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Building Green for less Green


Blog by Vesna Molby | June 21st, 2012


Building Green for less Green
In construction, affordable and green are often contradictory terms.
Going green doesn’t have to be more expensive, depending on how green you want to be. The view of most people might be that building green is going to be vastly more expensive and complex than the conventional methods. The idea of sustainability is to choose materials and products that will significantly increase the longevity of the house. And while some of these options might be more expensive at the outset, they can be cheaper in the long run—both for one’s pocketbook and for the environment. As less parts of the home need to be replaced will reduce the use (and disposal) of more materials.
Building green has to do with a lot more than just the materials you use (or don’t use). It gets down to where the products came from, what energy was expended in manufacturing and transporting those materials, how the home is designed and what kind of durability the materials used to build the house possess. Systems that may cost more in the design phase, such as an insulated shell, can be offset by the reduced cost of a smaller mechanical system. This concept is known as "right sizing" of infrastructure and mechanical systems. Material costs can be reduced during the construction phase by dimensional planning—a strategy to design for minimizing framing needs, carpet etc.
Of the total expenditures an owner will make over the course of the building's service lifetime; design and construction expenditures, the so called first costs of the home, will account for 5-10 percent of the total life-cycle cost. In contrast, operations and maintenance costs will account for 60-80 percent of the total life-cycle costs, with land acquisition, conceptual planning, renewal or revitalization, and disposal accounting for the remaining 5-35 percent (NRC, 1998).
Several new studies demonstrate that green buildings are not more expensive to build, and the lifetime benefits of these buildings are significant.
In construction, affordable and green are often contradictory terms.
Going green doesn’t have to be more expensive, depending on how green you want to be. The view of most people might be that building green is going to be vastly more expensive and complex than the conventional methods. The idea of sustainability is to choose materials and products that will significantly increase the longevity of the house. And while some of these options might be more expensive at the outset, they can be cheaper in the long run—both for one’s pocketbook and for the environment.  As less parts of the home need to be replaced, will reduce the use (and disposal) of more materials.

Building green has to do with a lot more than just the materials you use (or don’t use). It gets down to where the products came from, what energy was expended in manufacturing and transporting those materials, how the home is designed and what kind of durability the materials used to build the house possess.

Several new studies demonstrate that green buildings are not more expensive to build, and the lifetime benefits of these buildings are significant.