The distinction between what ’s unripened and what is n’t Lie in the details . For example , recycling is a good thought , as is reprocess raw fabric rather than using virgin ones . However , the current process we use to recycle is flawed in many ways . For one matter , two separate log and equally inefficient vehicle pick up your garbage and your recycling . Another flaw is the energy required by large recycling centers to sue these used products back into rude material .
The selection to recycle extends to trapping as well . Eco - friendly people strenuously debate whether it ’s more environmentally well-disposed to renovate an existing structure into a greener version of itself or to tear it down and establish an eco - friendly house from scratch . As old and antecedently draw - down neighborhoods are rediscovered and reborn as people move back into metropolis across the U.S. , the question is coming up more than ever .
There ’s no hard - and - fast formula we could use to square off this debate ; the best option for you depends on your case-by-case situation . That tell , it ’s difficult to warrant destroying an existing house alternatively of simply revive it . On the other hand , some houses may be so extend - down that renovating may cost more than reconstruct .
For the most part , however , it ’s a safe choice from an environmental standpoint to revivify rather than reconstruct . Why ? It ’s dewy-eyed : A lot of different contribution make up the standard home . For example , dry wall or sticking plaster cover wood stud frames to take shape walls . There ’s molding along the ceilings and trading floor . A ceiling is covered by shingles and tarpaper , layer over plyboard and supported by wooden rafters . There are pipes and ducts hidden throughout the bodily structure . Restrooms have old toilets and bathing tub , sink and roofing tile . All of this stuff – and every other bit of cloth used in the original home ’s building – has to go somewhere , and that somewhere is usually the municipal dump .
Less Waste: Why Renovation is Greener
All of the refuse that results from the demolition of a house ( or any other structure ) fall into the category ofconstruction and wipeout waste . This waste stream is a wide and deep one in the United States . On average , it append up to about 136 million tons of waste annually – or a walloping 40 percentage of the substantial waste drop off at municipal dumps every year [ source : EPA ] .
Gutting a sign entirely and save only the exterior and national freight - bearing walls helps cut down on the wasteland generated by remodeling the rest home . If you compare the amount of trash return by each outgrowth , renovating is greener than rebuilding . Again , however , the Beelzebub is in the details when it comes to determining what ’s gullible . Think of it this elbow room : A householder who puts placard on sites like Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org to offer salvage material will seem greener than someone who renovates and sends all debris flat to the dump to decompose .
Renovation still tend to be greener than rebuild , particularly for waste reduction purposes . This is especially the case with small startup green demolition company , like the Seattle - found nonprofit RE Store . The chemical group salvages and sells as much of a house undergoing demolition as possible and recycles whatever remains – down to the nails . In 2007 , four of the company ’s projects take in recycle or recycle valuation of between 70 and 97 percent from the Environmental Protection Agency [ source : Stiffler ] .
It take substantially longer to deconstruct a house by hand than it does to bulldoze it , but the unripe plan of attack to wipeout is catching on . Even if a home is destroy in an eco - friendly manner , keeping an live structure standing will expect less heavy machinery when the home is rebuilt . This means that the land beleaguer the menage will remain undisturbed , leaving trees and other greenery entire .
Ideas for Green Remodeling
When it come to green edifice , repair beats rebuilding . However , exactly what ’s done with the remodel or rebuilt business firm makes an tremendous difference of opinion as well . There is n’t much point to ingest a green wipeout crew demolish a home – or even consider the interrogative posed in this clause – if the last mathematical product ’s going to be an ecological nightmare .
As eco - consciousness continues to rear in popularity with consumer , the building industry has birthed a slew of sustainable vender – and some that just are n’t . Let the buyer beware : The green living magazine New Life Journal suggests that home renovators do some investigate before jumping at a unripened price tag . A quite a little of production marketed as green due to their vigour efficiency ratings may utilise less electricity than some of their counterparts on the mart , but may also be constructed out of completely unsustainable materials or made in environmentally harmful ways . What may appear fleeceable might not be dark-green at all . This is a selling ploy known asgreenwashing[source : Cramer ] .
Other companies have gone in the opposite direction . Traditionally toxic products that feature prominently in home remodeling projects , like rouge and varnishes , are now appear on the securities industry in vastly less toxic forms . Volatile constitutional compounds(VOCs ) , additive and constituent that can prove carcinogenic in humans , are beginning to vanish from some housing textile . For representative , bamboo flooring is becoming a popular selection among gullible remodelers because the plant grows quickly , decrease the environmental impact of its harvest time .
contractor also are taking an increasingly solid ground - well-disposed approach path to home remodeling . They ’re gravitating toward environmentally conscious standards , like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ( LEED ) credential , in the edifice industriousness . As the construct of green building hits its merchandising stride , it makes good business gumption .
Of naturally , there ’s also Craigslist and Freecycle.org . Old materials no longer wanted in one firm can be salvage to remodel another one . And what ’s green than reusing old materials ?
