How to Make Your Construction Business More Eco-Friendly
Construction businesses get a lot of flak for generating waste and are often blamed for the destruction of the environment, especially when erecting new buildings. This reputation has pushed many of them to utilize green building construction techniques and massive reuse of materials. Here are a few tips on how to make your construction business more eco-friendly.
Use Sustainable Materials
One of the best ways to make your construction business more eco-friendly is to use sustainable materials. Sustainably raised wood is a good first step. Using aluminum that is 100% recycled and recycled steel is another.
When you can build with salvaged wood and reuse older hardware, that is a plus, though not all projects permit this. Sustainable concrete made from partially recycled materials is becoming more popular. Recycling asphalt is almost commonplace. Consider using recycled glass and plastic in your projects.
Use High-Efficiency Hardware
When you’re bringing in generators to run your power tools, look for the most efficient generators you can find. Your site lighting, too, should be high power LEDs, not high wattage traditional lights. Look for power tools that use as little power as possible. When you’re working, don’t leave lights on when it isn’t necessary and turn everything off as soon as possible. If possible, use solar panels to power as much equipment as possible.
Put in Portable Sanitation Facilities
Putting in portable sanitation facilities is green in more ways than one. While providing convenience to your workers, it prevents waste and sanitation chemicals from creating hazardous conditions on the work site. Companies like Satellite Industries provide portable sanitation facilities that avoid these ecological problems, while ensuring human health, as well. Proper hand washing, for example, in a portable bathroom reduces the risk of illness spread through poor hygiene.
Invest in Insulation
The value of insulation for reducing heating and cooling costs is well known. Something construction sites often overlook is other applications for insulation. For example, they don’t insulate the mobile office or portable bathrooms, so they run heaters and air conditioners longer to make them tolerable. They ignore insulation on generators that dampen the noise and everyone compensates by using hearing protection or yelling instead.
Consider Your Windows
When it comes to windows, you should look at window placement to maximize light and minimize heat loss. Go for triple pane windows where you can, but double pane windows are the bare minimum. You may want to consider putting film on the windows that keeps heat in during the winter and reflects it away in the summer.
This is a valuable solution when you cannot afford to replace the windows right now. If you really don’t need to look out the window much, put up insulating blinds. And don’t put in more windows than really necessary, whether in your portable buildings or those that you’re building.
Conclusion
Eco-friendly construction methods range from building entire buildings out of recycled materials to looking for ways to use less power and water during the construction process. This allows you to make the building or renovation of buildings as green as the design itself.