You may not think it, but living in green spaces is a step to boost your overall quality of living. It doesn’t even matter if you’re head of the family or is a single man living alone. Green spaces benefit everyone. And you’d be surprised how it checks many of your laundry list of healthy living. For starters, green spaces mean enhanced comfort for you. You are encouraged to exercise for there’s far less air and noise pollution compared to the buildings. Overall, these eco-friendly spaces improve your productivity.
Best of all, green spaces are a boon to Mother Earth. For one, green buildings have less carbon footprint. How? Bear in mind these structures are as energy-efficient as they come. That means they won’t pollute the air and harm the ozone layer as much.
Indeed, finding a green space to live in makes sense. Small wonder why 89% of homeowners would prefer an eco-friendly condo over a traditional one. It’s paramount therefore that you be able to identify these spaces. The good news is it’s not as hard as it looks. Check out 3 steps to make it happen.
Green Construction Materials
Right from the onset, materials matter. Take note that construction can put a huge dent on the planet. Help Mother Earth by choosing a condo with sustainably-sourced construction materials. Yes, the keyword there is sustainability. We’re talking about the use of wood that’s sustainably harvested and recycled materials. A concrete example is steel beams sourced from scrap metal.
Don’t stop there though. As much as possible, make sure every material used in building your condo whole is eco-friendly. For paint, for instance, you can have better indoor air quality (IAQ) with low-VOC or VOC-free paint. These types of paint make your life easy. To boot, they minimize allergy-causing toxins, not to mention have a minimal environmental impact.
You can also do your part in ensuring green living. Once you settle, make sure you use carpets that are of eco-friendly materials. Moreover, house plants should top it all, adding not only aesthetics but healthy living in your personal space.
LEED-Certification
You might be surprised why one certification stands out as criteria for finding the right living space for you. Well, the answer is simple. A LEED-certified condo means the building has passed the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for being environment-friendly. It’s a seal of approval from the government’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.
Now, you might be wondering how a building gets certified. The process involves a thorough inspection via an expert building commissioning team. By looking into the systems running in a building (e.g., HVAC, electricity, materials), commissioning boosts operational efficiency. It helps building owners build more energy-efficient buildings that last. In short, building commissioning experts do an audit of a building.
But commissioning is not just about inspecting a building. It can start way before a structure stands: from the planning or pre-construction portion. With certified commissioning technicians, a commissioning team ensures environment-friendly methods and materials are utilized right from the get-go.
Know that there are other building standards aside from LEED that a commissioning team can look into. For one, there’s EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification. This standard refers specifically to how energy-efficient a building is. EPA understands that energy-efficiency is a first step to being eco-friendly.
Energy-efficient Systems
You need not ask the condominium management team about their building certifications to know that you’re looking at an eco-friendly condo. A green condo should manifest itself.
First up, check the lighting. Are the rooms equipped with LED lights? If so, that’s a good sign you’re looking at green living. Indeed, an energy-efficient light bulb is a telltale sign. Aside from those super energy-efficient LED lights, you can also rely on ENERGY STAR certifications. ENERGY STAR-certified CFL bulbs are designed to last longer than your run-of-the-mill variety. By using them, you ensure you won’t add more waste to the landfills.
Secondly, check the HVAC. Heating and cooling equipment play a central role in making a building as energy efficient as possible. In fact, these units usually take the lion’s share of a monthly energy bill. Worse, these are culprits to adding tons of greenhouse gases to Earth’s atmosphere. In effect, you may be cooling your personal space but you’re actually warming the planet.
You can check if the air conditioning unit is an ENERGY STAR unit. A certified ENERGY STAR aircon uses far less energy and emits far less carbon footprint. In essence, you’re not only taking care of your wallet, you’re also taking care of Mother Earth. Such mentality shows one lifestyle to beat.
