Construction industry is a resource intensive sector and recent years exhibited an upward trend in resource use. Poised to become the world’s third largest construction sector by 2018, the sector is expected to grow by 16-17% over the next five years. But can we afford this continuous exploitation of resources. The answer is obviously NO.

The consequent pressures exerted on natural resources are resulting in increased resource scarcity, escalated costs of construction and poor health of the environment. The most significant problem is the Energy crisis, which the country is battling presently. This scenario is making a huge dent to the Foreign Exchange Reserves of the country. It is thus essential that a suitable cure be devised for the same.

http://civilwarbummer.com/2019/05/ Need for Eco Friendly Homes

The need for Eco friendly homes has become imminent in the backdrop of over exploitation of present resources, which has led to a fragile state of the environment. In this scenario to enable survival, it is important to increase efficient utilization of whatever little resources are left, especially in India, which shoulders the responsibility of supporting a population of over 1 billion people.

http://boscrowan.co.uk/2023/08/31/crying-the-neck/scything-the-corn-for-crying-the-neck/ Advantages of Eco Friendly Homes

Eco friendly homes have been known to offer many advantages. The most important one are the savings on the monthly expenditure.

• Efficient utilization of energy generated using unconventional sources like the Sun or maybe conventional sources like Coal leads to a considerable reduction in the electricity bill of the house.
• Besides, Eco friendly homes also lead to an increase in the quality of living space.
• It also helps in saving on water consumption by 30 to 70%. Hence, it further helps to reasonably cut down on the water bill.
• Interestingly, it has been seen that many banks seem to award loans at a much lower rate for constructing Green homes.
• Last but not the least, it gives everyone an opportunity to contribute to the wellbeing of the environment on a personal level.

Besides, the increase in cost due to green infrastructure is negligible and can be recovered within 3 to 5 years.

Make Eco friendly homes from Bottom to Top:

In this internet savvy world, one can find a plethora of options to inculcate the much-needed friendship between environment and humans by means of using their residential spaces.

1. Floors
   • The most important measure could be to get replace Stone flooring with Cork flooring. Apart from being Eco friendly homes and durable, it offers water resistance as well and also works as a fire inhibitor in tandem with the above.

1. Doors and Windows
   • In this regard, it will be a good idea to insulate doors and windows using tints or blinds to boost the efficiency of fans and Air Conditioners.
   • However, it is more economical to invest in thick curtains, which provide the same kind of results as well.
2. Walls:

Walls can also help to prevent environment to a larger extent. Most importantly, construction material like Hollow Bricks provide thermal insulation, which helps to regulate the temperature in the house, hence boosting the efficiency of the heating or cooling system. This in turn leads to saving on the electric costs, which helps in reduction in generation material such as Coal as well.

• Besides, they also help to cap the noise pollution levels by providing sound insulation.
• These bricks are majorly made of Fly Ash which is an environment friendly material in itself.
• Moreover, they also facilitate a healthy reduction in the amount of cement required. Hence, cutting down on the amount of water required as well.

• Eco-friendly paints like– Natural paints, Zero VOC paints and low VOC paints, are considered not very harmful either to the environment or humans.
• Apart from these, Clay Facades, made of natural raw materials, along with their property of no damage to the environment. As, humans, they also boost energy efficiency due to the property of thermal insulation.

1. Furniture:
   • Ashwin Architects suggest that traditional wooden furniture should be replaced with Bamboo furniture as Bamboo takes only five to seven years for complete maturation while traditional wood takes over 25 to 100 years for the same. Besides, it also offers more durability and provides resistance against water and fire as well.

1. Lighting
   • Besides, exchanging florescent tubes and halogen bulbs for CFL and LED provides a longer running life and also ensure the maintenance of the Green quotient.
   • Another possible solution in this regard could be installation of Skylights in homes, which not only provides light at the click of no button, but also takes care of the everyday supply of Vitamin D, says Gizmodo.

1. Kitchen and Bathrooms
   • India is a tropical country and hence possesses a lot of potential for harnessing solar energy, most of which is concentrated in the Western and Southern parts of the country. Hence it is possible to install solar panels on roofs, which can be utilized to perform tasks like heating bath water or can also be stored in batteries for future use.

• Roofs made of natural products like bamboo or clay roof tiles are environment friendlier products. Besides adding to the aesthetic to your home, these roofs provide functionality and durability.

1. Others:
   • Small gestures such as closing the tap while brushing or ensuring timely cleaning of all electrical appliances also help to boost efficiency, which facilitates a healthy increase in the Green Quotient.

Caution(s) to be Exercised

In this advertisement frenzy world, one comes across a long list of projects, which boast about their Green quotient. However, caution has to be exercised before investment in these Eco friendly homes. By merely placing lawns and landscape gardens, home does not turn into Eco friendly homes. However, as per Mili Mazumdar of TERI these gardens in turn increase the amount of water consumption by four times approximately, hence one should exercise caution while purchasing such property. Further another effective solution could be to do an Ecological analysis of the property to calculate its Eco-Quotient.

Some Exemplary Practices

According to reports by Business Today, Bangalore based Srihari Alamsetti constructed a house, which is equipped with rainwater harvesting and directs the wastewater to garden for treatment. It also houses a large naturally lit basement. Alamsetti belongs to the cult of people who swear by Eco friendly homes. Interestingly, their number is increasing day by day.

Moreover, Large Corporate Houses such as TATA, Wipro and Infosys have established niche reputation in the green market by using only Eco friendly buildings as offices. With several active initiatives by the government and the much needed push from the private sector, green buildings will soon take over the entire real estate market.

However, no method can work wonders in a matter of a day. Rather, it is the careful amalgamation of these practices followed over days, months and years at an end, which would help to make a worthwhile contribution to the environment. Besides, it is only through conservation of resources using the above mentioned methods that the potential of the construction sector can be truly utilized.

Authored by a Building Expert from Wienerberger India, World Leaders in Building Material Solutions since 1819

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