For years human activities have severely impacted Earth’s temperature causing a sudden change in climate and weather patterns. Today, climate change continues and heavily affects the environment causing severe droughts, extreme wildfires, and heavy rainfall.
These irreversible effects force the United Nations to legally bind its members through an international treaty to reduce the impact of greenhouse gas and its emission by 43% on or before 2030. With this, countries set preventive measures to reach this goal.
Among these solutions to beat climate change is building or transforming houses into sustainable green homes. Here are the benefits of having a green home and why you should consider having one.
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What is a Green Home?
Green homes are eco-friendly or sustainable buildings that use non-toxic materials with a lesser carbon footprint. It utilizes natural ventilation and light to provide a comfortable living without enormously damaging the environment during and after producing the materials or building the home.
You can use several materials in building a green home, such as wood, cob, and bamboo. They make an efficient and durable wall that can withstand compression. Their natural and distinct characteristics also make great aesthetics to the home.
7 Benefits of Having a Green Home
You can take advantage of several benefits of building a sustainable home. We collected some, and here are seven benefits of having a greenhouse and why you should consider them.
1. Energy Efficient
One primary advantage of constructing a green home is that it can lessen the entire house’s energy consumption without compromising everyone’s comfort.
Due to its insulation features, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning units will run without too much energy. You can also customize the house’s lighting source by utilizing skylights and other types of roof hatch with a transparent cover to let the natural light pass through it and light the house’s interior.
2. Comfortable Home
According to studies, comfortable homes are vital to their occupants’ mental, emotional, and physical health. The comfort that the green homes give will help the people residing in them to have more focus on their everyday. Since they are experiencing less stress, their mood will also improve. They become happier than those who are not living in a green home.
3. Quality Indoor Air
Indoor air quality can significantly affect the physical health of the occupants. Residential houses not using sustainable and LEED-certified materials tend to generate more air pollutants than those strictly following specific sustainability and safety guidelines and regulations.
In green homes, occupants have less exposure to harmful chemicals, toxins, and other air pollutants, which may cause health issues such as dizziness, fatigue, allergies, and respiratory problems.
In addition, green homes follow airtight construction guidelines, which are responsible for their excellent insulation features that prevent water and air infiltration, which guarantees the stability of the house’s ideal temperature and humidity. Without it, the home has a greater risk of getting mold and mildew, both health hazards.
Installing a steel access door near the HVAC system is essential as it helps insulate and prevent temperature fluctuations. There are several types of access panels that you can choose to install for your walls, floors, or ceilings. However, carefully select the best access doors that fit your green home’s needs.
4. Eco-Friendly Home
Manufacturers use energy-efficient methods to produce green home materials to help achieve the United Nations’ calls to reduce green gas emissions before 2050. These methods ensure that the production will not heavily impact the environment by reducing air pollution and energy consumption, which is why the United Nations added green homes to the list of solutions against climate change.
Timber is a material that home builders usually use in building green homes. However, it must meet and conform to sustainability standards. Also, timber and other wood types do not require heavy or toxic chemicals to keep them highly functional.
5. Increased Resale Value
Building a green home started in the 1960s to 1970s when people created the environmental movement to improve the country’s energy efficiency. A group began experimenting with making green homes to protect individuals’ health and the environment from the damaging impact of climate change.
The experiment led to a series of research which resulted in creating the best sustainable architectural design for homes.
Today, green homes with higher-quality construction and sustainability are becoming extremely popular due to their features and benefits, which lead to a higher resale value, better borrowing power, and excellent return on investment.
6. Improved Quality of Life
The sustainable architecture and the green home’s structural design can significantly affect the occupants’ everyday life. Pair it with LEED-certified furniture and fixture and additional eco-friendly insulation materials, and occupants will comfortably stay inside feeling more relaxed, focused, and energized.
In addition, choosing materials or furniture products with Indoor Advantage Gold Certified also helps improve the occupants’ quality of life as these products undergo a process to ensure that they do not go beyond the set chemical emission limit, which will give them a peace of mind that the products they are using will not affect their physical and mental health.
7. Uses Durable Materials
Durability is an essential factor when building a home. The home’s ability to withstand severe weather conditions with minimal maintenance and repair is a must to conserve resources and reduce waste.
The materials that green homes usually use are highly sustainable and durable. Manufacturers ensure to incorporate innovation and technology to ensure its durability and longevity. They carefully select and prioritize those materials and processes that produce the lowest environmental impact. Companies also follow specific regulations, tests, and certifications to ensure the products are environmentally-safe.
Conclusion
Green homes have various advantages, but some people hesitate to build them due to their initial cost. They are expensive to make, but their benefits will compensate. Building it is one of the best investments, as fewer scheduled repair and maintenance visits will save you more. In addition, its insulation features also lower your household’s total energy and utility costs. The green home’s health-friendly materials can also help reduce the number of hospital visits due to respiratory problems.
May this article, Benefits of Having a Green Home and Why You Should Consider Them, helps you with your home upgrades or renovations. Check our other blogs for more architecture ideas on DIY projects, houses, technology, and food, and subscribe to our newsletter for more blog posts like this.
