8 Ways to Make Your Properties Environmentally Friendly

Why are Green Buildings Important?

While there has been plenty of focus on the pandemic and how amenities have to change to meet the needs of a post-COVID world, many developers also saw this as an opportunity to revamp building design and amenities towards sustainability. With climate change at our doorstep, developers have been redesigning buildings with green elements that not only benefit residents, but that also are more sustainable and help reduce maintenance costs for developers in the long run. Here are 8 ways to make your building amenities more environmentally-friendly. 

1. Encourage residents to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The first step to making buildings environmentally-friendly is through awareness, education, and cultivation of habits among residents in reducing energy consumption and waste production. Reducing the waste we produce, reusing goods so that they are not discarded, and recycling waste materials, can be achieved by having recycling bins and services readily available at your premises. You can also inculcate a reduce and reuse culture within your buildings by having digital platforms that allow residents to resell or exchange goods instead of discarding them, especially electronics, electricals, and other non-perishables.

2. Use energy efficient lighting and natural light

Lighting is estimated to cost around 15% of an average home’s electrical use, and residents stand to save $225 in energy costs annually through using efficient LED lighting. Design buildings to allow as much natural light into the spaces during the day also reduces the reliance on electrical lighting. Installing automatic controls such as timers that switch off lighting when not in use (in driveways or stairways during the day time) further conserves energy consumption. Dimmers achieve the same outcome by lowering the light levels based on the environmental light intensity throughout the day. 

3. Automate your amenities

Automation can help to reduce energy consumption by only turning on when it is in use. Motion sensors that are paired with lighting fixtures turn off when no movement is detected after a period of time. Automation can also be used in conjunction with temperature controls - for example, building temperature systems can be configured to only switch on for specific time periods to keep an optimal temperature that is comfortable for the inhabitants. We have all been there when we wished a building was warmer (or cooler in the summer) after returning from a lunch break out or when meeting rooms are frigid cold and you can’t warm up the room fast enough. 

4. Reduce the use of disposable resources

Other means of reducing the carbon footprint of your building involves replacing practices that consume natural resources. For example, automated electrical hand dryers and bidets are a cheaper alternative to purchasing paper towels. Water stations at recreational areas as opposed to vending machines reduces the sale of plastic containers or cans of the beverages.

5. Ensure adequate insulation with sustainable materials

Heat is an important factor that could lower or raise energy consumption costs for your building. 

For colder climates, heat retention with insulation is essential, working in tandem with building heating systems. Otherwise, you will find your buildings consuming lots of energy to keep a building warm as it dissipates heat to the surroundings due to lack of insulation. The choice of materials for insulation also impacts a building’s sustainability. Choose insulation materials from sustainable or recyclable sources, such as cotton, sheep’s wool or newer materials such as reused timber, cork and glass.

6. Harness nature to provide shade and heat absorption

For buildings in warmer climates, smart landscaping and growing lush greenery in and surrounding the premises has a cooling effect, by absorbing the surrounding heat and providing shade. Landscaping has the added bonus of creating relaxing public spaces for residents to spend time in with their friends and families. Landscaping need not be limited to gardens or open areas only - you can explore growing greenery on the walls and rooftops of buildings. Greenery on rooftops also helps to preserve roof life and reduce stormwater runoff.

7. Harvest rainwater

As an extension to Point #6 on cooling buildings, rainwater is also a resource that can be harvested for uses within the building. Harvested rainwater from the catchment systems in a building can be stored, reducing the reliance on public utilities. This harvested rainwater can be used for toilets, sprinkler systems, watering the landscaping around the building and possibly even filtered and processed to be used for domestic consumption. 

8. Install solar panels

Solar power is something you can harvest all-year round in sunny areas. To incentivize developers to install solar panels, the federal government offers a 30% total system cost rebate from the deployment of solar panels as a federal income tax credit when you file your taxes. Solar energy can be used to power electrical appliances in your home, such as lighting, water heater and charging stations. While sunny days work best to produce solar energy, solar panels produce energy even when the weather is cloudy. Solar panels also extend the life of a roof, protecting it from the elements such as rain, snow and debris, while also keeping the roof cool as the sun doesn't shine on the roof directly on hot days.

Conclusion

When developing, designing, and outfitting a building, it’s important to not only cater to residents’ luxury and comfort, but also practicality and flexibility (arising from COVID-19) and long-term sustainability (from pressing needs to address global warming today). The eight measures above are some of the ways you can make your buildings greener today, help your residents adopt sustainable living, reduce your own operational costs, and bring about a better and greener planet for our future.