologically friendly products that are biodegradable and non-toxic which helps protect ourselves, the wildlife, the environment and those most dear to us.
If you learn education for green and building design, you need to consider the following issues:
• Choose products and materials that will last a long time and can be repaired. In our throwaway society, this has become a definite problem.
• Buy previously loved possessions such as antique furniture, flea market items, antique kitchen cabinets and antique wood. You can also use European or American hardwoods approved as green by environmental groups.
• Don’t use hardwoods from the rain forest. This not only promotes deforestation and erosion as well as other environmental problems in the area, species are already endangered and in some cases extinct.
This provides a great hardship for the people and the animals still there. In fact, most tropical woods are endangered and they require hundreds of years to regrow.
• Don’t throw out your old appliances. Recycle them. Putting them in landfills makes no sense and they can be reused part by part for other purposes.
• With education for green building and design, use construction materials that don’t contain formaldehyde. Conventional insulation materials especially contain formaldehyde and you can have respiratory problems, nausea and many other health issues.
• Utilize local construction materials as much as you can to increase the impacts of green design. The further away the products you use are, the further they have to be transported and the more pollution is created. This also greatly increases the amount of energy being used.
• If your kitchen cabinets themselves are still in good condition, try just replacing the doors. This saves on wood and other materials. You can also buy old cabinet doors or use metal ones.
• When you paint your walls and refinish your doors or cabinets, by low or no-VOC products, also known as volatile organic compounds.
These products include wood finishes, paints and sealants and they contain toxins that can give you significant health problems and contribute to air pollution, environmental difficulties and smog.
Utilize natural light as much as possible for positive impacts of green design. Purchase good quality windows, utilize skylights and glass doors with double or triple pane glass and use energy-efficient lighting as well.
For example, using CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs) is a very energy efficient way to light your home. They last a long time despite their initial cost and provide you with high-quality light.
Even though green building and design is still in the initial phases of accepted public use, the concepts, practices and impacts of green design will grow in popularity as the public becomes more aware of the environmental and health crises we face with our present behaviors and building materials.