Green Building Tips | Make it better and make it greener
Written by: Chuck Nibblere | Date: Thursday, 8th July 2010

Home building and home renovation are becoming the increasing focus of environmentalists and green activists. The reason for this is that the process of building and renovating a home involves the use of many materials which either come from or directly impact the earth. As a result of this increasing pressure to become more eco-friendly, there has a been a shift in the way in which homes are built and renovated to include more earth-friendly activities and practices. As listing all of these practices could fill a book, we are going to look at a few of the common green building tips.

When it comes to building a home, you may think that creating an environmentally friendly home means living somewhere in the country to avoid contributing the pollution and overcrowding of the cities. However, you are mistaken, as living closer to where you work, be it the city or country, is actually the greener option. You want to build your home close to where you work because this will give you the ability to ride your bike, walk or take public transport more easily than if you lived further away. Further, when you are building this home, you want to position it in such a way that your home would be able to take full advantage of any available sunlight to optimize the use of solar powered devices or solar panels (which can power your entire home).

When it comes to either building or renovating your home, your choice of building materials has a direct impact on the environment. Making choices that utilize green materials, such as using recycled or reusable materials, lessens your impact on the environment while providing you in most cases the same level of performance of the newer, less eco friendly materials.

There are also many techniques you can utilize while living in your home to be more eco friendly. These include installing rain barrels to catch rainwater, which can be used to water your garden. Further, you can use driveway cement that absorbs the rainwater instead of the type that allows it to drain into the waterways and thus polluting the water. Lastly, you can install solar panels to either power your home, or the variety that collects power to use when operating your household electronics.

These green building tips are all things you can perform on your home right now. You may find the need to ask a liscened contractor for assistance when undertaking some of these projects, but the important thing is that all these tips are implementable today. Good luck!

Chuck Nibblere is a contributor to http://www.ebuilders.com/ and is an advocate for green building.