Fifty Shades of Green
Consumers Want Green Design to Yield Greenbacks
We get it, not every project can be rooted in benevolence. Project owners want to make money. Materials distributors and manufacturers want to make money. And the end-user wants to save money. Trying to meet everyone’s demands while building a green design or project can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be.
With the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM), jobsite recycling, and the use of inherently green materials, to name a few, project owners can begin the trickle-down effect of building green to make green (money), therefore, saving the end-user green (money).
The U.S. Green Building Council defines “sustainable design” as the practices of design and construction that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and occupants in five broad categories:
1. Sustainable site planning
2. Safeguarding water & water efficiency
3. Energy efficiency & renewable energy
4. Conservation of materials & resources
5. Indoor environmental quality
6. Regionally appropriate planning and design
While we can’t speak to all of the materials and practices in green building, we can assure you that brick is hitting on all shades of green. Brick can help project owners make money; distributors make money, and the end-users save money.
Why consider brick as your GREEN building material of choice? It’s a material you’ve long known, specified and used successfully. You know its design flexibility, durability, and low maintenance, and how its endless array of colors, shapes, textures, and sizes set the standard for beauty. What you may not know is that it’s natural for today’s new emphasis on sustainable design. Its unsurpassed life cycle, exceptional energy efficiency, natural ingredients, minimal waste, and countless recycling options are just a few of the properties that make brick the superb sustainable material it has been for thousands of years.
Read more about the sustainability that is built into every brick, here.
Article Reference:
Multifamilyexecutive.com (2017). Consumers Want Green Design to Yield Greenback. Retrieved May 30, 2017 from http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/design-development/design/consumers…