Are you planning to build a dream home for your family? You will be interested to know that there is a new global initiative that seeks to promote building designs that are more sustainable. It means coming up with practical building designs that help to moderate the use of energy, material and space.
This in turn helps to conserve our environment as we think towards promoting “green” projects. You can sit down with drafting specialists who offer drafting service in Calgary to come up with ideas on how you can implement these ideas to your home design. The following are the 3 main components you need to have in mind as you come up with a way to make your home more sustainable:
Saving on energy
As you sit down and plan your budget, you notice that huge amounts of money go towards paying electricity bills in your home. Electricity is used to light and is a source of heat in our homes. It is paramount to think about how you can cut on these costs by adapting cheaper sources of energy to use instead. You can adapt the use of solar energy at home which is cheap and environment-friendly at the same time. The Wind can also be converted to provide energy around our homes.
Technology now allows people to minimize on electricity usage in homes. There are light controls such as occupancy sensors that allow energy to be used when they sense a presence in a room. Dimmers also allow one to adjust lighting depending on how much lighting is needed. As you plan a design for your home, ensure that your home allows in as much light during the day to avoid relying on electricity. This move not only saves you tons of electricity bills but it also helps conserve the environment.
Space efficiency
More people are now learning the importance of building smaller homes. Families are getting smaller and the reproduction rate continues to go down as people are more aware of the importance of family planning. This means family units are getting smaller and the need for bigger homes is decreasing. You can plan to build a home that will suit you and your family needs comfortably without the need to add on unnecessary spaces.
Smaller homes are cheaper to maintain in terms of heating expenses. You can ask your drafting specialist to include raised floors which support more under floor systems and reduce building heights. This saves on energy consumption as less heat is required to heat your home.
Waste reduction
The choice of building materials you choose has direct impacts on the environment. Products that are reusable and reconfigurable greatly contribute to waste reduction. You need to choose materials that will be able to sustain the life cycle of your home to avoid replacing materials all the time during repair and maintenance. A contractor will advise on the best building materials to achieve this goal.
You can also insist on using building materials that require minimal packaging. This reduces the amount of materials dumped into the environment as waste. You can use finishing materials like paint that are made from natural ingredients. They are usually cheaper than materials made from artificial ingredients. They are eco-friendly and they ensure that our ecosystem is conserved.
Bottom line
Recent advancements in technology have allowed building for sustainability to be possible. It makes economic sense by going green since it is not only cheap, but it is vital if we are to conserve our ecosystem. So, you can now build your dream home and save huge amounts of money while at the same time saving our environment for a better tomorrow.